Chapter 2 - THE WEDDING WITHOUT A GROOM
There had been no groom in the ballroom when Simone arrived.
That should have been the first warning.
Deline said Julian was “delayed by board business.”
The officiant had not arrived either.
Carmen Bellamy—their aunt and family matriarch—called it a “private ceremony followed immediately by reception formalities.”
Simone assumed Deline had become addicted to drama.
Now, after Julian’s public declaration, the entire event looked different.
Julian asked hotel security to stop anyone from leaving with planning documents.
Not guests.
Documents.
“Why?” Simone whispered.
“Because someone used my name.”
Deline heard him.
“You sent the flowers.”
“I did not.”
“The bracelet?”
“No.”
“The villa?”
“No.”
Her face lost color.
Carmen stepped forward.
“Julian, perhaps we can discuss this privately.”
He turned toward her.
“Did you know Deline believed she was marrying me today?”
Carmen smiled carefully.
“She believed there was an understanding.”
“Between whom?”
Silence.
Then Deline shouted:
“You proposed!”
Julian’s face hardened.
“No.”
She reached beneath the neckline of her dress and pulled out a platinum ring on a chain.
Simone stared.
Deline held it up.
“You sent this.”
Julian looked at the ring.
Then at Simone.
His eyes narrowed.
The design was familiar.
Not because it was his proposal ring.
Because it was a Marzano family archive design.
One never sold publicly.
Simone asked:
“How did she get that?”
Julian said:
“I don’t know.”
Carmen moved again.
“Everyone is emotional.”
Julian ignored her.
He asked Deline:
“Who gave you the ring?”
“My coordinator.”
“Name?”
Deline hesitated.
“Celia Ward.”
Simone knew the name.
Celia had planned Bellamy charity events for years.
Trusted.
Efficient.
Almost invisible.
Then Deline said:
“She said you couldn’t meet me publicly until the board situation was resolved.”
Julian’s face went still.
That detail was real.
He and Simone had kept their civil marriage private because a pending shareholder vote involved a major governance restructure.
Their marriage was legally irrelevant to the vote.
But Julian feared the Bellamy family’s investment arm would turn it into social noise and claim he had married strategically.
Only a handful of people knew.
Simone also had to confront an uncomfortable fact.
She had known Deline was becoming strange about Julian.
Not specifically.
But there had been comments.
“Some men prefer women who understand their world.”
“Chairmen don’t marry therapists and artists forever.”
Once, Deline asked whether Simone was “sure” Julian was serious.
Simone laughed it off.
She assumed jealousy.
She was right about jealousy and wrong about danger.
Then Maya asked her:
“Why didn’t you tell Deline you were already married?”
Simone answered:
“Because I didn’t trust her.”
Maya said:
“And did secrecy improve the trust?”
No.
That did not make Simone responsible for the deception.
But it helped her see how family systems become combustible when everyone protects themselves by withholding.
Carmen withheld motives.
Lydia withheld authorship.
Deline withheld obsession.
Julian and Simone withheld marriage.
Only one set of secrets was malicious.
All of them created darkness.
Simone.
Julian.
His lawyer.
His sister.
And Carmen.
May you like
Simone slowly turned toward her aunt.
Carmen’s face had gone blank.
