Chapter 2 - Then Marry Me Instead
“No,” Alexander said. “It explains it.”
Mason stared at his uncle.
Emily wished the marble floor would open beneath her.
She did not want rescuing.
Not like this.
She wanted her mother alive. She wanted her father healthy. She wanted Carter Manufacturing out of debt. She wanted to wake up that morning again and choose not to put on the wedding dress.
Instead, three hundred people were watching the worst moment of her life become entertainment.
Mason gave Alexander a cold smile.
“You always did enjoy playing hero.”
Alexander’s expression barely moved.
“And you always mistake cruelty for strength.”
The room became so quiet Emily could hear the fountain outside.
Mason stepped forward.
“You don't know what she hid.”
“I know considerably more than you think.”
Something flickered across Mason’s face.
Alexander noticed.
So did Emily.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
Alexander did not answer immediately.
His hand released her arm once he knew she was steady.
Then he faced Mason.
“Did you tell Emily you requested Carter Manufacturing’s financial records three months ago?”
Emily looked sharply at Mason.
“What?”
Mason’s face hardened.
“That was due diligence.”
“Did you tell her?”
“No.”
Alexander nodded slowly.
“Interesting standard for honesty.”
Mason’s mother stood from the front row.
“Alexander, this is neither the place nor the time.”
“No,” Alexander said. “That would have been six months ago, when your son began trying to acquire Carter Manufacturing through intermediaries.”
Emily forgot the guests.
She forgot the dress.
She forgot her humiliation.
“What did you say?”
Her father was staring at Mason now.
Robert Carter looked twenty years older than he had that morning.
Alexander reached into his jacket and removed his phone.
“Mason’s investment group approached two of Carter Manufacturing’s largest creditors. Quietly.”
“That’s business,” Mason snapped.
Emily turned toward him.
“You were trying to buy our debt?”
Mason exhaled impatiently.
“Emily, your company is failing.”
“Our company?”
“Your father’s company.”
“My grandfather built it.”
“And sentiment doesn't pay invoices.”
Emily flinched.
Alexander’s eyes sharpened.
Mason saw it and laughed.
“Oh, please. What are you going to do, Uncle Alex? Buy her company? Rescue the beautiful abandoned bride?”
“No.”
Alexander looked at Emily.
For the first time since Mason had stopped the ceremony, someone was looking at her rather than at what had happened to her.
His voice was quiet.
“I would ask what she wants.”
The simplicity of it nearly broke her.
Emily bent, gathered the heavy skirt of her wedding gown, and reached for her bouquet.
Her fingers closed around the white roses.
Then she stood.
“I want everyone to leave.”
Nobody moved.
Emily looked across the room.
“I said leave.”
Chairs scraped backward.
Guests suddenly discovered great interest in doors.
Mason shook his head.
“You’re embarrassing yourself.”
Emily looked at him.
“No, Mason. You already handled that part.”
His mouth tightened.
Something inside her steadied.
“You wanted witnesses when you humiliated me. Now you can have witnesses when I tell you this.”
She pulled the engagement ring from her finger.
Four years.
One diamond.
A thousand promises.
She placed it in Mason’s palm.
“I would rather lose everything my family owns than spend another day with a man who needed an audience to feel powerful.”
Mason’s fingers closed around the ring.
Emily turned away.
Then he said the one thing designed to stop her.
“Your father loses the factory by Friday.”
She froze.
Mason lowered his voice.
“I can stop it.”
Emily slowly looked back.
“There it is,” Alexander murmured.
Mason ignored him.
“Marry me privately tomorrow. We forget today happened. I refinance Carter Manufacturing, your father keeps his company, and everyone moves on.”
Emily stared at him in disbelief.
“You just called me a gold digger in front of three hundred people.”
“And now I’m offering you a solution.”
“No,” Alexander said. “You’re confirming this was leverage.”
Mason turned on him.
“Stay out of it.”
Alexander stepped between them.
“You publicly accused her of marrying for money. Now you're offering money in exchange for marriage.”
Several remaining guests had stopped near the doors.
Phones were lowered.
Faces changed.
Mason realized too late how his words sounded.
Emily’s father came toward her.
“Sweetheart, don’t.”
His voice shook.
“Dad—”
“I mean it.” Robert swallowed. “If saving that factory costs you this, let it burn.”
Emily’s eyes filled.
Two hundred employees.
Families.
Mortgages.
Children.
People who had worked beside her grandfather.
She couldn't simply let it burn.
Mason knew that.
That was why he had chosen this moment.
Alexander seemed to read the realization on her face.
He turned toward Mason.
“How much?”
Mason laughed.
“You think you can write a check and make this disappear?”
“No.”
Alexander’s gaze was cold.
“I’m asking how much debt you control.”
For the first time, Mason hesitated.
And Alexander smiled without warmth.
“Exactly.”
Emily looked between them.
“What aren't you telling me?”
Alexander turned to her.
“That Mason does not currently control enough of Carter’s debt to foreclose.”
Her heart stumbled.
“Then why did he say Friday?”
“Because someone is purchasing the remaining notes tomorrow morning.”
“Who?”
Alexander held her gaze.
“I am.”
A collective gasp moved through the remaining guests.
Emily stared at him.
Mason’s face went white with fury.
“You son of a—”
“Finish that sentence in church,” Alexander said calmly.
Emily could barely process it.
“You bought my family’s debt?”
“I began buying it when I discovered what Mason was doing.”
“Why?”
Alexander’s answer came immediately.
“To keep him from owning you.”
Emily felt as if the room had shifted beneath her.
“You should have told me.”
“Yes.”
The answer surprised her.
“No excuse?”
“No.”
“Then why didn't you?”
“Because protecting someone without giving them a choice can become another form of control.”
His eyes moved briefly toward Mason.
“I realized that too late.”
Emily looked away.
Alexander reached inside his jacket again.
This time he removed a folded document.
“I will transfer every Carter note I control to an independent trust. You and your father can negotiate repayment without me having ownership rights, voting rights, or leverage over the company.”
Mason laughed.
“You’re giving her millions?”
“No.”
Alexander looked at Emily.
“I’m giving her time.”
Mason stepped closer.
“You think that makes you better than me?”
“No.”
Then Alexander said something that made every remaining person in the conservatory go silent.
“If Emily wanted a Whitmore husband badly enough to marry for money, she chose the wrong Whitmore.”
Emily’s eyes widened.
Mason stared at him.
Alexander looked directly at her.
There was no smile.
No joke.
No pity.
“Then marry me instead.”
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Emily's bouquet slipped from her fingers again.
Mason actually laughed.
“You've lost your mind.”
Alexander never looked away from Emily.
She stared at him for several stunned seconds.
Then she walked forward.
For one wild moment, everyone seemed to believe she might say yes.
Instead, Emily raised her hand.
And slapped Alexander across the face.
The sound cracked through the conservatory.
Alexander did not move.
Emily’s chest rose and fell.
“I am not a company acquisition.”
“I know.”
“I am not something Whitmore men get to pass between them.”
“I know.”
“And I am definitely not marrying you.”
A faint redness appeared across his cheek.
Alexander nodded.
“Good.”
Emily blinked.
“Good?”
“The first decision anyone asked you to make today was yours.”
Then, impossibly, the corner of his mouth moved.
Emily hated that she almost laughed.
She turned and walked down the aisle alone.
Her father followed.
Behind them, Mason shouted something she didn't hear.
But Alexander did.
And as Emily disappeared through the doors, Mason leaned toward his uncle.
“You think you've won?”
Alexander looked at him.
“This isn't about winning.”
Mason’s smile became ugly.
“You have no idea what’s actually inside Carter Manufacturing.”
Alexander went still.
May you like
Mason leaned closer.
“When you find out, Uncle Alex, she’ll hate you more than she hates me.”
