Chapter 23
Ophelia deleted his text without a second thought.]
It wasn’t until after the ball had dropped and the holiday hangovers had faded that Piper called with the gossip: Bastien and Anastasia had set a wedding date for the first weekend in May.
When Ophelia heard the news.she felt absolutely nothing. Like hearing about strangers.[]
Anastasia handled all the wedding prep solo. On the big day, Bastien hadn’t bothered to invite a single friend or family member, but he’d noticed damn sure every tabloid.
When the minister asked, “Do you, Anastasia, take Bastien to be your lawfully wedded husband?” she tearfully said “yes“.[]
When the officiant turned to Bastien, every professional camera in the room zoomed in on his face.[]
He stood there looking like he’d rather be anywhere else as he simply said, “No.“[]
Though Bastien’s side of the venue was empty, Anastasia had invited all her friends. The entire room collectively gasped.]
Anastasia stood there in her designer gown, her professionally made–up face crumbling as she stared at Bastien in shock.[]
“What the hell are you saying?!Bastien!”
Bastien narrowed his eyes, his mouth curling into a cold smirk.
“I said no. I’m not marrying you. Not today, not ever.”
Anastasia stumbled backward.]
“Why? What the fuck is this, Bastien? Some kind of sick joke?”
Before Ophelia left, Bastien had convinced himself he was the asshole who’d wronged Anastasia–that he owed her because their college romance had been torpedoed by his mother, and poor Anastasia had carried a torch for him all these years.
But after Ophelia was gone, his mother dropped the bomb about the $700,000–money Anastasia had straight–up extorted from her to disappear from Bastien’s life.
Seven hundred thousand dollars to cash out on their supposed true love.[]
If he’d known what Anastasia had pulled back then, he would never have put Ophelia through hell for her.
If it weren’t for Anastasia’s manipulation, he and Ophelia would probably be celebrating their anniversary right now instead of this shitshow.
His mistakes were on him, but Anastasia had engineered the whole train wreck from day one.[]
“Why? You really need me to spell it out for you, Anastasia? Here, in front of all your friends?“]
Faced with Bastien’s very public callout, Anastasia kept shaking her head, tears streaming down her face.
“It’s because of her, isn’t it? You fell for Ophelia and now you regret divorcing her.“]
Hearing Ophelia’s name come out of Anastasia’s mouth was like a match to gasoline.[]
“Shut up,bitch!You haven’t earned that right!“[]
“Seven hundred fucking thousand dollars, Anastasia. That’s what you charged to walk away from our so–called love. How can you stand here talking about love?”
If Bastien hadn’t brought up the payoff, Anastasia had forgot it.]
She’d conveniently memory–holed the fact that she’d cornered his mother at a charity gala and demanded nearly a million dollars to “free Bastien from their relationship.”
She kept shaking her head, clinging to his arm.
“It wasn’t like that! I was broke then. Can’t you forgive me just this once? I swear to God I love you, Bastien!“]]
TOO FUCKING LATE!–]]
The wedding implosion broke the internet that day.Entertainment news had an absolute field day with the scandal.]
Anastasia’s fairy tale wedding had become an accident.[]
Her new management company dropped her immediately, and she faced financial ruin from breach of contract penalties, forcing her to liquidate assets.
Bastien showed up in London one more time.]]
Standing in front of Ophelia, he told her with something like pride that he’d finally made things right.[]
Ophelia understood what he meant–Anastasia had finally gotten her comeuppance.[]
But as she looked at him standing there,expecting gratitude or forgiveness, the whole twisted revenge plot struck her as completely ridiculous.
