After 18 Wedding Escapes, I Married the Mafia King Chapter 05
With my arm linked through Riccardo’s, I walked slowly into the ballroom meant for us,
Riccardo wore a tailored black suit, his features cold and refined, his presence naturally commanding.
He reached over and adjusted my veil.
His voice was quiet, but gentle enough just for me.
“Lillian. You look stunning today.”
I smiled.
Behind us, Stefano finally snapped out of his daze.
His voice came out hoarse.
“Lillian? What are you doing here in a wedding dress?”
Riccardo cut him a sidelong glance and said flatly.
“Getting married, obviously.”
Stefano froze. As if he couldn’t understand the words.
It took him a few seconds to let out a short laugh.
“Getting married?”
He looked at me, anger flashing in his eyes.
“Lillian, are you seriously still keeping up this act?”
“Yesterday it was a fake marriage license. Today you’ve rented a wedding dress and a venue.”
“How long are you going to keep this up?”
I said nothing.
Riccardo lifted a hand.
The assistant behind him immediately stepped forward and handed him the license.
Riccardo held it up to Stefano.
“Mr. Greco. Would you like to verify the official seal for yourself?”
Stefano’s smile froze on his face. He looked down.
In the photograph, Riccardo and I sat side by side.
Our names appeared next to each other. Lillian. Riccardo.
The marriage date was the very day he had walked away from me for the eighteenth time.
The crowd that had been watching suddenly fell silent.
The same ones who’d mocked me at the bar the night before now looked deeply uncomfortable.
Juliana saw it too. She covered her mouth in feigned shock, exclaiming.
“Lillian, how could you actually marry someone else?”
I looked at her and suddenly smiled.
“Why couldn’t I?”
“Weren’t you the one who said that even if we were about to get married, he’d still run to you first?”
Stefano’s head snapped toward her. “What?”
Juliana’s eyes darted away.
“It’s… it’s nothing…”
Raven stepped forward from behind me and held up a screenshot for everyone to see.
In the picture, Juliana sat in Stefano’s passenger seat, holding his ID card.
The caption was impossible to miss.
[Someone’s hours away from saying ‘I do,’ and he still drop everything when I call.]
The room fell into dead silence.
Stefano stared at the screenshot as his face darkened little by little.
Juliana’s eyes welled up instantly.
“Stefano, I just love you so much.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“I thought Lillian loved you too much to ever really leave.”
Stefano didn’t answer. His gaze returned to me.
In those eyes that had always been so sure I’d never leave-there was panic now.
“Lillian. You married him to get back at me, didn’t you?”
“Alright, you’ve made your point. Now call this off.”
“Come with me.”
And then he actually reached out and tried to grab my arm.
Riccardo stepped between us.
The gesture was effortless, but it stopped Stefano cold.
“Watch yourself.”
“She’s my wife now.”
My wife. The moment those words fell into the silence, all color drained from Stefano’s face.
I’d waited seven years.
I’d waited eighteen times.
Not once had Stefano ever claimed me with that kind of certainty.
Yet Riccardo had shielded me from all of that shame with a single sentence.
Stefano stared at me.
“Lillian, do you even know what you’re doing?”
“How long have you known him?”
“We’ve been together for seven years, and you’re just throwing that away?”
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I looked at him.
Strangely enough, I felt an eerie calm.
“You’re the one who threw it away first.”
“When you walked away with Juliana the eighteenth time, wasn’t that you making the choice for me?”
His throat tightened.
“I was only taking her to the hospital. Her stomach hurt.”
“Lillian, it’s not that I didn’t want to marry you.”
“I just thought Juliana needed me more.”
I nodded. “So I’m giving her to you.”
“She needs you.”
“I don’t.”
The words hit him like a blow. His eyes rimmed red.
At that moment, the wedding coordinator from the neighboring ballroom approached cautiously
“Sir, Miss, the ceremony is about to begin…”
Juliana seemed to seize onto a lifeline. She latched onto Stefano’s arm with both hands.
“Stefano, all the guests are here.”
“Let’s go inside first, okay?”
Stefano looked down at her.
For the first time, there was no indulgence in his eyes. Only irritation.
“Let go.”
“Who told you to set the date for today?”
Juliana’s face went ashen.
“But you said you’d indulge me for one day.”
“You said Lillian would come around in the end.”
“You said she’d never really marry someone else…”
Her voice trailed off. Because everyone had heard.
Stefano had ditched me eighteen times, yet he was willing to give Juliana a wedding.
Not because he loved her.
But because he was so sure I’d never leave that he’d been keeping me as his backup plan all along.
An awkward silence settled over the room.
I didn’t spare either of them another glance.
