The Bride They Rejected Owned Half Their Empire Chapter 10

The Bride They Rejected Owned Half Their Empire Chapter 10

“Elowen!” 

Kael chased me down the long mansion corridor 

The wedding reception music had long since 

fallen silent. 

Only the sharp click of my high heels against the marble floor echoed through the empty hallway. 

I kept walking without slowing my pace. 

‘You won’t reject the marriage… but you won’t 

commit to a lifelong marriage either?” He caught 

up to me at the corridor’s end. 

“What exactly are you planning to do?” 

I pushed open the glass door leading out to the 

mansion veranda. 

The evening sky stretched out ahead, blended with 

soft shades of deep blue and burnt orange sunset 

hues. 

“Elowen.” He stepped out onto the veranda behind 

me, stopping three paces back. 

I turned to face him. 

“Let me ask you one simple question first.” 

“Go ahead.” 

“What exactly did you fall in love with about 

Seraphina?” 

He hadn’t expected that question. 

His lips moved hesitantly. 

“She always seemed overlooked and undervalued 

within the Voss family.” 

“She single–handedly carried the family business 

burdens from a young age, working incredibly hard 

to keep everything running.” 

“Did you hear all of that directly from her?” 

“Yes.” 

“Did you ever take the time to verify any of those 

stories?” 

He pressed his lips together tightly, no reply 

forthcoming. 

“The overlooked, neglected child who struggled alone to support the family… that was always me.” 

“I was six years old when I left the Voss manor to live with my grandmother in Coastal Haven Town.” 

“While Seraphina was living comfortably in the Voss mansion, my grandmother set up a fold–out cot for me in the back room of her coastal diner.” 

“You think Seraphina had a tough childhood? Every sad life story she told you was ripped straight from my real life and passed off as her own.” 

The wind swept across the veranda, lifting the hem of my bridal gown gently. 

He stood frozen in place, his expression hollow and stripped of all certainty. 

“Elowen, I…” 

“Don’t say anything else.” I cut him off calmly. 

“You never loved Seraphina. You never loved me 

either.” 

“You only loved the fictional perfect girl she fabricated for you.” 

“And that girl never even existed.” 

His hand clenched and unclenched repeatedly, 

conflict written all over his face. 

“Give me a chance to get to know you properly.” 

“What kind of chance?” 

“A chance to start over from scratch.” 

“No marriage covenant, no breach compensation fears, no life debt owed to your mother.” 

“Just me… wanting to truly get to know you for who you really are.” 

I looked at him steadily, feeling nothing close to 

flattered. 

If he’d said those words before today’s wedding 

disaster, I might have felt a flicker of hesitation. 

But I could never forget how he’d publicly 

humiliated me in front of every guest, calling me a 

nobody and a fraud. 

I couldn’t erase the way he’d ordered security to 

lock me away alone in the private parlor like a 

prisoner. 

None of that would disappear with one simple 

request for a second chance. 

“I’m choosing not to pursue the thirty percent 

breach compensation clause.” 

He blinked in surprise. 

“I have no interest in taking Harrington family 

money.” 

I pulled the teardrop emerald pendant out of my 

pocket, twisting it gently between my fingers. 

“I didn’t come to this wedding today to marry you.” 

“My stepmother lied to me, saying I only needed to 

stand in as the substitute bride temporarily until 

Seraphina arrived to take my place.” 

“She assumed I’d be foolish enough to get publicly 

rejected and leave in humiliation.” 

“I did get rejected today–but I also uncovered 

everything I needed to see.” 

“My mother’s bracelet, my mother’s bead strand, 

the old photograph your grandfather kept of her.” 

“I don’t care how much these heirlooms are worth 

monetarily. But they belonged to my mother–and I’m taking every last one back.” 

His expression darkened with realization. 

“You planned all of this from the very start…” 

“Were you never planning to marry me at all?” 

“Correct. I never had any intention of becoming 

your wife.” 

He stepped back half a step, stunned. 

“When you publicly humiliated me at the wedding, when I presented the covenant and family records, when I brought up the compensation clause… it was all just buying time.” 

“Not entirely. The covenant, the family lineage. 

rules, and the breach clause are all legally real.” 

“But they were my protection, not my weapon to force a marriage.” 

“I never needed to marry into the Harrington family 

to build a life for myself.” 

I slipped off the shawl draped over my bridal gown and set it gently on the veranda railing. 

“I’ve built my own life in Coastal Haven Town.” 

“I took over my grandmother’s coastal diner last 

year, pulling in eight hundred thousand dollars in 

annual revenue.” 

“I also run my own corporate compliance 

consulting studio specializing in luxury real estate 

regulations.” 

“I was able to audit Voss family finances not just 

because of the eldest daughter’s legal privilege.” 

“That old family rule hasn’t been enforced in 

decades anyway.” 

“The real reason I had access is three Voss 

subsidiary companies outsourced their 

compliance consulting work to my studio.” 

“Their financial director chose my firm purely for 

our affordable rates–he never even realized the 

studio belonged to a forgotten Voss daughter.” 

Kael’s mouth fell slightly open in quiet shock. 

“You’ve known about Seraphina’s illegal financial 

transfers all along?” 

“I suspected someone was siphoning Voss 

corporate funds for a long time–I just didn’t know it was her until today.” 

“I came to this wedding today to finish this final reckoning with Seraphina once and for all.” 

“She wanted to humiliate me publicly and drive me away for good. I came to reclaim my mother’s heirlooms… and expose every lie she’s built her fake life upon.” 

I turned to walk back toward the mansion hallway. 

“The game is over now. The winner doesn’t need to stay trapped on the chessboard.” 

I walked down the long corridor toward the main entrance of the Harrington estate. 

The train of my red bridal gown trailed along the marble floor behind me. 

As I reached the front doors, I paused for a 

moment. 

The elderly matriarch stood quietly in the shadows. 

of the grand foyer. 

She didn’t move to stop me. 

She simply spoke my name softly. 

“Elowen.” 

I turned to face her. 

She walked slowly forward and placed a sealed envelope into my palm–the letter from the mahogany keepsake box. 

“Your grandfather wrote this letter to your mother. She never lived long enough to receive it.” 

I stared down at the faded handwriting on the envelope, making no move to break the seal. 

“Thank you.” 

I turned and walked out the front doors of the 

Harrington mansion. 

Kael’s footsteps hurried after me down the 

entrance steps. 

He was about to follow me outside when his 

grandmother’s voice stopped him cold. 

“Let her go.” 

Her voice carried clearly across the marble steps. 

“If you’re ever worthy of standing beside her, she’ll 

come back to you on her own terms.” 

“If you’re not… chasing after her will change. 

nothing.” 

I didn’t look back. 

A taxi pulled up to the curb in front of the 

mansion. 

Before I could open the car door, my phone rang. 

Seraphina’s number flashed on the screen. 

I answered the call. 

The line was quiet for a long moment before her 

broken, defeated voice came through. 

“You win, Elowen. Are you happy now?” 

I held the phone to my ear, pausing to think for a 

moment before giving my final reply. 

“I didn’t win anything, Seraphina. Because I was 

never competing against you in the first place.”