Chapter 294
Felt him.
Felt what she had just become.
His wife,
The moment their lips parted, the silence shattered.
A roar of applause and cheers erupted from the crowd, a symphony of congratulations echoing around them. Laughter, claps, the excited chatter of guest: celebrating the union.
The evening air was thick with the scent of roses and candle wax, a soft golden glow illuminating the garden as the sun dipped below the horizon. The chatter of guests mellowed into a quiet hum, glasses clinking, laughter floating on the breeze, but none of it mattered to Graham.
All he cared about was the woman in his arms.
His wife.
The slow melody of a love song played in the background, the notes weaving between them as they moved together in a gentle dance. He held her close, o hand firm on the small of her back, the other clasping her fingers in a loose, intimate grip. Their bodies swayed in rhythm, moving as one beneath the fair lights strung across the reception hall, casting shadows that flickered like whispers of something unspoken.
But she was distant.
She let him hold her, let him lead the dance, but the fire he was so used to seeing in her eyes was dim.
She wasn’t smiling.
She wasn’t looking at him the way a bride should look at her groom.
Graham exhaled, pressing his forehead lightly against hers as he pulled her in closer, his lips grazing the delicate shell of her ear. “You look so damn sexy tonight,” he murmured, his voice low, intimate, meant only for her. “You have no idea what you’re doing to me in this dress.”
His lips trailed along her temple, then down to her cheek, placing slow, lingering kisses against her skin.
She sighed, but it wasn’t the breathless kind he wanted. It was tired.
Graham’s chest tightened.
He wasn’t stupid. He knew she was still upset. He had seen it in the way she barely met his gaze during the ceremony, the way ber voice had been quiet an detached when she said I do. She had done everything right, played the perfect bride, but she wasn’t happy.
And that–that was unacceptable.
This was their day.
This was supposed to be the moment where she looked at him with nothing but love, where she melted into tum, where she forgot whatever had upset her.
8:51 am P
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Chapter 294
Instead, she was stiff in his arms, barely reacting to his touch, her mind a thousand miles away.
He couldn’t stand it.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured against her ear, his lips brushing the soft skin there. “For snapping at you this morning, I shouldn’t have done that.”
She didn’t respond.
He sighed, pulling back just enough to look into her face. The glow from the string lights reflected in her dark eyes, but they held no warmth.
He pressed another kiss to her cheek. “Layla doesn’t matter,” he whispered. “No one else matters as much as you do.”
Her lashes fluttered for the briefest second, a flicker of something in her gaze. But then it was gone.
His jaw clenched.
He wasn’t going to let this linger. He wasn’t going to let her sulk through their wedding night.
So, he kept kissing her–soft, slow kisses along her jawline, down the curve of her neck, his grip on her waist tightening just a little. “Come on, baby,” he coaxed, his voice like silk. “Smile for me.”
But she didn’t.
The afternoon bled into evening, and still, Isla remained quiet, her expression unreadable.
The guests, one by one, began to take their leave, offering their congratulations, their goodbyes. Laughter and clinking glasses slowly faded as the crowd thinned, until it was just a handful of people lingering in the glow of the candles and the twinkling lights.
Graham didn’t take his eyes off her.
He had never been a man to beg. But tonight, if that was what it took to tear down her walls, he would.
Because this was their wedding.
And he wasn’t letting her go to bed angry.
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18.51 am
E
The End Of a Marriage
