Xavier stood waiting.
Waiting for the time to pass.
Waiting for the new lady to feel better so he could go in and escort her out.
“Stone?”
A man stepped over to him.
“Why are you still standing here?
Boss is already in the car waiting.
Shouldn’t we hurry back to the Callahan Estate?”
Xavier looked up at him and paused for a second.
They should.
It was already getting late.
But…
Xavier glanced back into the empty wedding hall once again.
Then he lifted his wrist and checked the time on his watch.
“We’ll leave in another ten minutes.”
The man frowned slightly.
He had noticed the way Xavier kept glancing back into the hall.
When he glanced behind him, he noticed Evelyn’s figure at a distance.
His brows furrowed slightly before he looked again at Xavier.
“Do we have to wait for her?” he asked, clearly unable to understand why they were doing this for a woman who was supposed to be nothing more than a tool for revenge.
“She’s married now.
Shouldn’t she follow us?”
Xavier heard him and slowly knitted his brows.
However, he kept his composure as he placed a hand on the man’s shoulder.
“She’s married now.
But have you forgotten who exactly she married?”
“But she’s a Beaumont daughter.
She was married only as a pawn.” The man said, trying to prove his earlier statement right.
Only as a pawn …?
Xavier smiled.
He remembered the way Damian had stood there earlier, watching Evelyn after the ceremony.
If he hadn’t seen that, he might have believed the new wife was nothing more than a tool in their boss’s revenge.
But he had seen it.
He had seen the cracks in Damian’s restraint and composure.
And those cracks told Xavier enough.
So he didn’t dare consider Evelyn merely a pawn in the revenge game.
Because one never knew when a pawn would be promoted into the strongest piece on the board.
His lips curled into a faint smile.
“After taking the vows tonight, she no longer carries only the Beaumont name,” he said slowly.
“She carries our boss’s last name now, too.”
His gaze sharpened slightly.
The man immediately understood the meaning behind his words.
He lowered his gaze.
Xavier didn’t say anything more.
He knew the men wouldn’t recognize the new wife’s importance so easily.
Nor did he have any plan to believe anything so soon.
But he also knew that, sooner than they expected, they would learn a lesson that would help them understand.
“You can go now.
I’ll escort Mrs.
Callahan.” He gave the man a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
But the man looked up at him, his expression still filled with confusion.
“You’ll personally escort her?”
Xavier raised a brow and gently scratched the corner of it.
Well…
Even he had considered sending someone else instead of doing it himself.
However, his boss had specifically asked him to escort the lady out personally.
How could he dare defy his order?
So, he said, “Since I’m already here, I’ll escort her.
Asking someone else to come will only waste more time.”
The man nodded in understanding.
Xavier turned toward the hall.
But just as he took a step, the man stopped him.
“Oh, yes, Stone.
I came here specifically to ask you something.”
Xavier turned back.
“Should we inform the people at the Callahan Estate about the new wife?” the man asked.
Xavier paused.
His brows knitted together.
He hadn’t forgotten that no one at the Callahan Estate knew their boss had come here tonight and married a wife.
It would be a shock.
An extreme one.
Especially when Madam Callahan learned about it and knew exactly who her son got married to.
But … there was nothing they could do now.
The vows had been taken.
The ceremony was over.
And there was no going back.
Xavier’s expression turned serious, the crease between his brows deepening.
“There’s no need to announce it in advance,” he said firmly.
“They’ll find out what happened tonight when Boss brings the lady home.”
“But…”
The man nodded and finally retreated.
Xavier remained standing for a moment, lost in thought.
What had happened tonight was still nothing compared to what would come from here onward.
His gaze drifted back toward Evelyn inside.
The woman had already been brought to the brink after suffering one betrayal after another tonight.
How was she going to face what came next?
Would she be able to…?
His thoughts trailed off as a faint sense of sympathy crept into his heart.
But then again, some suffering was simply what people were fated to endure.
And as a Beaumont by blood, Evelyn was perhaps fated to face these harsh days.
Still, Xavier believed that even the darkest nights carried the promise of light.
Her darkness would have one, too.
His gaze shifted toward the obsidian Bentley where Damian was waiting.
The corner of his lips lifted slightly.
Then he finally turned and walked into the empty wedding hall.
His footsteps echoed faintly against the polished floor as he approached the wedding stage.
He stopped a respectful distance away and stood with his hands clasped in front of him.
“Mrs.
Callahan,” he called softly.
“It’s time.
We should leave.”
Evelyn heard him.
The name sounded unfamiliar to her ears.
Yet she knew she was the one being addressed.
Her body was no longer trembling.
Even her tears had dried.
But her voice had grown slightly hoarse —a quiet evidence of the pain she had released earlier.
She slowly nodded.
From where she sat, Xavier couldn’t see her face.
But he saw the small movement of her head.
“Just give me another moment,” she said.
Xavier understood immediately.
“Of course.”
He turned around.
But he didn’t leave.
He simply stood there with his back toward her, giving her one final moment to gather herself.
Evelyn knew there was no running from what she had already signed herself up for.
So she didn’t try.
She slowly rose to her feet and gently arranged her gown.
Then, after taking one final breath, she turned toward Xavier.
“Let’s go.”