---- Chapter 10 Ethan stared at me, his face a mask of disbelief. "No. You wouldn't. You love me." "Love?" | tilted my head. "What do you know about love, Ethan?" "This is insane! You can't marry Liam! This is all some elaborate prank to make me jealous, isn't it? Okay, fine, you win! I'm jealous! Now take off that ridiculous dress and let's go. Chloe is waiting." He reached for my arm. | stepped back. "Don't touch me, Ethan." The door opened and Liam walked in, looking incredibly handsome in his tuxedo. He smiled when he saw me. A genuine, warm smile that reached his eyes. He came to my side, taking my hand. "Ready, my love?" Ethan looked from me to Liam, then back to me, his expression crumbling. "No... this can't be happening." Two stern-looking security guards, hired by the Carters, appeared in the doorway. Liam nodded at them. "Ethan," Liam said, his voice calm but firm. "You have two choices. You can walk Ava down the aisle as she requested, and behave yourself. Or these gentlemen will escort you out." Ethan looked trapped, his eyes wild. "You... you planned this! Both of you!" "You set the stage, Ethan," | said quietly. "We just wrote a new ending." ---- He looked at me, a flicker of desperation in his eyes. "Ava, please. Don't do this. | love you. | made a mistake. Chloe... Chloe was a mistake." Too little, too late. He finally, reluctantly, agreed to walk me down the aisle. The alternative, being forcibly removed, was clearly too humiliating. As we stood at the entrance to the garden aisle, the string quartet playing softly, he leaned in, his voice a harsh whisper. "Okay, you've made your point. Very dramatic. Ready to call this off and come back to me? We can still salvage this. Tell everyone it was a misunderstanding." | smiled coolly, a genuine smile this time. "Ethan, I'm not marrying you. I'm marrying your brother. It's time you gave me away, properly." His face contorted in a mixture of rage and disbelief. He walked me down the aisle, his grip on my arm painfully tight. | could feel the tremors running through him. The ceremony was beautiful. The sun shone, the flowers were fragrant. My vows to Liam were heartfelt, honest, spoken directly to him, my eyes locked with his. | spoke of respect, partnership, and a love that was quiet but deep, a love that saw me, truly saw me. Liam's vows were equally moving, speaking of admiration, protection, and a love he'd harbored silently for years. When it was time for the ring exchange, as Liam slipped the simple gold band onto my finger, Ethan finally snapped. "Ava! No!" He lunged forward, his voice a raw shout that echoed through the serene garden. "You love me! This is our ---- wedding day, don't do this! This was supposed to be our wedding!" Liam calmly stepped in front of me, shielding me. The Carter security guards moved in swiftly, discreetly escorting a hysterical, struggling Ethan out of the ceremony. His shouts faded as they took him away. Eleanor Carter, Ethan's mother, watched him go, her expression a mixture of disappointment and resolve. She later found Ethan, still raging, in a side room. "Ethan," she said, her voice cold. "Liam has loved Ava honorably for years. You threw her away, treated her abominably. This family will not tolerate you destroying another wedding, or Liam's happiness. You made your bed. Now lie in it." The ceremony continued, a little shaken, but ultimately, joyful. | was Mrs. Liam Carter. And | had never felt so free. The pain of Ethan's betrayals was still there, a dull ache beneath the surface, but it was overshadowed by a profound sense of liberation. The weight of his expectations, his manipulations, his casual cruelty - it was lifted. As Liam and | shared our first kiss as husband and wife, | knew this wasn't just revenge. This was a new beginning. A real one. Ethan's emotional torment, as reported later by a grim-faced Richard Carter, was intense. He'd apparently smashed several things in the room he was confined to, alternating between rage and desperate pleas. He couldn't comprehend what had ---- happened. He couldn't accept that | had chosen Liam, that | had orchestrated his public humiliation. He kept asking, "But why? She loves me. She's always loved me. His world had been upended. The pawn had checkmated the king. His collapse, when it came, was not physical, but a complete emotional unravelling. He was left alone with the wreckage of his own making, the echoes of his own arrogance. He still believed, delusionally, that this was some grand test. That I'd eventually come to my senses and realize I'd made a mistake. That I'd come back to him. He had no idea how wrong he was.