THE TRILLIONAIRE HEIR THIRSTY FOR REVENGE

CHAPTER TWO

Ezekiele was only now realizing the mistake he almost made. And he had Emilia to thank for that. If it hadn’t been for Emilia and her mother asking for a higher dowry just now, Ezekiele would have married her without knowing the truth of the matter!

For five years, he’d doted on Emilia and loved her dearly, but that had been a mistake. 

“Lucia, can you confirm that this pendant is yours?”

Still looking terrified, and having a hand covering the spot on her face that Emilia slapped, Lucia was scared to look up at Ezekiele, but she responded with, “Ye-Yes…Yes, the jade pendant belongs to me.”

Ezekiele’s eyes lingered on the trembling woman for a couple seconds before moving into action. 

Without much ado, he turned at Emilia, who was still seething, and it was like the veil covering his eyes had finally been removed. Exhaling a deep breath, he addressed Emilia and her mother. 

“I almost made a costly mistake, but thanks to you, Emilia, I didn’t. With that said, from this moment, I’m calling off our wedding.”

“What?!” 

Ezekiele ignored both Emilia and Maddalene’s raised voice. Rather, he faced Lucia. Her head was slightly raised now, and her expression was schooled into one of surprise. 

“You! Come with me.” 

Not giving her time to react, Ezekiele took hold of Lucia’s hand and pulled her with him out of the dressing room. Emilia and Maddalene’s voices followed after him, but he paid them no mind. 

It wasn’t until he arrived in front of the main wedding hall that he stopped. Beside him, Lucia didn’t struggle. She didn’t understand what was happening, but she knew she had no power anyway to fight. 

Seconds later, Ezekiele pushed open the double doors of the wedding hall. Hundred pairs of eyes, who had been awaiting the arrival of the bride and groom, swiveled around in their seats towards the door. To their surprise, the groom wasn’t holding the bride, but the bridesmaid! What on earth was going on? 

“Everyone!”

As the guests started to murmur among themselves, Ezekiele’s powerful voice silenced the hall. Still holding Lucia’s hand, he strode to the front of the hall, where the shellshocked priest was. 

“You all gathered here to witness the wedding between Emilia and I.” Ezekiele’s strong gaze seemed to meet every eye in the room. “For reasons I would rather keep to myself, that wedding has been called off!”

At this announcement, the excitement of the guests grew immensely. Some of them shot to their feet and started pointing, but overall, no mouth was quiet as they discussed this unfolding event. Little did they know, it was about to get even more exciting. 

“There’s more!” Ezekiele wasn’t done. This time, he let go of Lucia’s hand, and under everyone’s shocked gaze, fell on one knee. “Lucia, to have you as my wife will be the greatest honor. What do you say? Will you marry me?”

“Ezekiele Moretti! Are you crazy?”  

The arrival of Emilia brought even more frenzy to the guests who were about to pass out from excitement. Not only was the groom not marrying his intended bride, he had gone ahead to propose to the bridesmaid!

“Ezekiele, I won’t let you get away with this! Remember that I’ve been invited to the Great Marshal’s Comeback Ceremony!” Emilia’s screeching traveled through the entire wedding hall. “My mother and I are going to rise to the top and we’ll make you pay for this! Lucia, are you mad? Quickly reject him!”

Ezekiele had tuned everyone out. He only had eyes for Lucia. Emotions seemed to conflict across her face as she looked at the kneeling man. Lucia had already prepared her mind to say no, when Ezekiele’s next words stopped her. 

“I’ll protect you.” To Lucia’s ears, it sounded like a vow. “I promise that I’ll protect you no matter what.” Another thing was his eyes. Those brown eyes hid nothing from her. They seemed honest. 

Lucia’s lips separated slightly. “I…” 

“I swear on my life that I’ll protect you.” 

These words from Ezekiele were like the final piece of the puzzle. Lucia felt her heart open up. No longer hesitating, she began to nod. “I will marry you, Ezekiele Moretti.”

A splitting smile grew on Ezekiele’s face as he got to his feet. Now that he had Lucia’s approval, he was going to make everything right with her. All those years wasted on Emilia couldn’t be gotten back, but he could do better now. No! He would do better. He was going to give her the world. 

“Quick! Give us the marriage blessings,” Ezekiele ordered the priest. In about five minutes, under the shocked gaze of everyone present, the two were pronounced husband and wife. 

The shocked guests looked from Emilia to the new couple unsure whether to clap! The new couple ran together out of the building and into a waiting car.

The car was silent for minutes, and the first thing Ezekiele said to Lucia after he started driving was, “Thank you for not saying no.”

Lucia didn’t say anything, she wasn’t even looking at Ezekiele. Her eyes were locked on her phone, which was buzzing every two seconds. Ezekiele didn’t want to be rude by looking into her phone, but the frequency of the messages coming in worried him. 

“Do you need to reply to those messages?”

Lucia seemed to be in a daze and didn’t respond right away.. 

“My family already has someone they want me to marry.” Lucia’s quiet voice reached Ezekiele’s ears. “Giacomo Hamilton. You don’t know how scary he is. The Hamilton family have everything so they’re scared of nobody. I’ve heard of things they’ve done just to protect their family name. It-”

“I’m not scared of them…” 

Lucia’s worried speech was cut short by Ezekiele. 

Twisting his body so it was facing Lucia, he continued, “...And you shouldn’t be too. My words back there weren’t mere words, they were the truth. I’ll protect you from any harm.” Silently, within himself, Ezekiele added, “Because you protected me once too.”

In the past, Lucia only ever had a few interactions with Ezekiele, but she’d never known him to be a liar. Which was why his words were oddly comforting. 

“I-”

Her phone ringing made Lucia jump. Looking at the caller, it was her mother. She quickly answered and put the phone to her ear. 

“Lucia! Lucia! Your father just had a heart attack! Come to the hospital right now!”