Breaking Free from Christian's Game

The ninth time, I stood at the altar in a mid-tier chapel that smelled of cheap flowers and desperation. Robert—kind, stable Robert—looked at me with such hope that I almost believed I could do this. Almost.

"I, Ayla, take you—"

The heavy wooden doors burst open with a bang that echoed through the chapel like a gunshot.

"Stop!" Christian's voice cracked as he stumbled down the aisle, his usually perfect hair disheveled, his expensive suit wrinkled. "You can't do this!"

I felt my face drain of color as the chapel erupted in whispers. Cameras flashed—the local press had learned to expect drama at my weddings.

"Christian, please," I whispered, my hands trembling as I clutched my bouquet. "Not again."

"I can't live without you, Ayla." His eyes were wild, desperate in a way I'd never seen before. He reached for my hand, and I felt that familiar spark, the one that had kept me tethered to him through eight previous humiliations.

Robert stepped forward, his jaw tight. "This is our wedding day. You need to leave."

"You don't understand," Christian said, not even looking at him. His fingers wrapped around mine, warm and familiar. "Ayla is mine. She's always been mine."

The words I'd longed to hear for so long hung in the air between us.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to Robert, my voice breaking. "I'm so sorry."

I hiked up my skirts and ran down the aisle with Christian, our hands clasped tightly together. Behind us, I heard gasps and the click of cameras capturing my ninth failed attempt at marriage.

---

For an hour in the luxury hotel suite, I believed in magic again.

Christian ordered room service—strawberries, champagne, all the things we'd dreamed of as kids in the orphanage. He looked at me like I was precious, his fingers tracing the curve of my cheek as if memorizing me.

"Do you remember when we snuck into the kitchen and made strawberry shortcake?" he asked, his voice soft.

"The cook caught us, but she let us eat it anyway," I laughed, feeling young again.

"I've missed this," he murmured against my hair. "Just us against the world."

I closed my eyes, pretending we were still those kids who believed in promises and forever. The hotel room felt like our own little universe, where nothing could touch us.

Then his phone buzzed.

The screen lit up with his mother's name, then Savannah's. Over and over.

Christian's expression changed as he read the messages, his face hardening into the mask I knew too well.

"I need to go," he said finally, standing up.

"What? Why?"

He wouldn't meet my eyes. "It's complicated, Ayla. There's... the inheritance, the arrangements with the Young family. The timing isn't right."

"But you just said—"

"I know what I said." His voice turned cold, distant. "But we can't just run away from reality. I need to handle some things."

He left me sitting on the edge of the bed, still wearing my wedding dress, watching