Dumped at the Altar by My Lawyer Ex, Claimed by a Billionaire Enemy

What a lively wedding this is. Have you heard? Attorney Hawthornes childhood friend is up on the hotel rooftop threatening to jump!

Overhearing the murmured comments outside the room, Elara Mitchell felt a bitter ache swell in her chest.

This made the ninety-ninth time Vanessa Sterling had attempted suicide.

Elara had thought she'd grown used to it by now.

But today was different.

Today was her wedding dayhers and Dominic Hawthornes.

With Vanessa causing a scene yet again, Elara could feel it in her bones: she would have to yieldagain.

In the five years she'd been with Dominic, Vanessa had been launching her theatrics for just as long.

And every single time, Dominic was the first to rush off and console her.

In this relationship, Elara sometimes wondered if she was the one cast as the shameful intruder.

But the last time Dominic had left her to see Vanessa, he'd promised herThat was the last time.

It was because she'd believed him, trusted in that last time, that todays wedding had even come to fruition.

She wants to die? Let her! Whats the point of calling me about it?

Elaras head snapped up. Through the barely closed door to the balcony, she could hear Dominics deep, cutting voice

Jump? She wont do it. Shes made these threats how many times already? When has she ever actually drawn blood?

Then, his voice lowered, muttering a few more words she couldnt quite make out before he ended the call.

When Dominic turned around, his gaze locked onto hers.

For a moment, Elaras heart pounded in disbeliefthis time, he hadnt gone after Vanessa.

So he hadnt lied to her?

This really was the last time?

Why are you looking at me like that? The ceremonys about to start. Are you ready? Dominic's face was as impassive as ever.

Even so, Elara felt a jolt of joy.

She knew Dominic had always been emotionally distant, a man cursed with an innate inability to empathize.

And yet, from the naive fondness of their youthful days to the heartfelt love she now carried, she believed they'd finally reached their happy ending.

To him, she must be special.

Why else would he agree to marry her?

Beaming, she looped her arm through his, her eyes alight with laughter. Dominic, were finally getting married

Dominics expression remained blank. Yeah, I know.

The door to the lounge opened suddenly

Now presenting the bride and groom! The wedding emcees voice rang out, immediately commanding the rooms attention.

Radiating happiness, Elara clung to Dominics arm as they walked onto the stage together.

Lets all give a warm congratulations to

Before the sentence could be completed, a sharp ringtone filled the air, piercing through the jubilant atmosphere.

The emcee hesitated, his brief look of discomfort mirrored by murmurs and muffled laughter from the crowd below.

Elaras smile froze in place, cold dread creeping into her veins. She recognized that tone, a personal nightmare come to lifeit was Vanessas custom ringtone.

Pulling out his phone, Dominic answered coolly, What is it now?

The emcee hurriedly attempted to salvage the moment, launching into jovial talk to steer the crowds attentionbut he'd barely opened his mouth before Dominics voice rang out again.

Im coming right now.

With that, Dominic tossed the phone into his pocket, turned on his heel, and strode down the stairs.

For a moment, the entire venue erupted in stunned whispers.

Dont go Elara stumbled after him, clutching her wedding dress, her voice trembling with desperation. You said this was the last time!

Dominic frowned slightly, his calm demeanor shifting as he weighed his options.

After several seconds, he replied with detached rationale, Vanessa actually jumped this time. I need to check on her. Calm the guests; Ill be back soon.

Dominic! Elara clasped his wrist with both hands, refusing to let go. If you leave now, I wont marry you!

Dominic pried her fingers off with practiced ease. Youll regret that.

Elaras heart shattered, tears spilling from her eyes in an uncontainable torrent.

Dominic hesitated briefly at her tears, his chest tighteningan unfamiliar sensationbut he convinced himself she was bluffing, the same as always.

Shed never had the heart to walk away from him.

He knew better than anyone how much Elara loved him. Shed given up her life as a pampered heiress, severed ties with her family, and followed him here to Kingsborough to pursue his dreams.

No matter what happened, she was always behind him, steady as a constant shadow.

Her greatest wish had been to marry him.

And in all the times Vanessa had caused chaos, hadnt Elara always helped him clean up the mess?

But this time, shed resorted to threatening not to marry him. She must truly have been pushed to her limit.

Still, Vanessas situation demanded his immediate attention.

Her tantrum couldnt eclipse a life-or-death matter.

Dominic opened his mouth as if to speak, but his phone vibrated again in his pocket. Without another glance at Elara, he answered the call and broke into a run.

The audience below exchanged bewildered and scandalized looks, murmuring amongst themselves in hushed voices.

The groom had run outin the middle of his own wedding ceremony.

Chaos gripped the room like a vice. Elara wiped away her tears and forced herself upright, snatching the microphone from the utterly stunned master of ceremonies. "Im sorry, everyone. The wedding is canceled." Her voice cracked, but her resolve did not.

The crowd erupted into pandemonium.

But Elara no longer had the strengthor the willto quell it.

She understood, with stark clarity, that after today, she would be the biggest joke in Kingsborough.

Everyone knew Elara and her unyielding devotion to Dominic. She had turned her back on countless suitors, men who were paragons of privilege and promise, just to struggle alongside Dominica man with nothing but dreams and grit. Together they had scraped by for years, and when finally success seemed within grasp, Dominic abandoned her on their wedding day.

When Elara chased out of the hotel, desperate to confront the man who had unraveled her world, she found the entrance blocked by a swarm of spectators and reporters. In the distance, Vanessa lay cradled in Dominics arms, her figure fragile against the echo of flashing lights. She was still wearing a wedding dress, her face buried in tears so raw her eyes had reddened to bloodshot circles.

"Dominic," Vanessa wailed, her voice cracking as she clasped his arm. "How could you leave me like that? We swore wed be together forever!"

"Stop it." Dominic regarded her with his usual stoic calm, his brow faintly furrowed as if her outburst were merely an inconvenience.

Vanessa seized his face in her hands, forcing him to look her in the eye. "I wont! Not now, not ever!"

Elaras breath faltered. For a moment, all she could do was watch, her heart twisted by the memory of those same hands her handsreaching for Dominic years before. She had once dared cradle his face, hoping to soften the icy wall he projected at everyone and everything. How cruelly dismissive he had been then, his eyes void of anything but cold indifference. "I dont like people touching my face," he had said flatly, his tone as frigid as his stare.

Yet now, with Vanessa, he did nothing. He let her weep, let her grasp and toy with his features as if his stoicism had melted simply to accommodate her. She even laughed amidst her tears, a soft, private sound that seemed to escape Dominics lips in return.

Elara stood there, frozen. The realization struck her like thunder: this wasnt the Dominic she had always known. Or perhaps, it was, and she had been blind for years.

He was capable of feelingof caring, of indulging. Just not for her.

She wasnt special. The imagined triumph of their years together, of her relentless devotion and patient sacrificeit was no triumph at all. It was nothing. And that nothing mocked her now.

As the rescue workers helped Vanessa into the back of the ambulance, Elara found herself standing motionless, her pain blossoming into something cold, something resigned.

She thought she could ignite Dominics frozen heart with time and effort, heat it until it thawed for her, until his eyes, so distant and sharp, softened into some semblance of affection. But here stood the bitter truth.

It wasnt that Dominic couldnt feel. It was that he would never feel anything for her.

Elara began laughing, low and bitter beneath the swell of tears that followed unbidden. She had spent five years trying to break into a locked world whose gates were never hers to cross.

Five years of delusion. Five years of clinging to a false hope, too naive, too foolish. Five years wasted on a man who couldnt even look at her the way he looked at Vanessa now.

She returned to the bridal suite, her movements slow, deliberate, as if replaying each step of the life she had thought she was building. She took off her wedding gown, folded it with extraordinary care, and dressed in her own clothes once againa symbolic return to herself.

When she arrived at her office, heads turned in stark silence. Her coworkers, who had been gossiping feverishly about the debacle not moments before, fell utterly quiet, but Elara barely noticed. She wasnt the kind of woman who let whispers stop hernot in college, when she had publicly chased after Dominic, becoming a punchline throughout campus. Not now, when the world seemed eager to dissect her humiliation.

She had always been bold, relentless. Unafraid. And those qualities had landed her here, a fool to her own determination. She had barreled forward, blind to the truth, until the collision shattered her.

Elara sat down at her desk and printed her resignation letter. She signed it with a steady hand, then strode to Dominics office with the resignation held firm in her grasp. The letter landed on his desk with finality.

Her phone began ringing before she made it out of the room. Dominic.

"I heard you canceled the wedding," he said briskly, his voice devoid of any softness. "Why didnt you discuss it with me first? Do you have any idea how bad this will look for the firm?"

His concernalways practical, always about the opticsneedled her. "What exactly did you expect me to do, Dominic?" she snapped, her voice sharp enough to make him pause. "Let the entire guest list sit around and wait for you to finish playing hero?"

A beat of silence stretched between them, taut and unfamiliar. Dominic had never known her to push back before. She had always been warm, effervescenta light orbiting his unyielding gravity, never once letting her anger flare.

"Youre right," he said, his tone almost mechanical, as if annoyance had briefly blunted his composure. "That was my mistake."

Mistake. Her laughter came bitter and quiet. How naive she had been to ever love a man so incapable of seeing her, so fundamentally detached.

Her gaze flicked to the resignation letter still resting on his desk, stark and final against the polished surface. "Dominic, about my resignation"

She didnt get to finish. A voice interrupted from his end of the line, syrupy and plaintive: "Dominic, my back hurts. Come rub it for me, wont you?"

"Im busy right now." His farewell came quick and flat. Then, the disconnecting hum of the line.

Alone, Elara straightened her back. Whatever feelings lingered, wherever they might still ache, she knew this: her life with Dominic was over. And so was her waiting.