Elodie knew Esmeralda no longer wanted to go through with the wedding, but Fleming walking out that was something else altogether.


    Her expression hardened with icy disapproval. "Mr. Mercer, do you even know what matters anymore? What could possibly make you lose your judgment like this?"


    Fleming pressed his lips together. He hadn''t wanted any of this chaos, but here they


    were.


    Esmeralda gently pulled her hand from his. "It''s Lucy again, isn''t it?”


    Fleming said nothing.


    The silence was answer enough.


    A sardonic smile flickered across Esmeralda''s lips. "Alright. Go if you have to."


    She agreed without hesitation, none of the protests or pleading that might havee before. The calm in her voice felt almost like resignation, and it left Fleming strangely hollow, overtaken by an anxiety for which he had no words.


    But there was no time to think it through. Lucy was in trouble-something with her leg, the same injury she''d sustained years ago in that incident Esmeralda had orchestrated. Fleming still felt responsible. He had to help.


    "I''ll be back. Wait for me," he said, rising to his feet and giving her a look that was almost solemn.


    He told himself there was no other choice-Esmeralda would wait, she always had. With the wedding itself just minutes away, how could she possibly refuse him now or hold it against him?


    He slipped away from the crowd, heading straight downstairs.


    On the way out, he ran into Adrian.


    Adrian pulled him aside and asked what happened. Fleming told him the truth.


    Adrian''s eyes widened. "Esmeralda let you go, just like that?"


    It was a miracle she hadn''t made a scene.


    Fleming unfastened his cor as he climbed into the car, his face set in stone. "Yeah. Esmeralda knows when to let things go. I owe her for this—and once we''re married, I''ll make it up to her."


    Adrian mulled it over and nodded. It was true: Esmeralda had always loved Fleming, had waited years for him while he lived overseas, never onceining about the


    distance No one was more patient. or devoted than she was. With everything set, so close to bing his wife, what else could she do? Even if she was angry, she would swallow it down.


    "Alright, then," Adrian said. "Just don''t leave her hanging too long."


    Fleming hurried out, and Adrian made his way back to the wedding hall, blending


    seamlessly back in with their friends.


    Upstairs, Esmeralda felt the pain ebb


    away to numbness, tinged with a


    bitter sense of irony. Fleming knew perfectly well that leaving so


    suddenly would disgrace her


    front


    of everyone but he did it anyway as


    if it never urred to him that she might leave first. Content


    For the first time, she saw clearly just how many times this had happened before. Back then, she would have given all of herself


    him, brushing aside her own hurt,


    absence feel less cruel.


    Yet here she was, after having resolved to let him go for good, finding that Fleming''sst-minute exit was still as sharp as a de.


    She swallowed the lump in her throat and managed a small, brave smile for Elodie, who was watching her with aching sympathy. "It''s alright. This is better. Now neither of us owes anything to the other."


    Elodie''s heart twisted for her friend. How unfair, she thought, that someone as spirited and radiant as Esmeralda had to learn love''s harshest lessons.


    The next hour passed in a restless blur. People bustled in and out of the dressing room. The ceremony was less than twenty minutes away, but there was still no sign of Fleming.


    The wedding coordinators had noticed-panic starting to tinge their voices as they gathered around Esmeralda, firing off questions. The groom was nowhere to be found.


    Esmeralda''s phoney untouched on the table. She made no move to call Fleming -not once.


    "Just stick to the n," she replied steadily, every time they asked for instructions. "Nothing changes."


    She answered no one''s questions, only repeating that phrase.


    And then-it was time. The ceremony began.


    Esmeralda stood at the entrance, her arm looped through her father''s. He looked immacte in his suit, full of pride, fussing with his cufflinks as they waited.


    Esmeralda stared straight ahead at the grand double doors, her face perfectlyposed.


    She knew all too well that behind those doors, on the other side of the aisle, the man meant to be her groom wasn''t waiting for her at all.