The entire hall fell silent.
The guests stared at Evelyn before looking back at Damian.
“What’s happening?” someone whispered.
“Didn’t Ms.
Beaumont just say that she loves him?”
“She even called him here to steal her away.
How can she suddenly say she won’t marry him?”
“What is the second daughter of the Beaumonts even thinking?”
“The Mercers have long left, and now she’s refusing to marry the man she openly professed her love for?”
The whispers only grew.
The guests were confused and curious at the same time.
Confused about what was happening…
And curious to see how it would end.
But Evelyn was neither confused nor curious anymore.
When she steadied herself and turned to face Damian, her gaze was firm.
She took a step toward him.
“I won’t marry the man who betrayed me in the very thing I wanted my marriage to be founded upon.”
Tears still shimmered in her eyes, but her voice remained steady.
“I won’t marry the man who betrayed my love…
my trust.”
She drew in a slow breath.
“So, Mr.
Callahan, I, Evelyn Beaumont, refuse to be the pawn in your game.” Her gaze hardened.
“I refuse to marry you.”
She paused before adding coldly,
“Look for someone else.
Someone who is willing to be part of your game.”
Damian stared at her.
And she stared right back.
Her gaze never wavered.
There was pain in her eyes.
The kind of pain that came from having the one thing she had trusted most ripped away from her.
It burned through her soul.
Yet her expression had gone cold —almost frigid.
The warmth that had once softened her features was gone, replaced by an icy resolve that made her look like a completely different woman.
She had loved him…
Trusted him…
Believed in him.
And now, she was burying every one of those feelings alive.
Because if he had truly treated their love as nothing more than a game…
Then she would no longer give him the privilege of seeing how badly he had broken her.
Her fingers curled slowly at her sides.
She refused to cry.
Not here.
Not in front of him.
Not in front of the people watching them.
And certainly not for a man who had never been who she thought he was.
Damian’s gaze remained fixed on her.
For the first time that night, the faint indifference in his eyes seemed to falter.
But Evelyn didn’t notice.
Or perhaps …
she simply didn’t want to notice anymore.
Giving him one last look, she turned and walked away.
Damian’s fingers clenched as he watched her retreating back.
For the briefest moment, something cracked across his otherwise composed expression.
But it vanished just as quickly.
His jaw tightened, and he forced his expression back into its usual coldness.
He didn’t stop her.
But letting her walk away didn’t mean he had changed his demand.
His gaze returned to Charles.
“I already told you what I want, Capo Beaumont.” His voice was calm, almost indifferent.
“Now it’s up to you how you deliver it to me.” The source of this chapter is g.com.
Charles’s expression darkened.
His fingers curled into tight fists at his sides.
Then, after a beat, he called out, his voice rough and almost guttural.
“Evelyn, stop!”
Evelyn halted.
She hadn’t yet reached the doors.
She had heard every word Damian said, but she hadn’t stopped because of him.
She didn’t turn around.
Since she had already made herself clear and had refused him, there was nothing more to say.
But when her father called her name, she stopped and waited.
Charles spoke again.
“Come back.”
Evelyn remained still.
“Marry him,” he said.
Her fingers curled.
She slowly closed her eyes.
“I already said I won’t marry him,” she repeated, taking another step towards the exit.
But before she could take a second, Charles roared at his men.
“Bring the Second Young Miss back!
She doesn’t leave this hall.”
The men immediately moved.
They blocked Evelyn’s path.
“Miss Beaumont, please…”
“Move.” Her voice was quiet, but firm.
“I’m leaving.”
The men didn’t budge.
Evelyn’s composure was barely holding together, and every second they forced her to remain here made it harder to keep herself from breaking.
When they still refused to move, she turned around.
She looked at her father.
“Father…” Her voice cracked slightly.
“You really want me to marry him?”
Her eyes filled with tears she stubbornly refused to let fall.
“I’m your daughter.
How could you hand me over to the man you know betrayed me?
How could you give me to the man you know is out for revenge on you?”
Charles’s gaze burned into hers.
“Since you made this bed yourself, you can lie in it.” His voice was cold.
“You have no other choice.
Defying me comes with a price.”
He paused.
“And this is the price you pay.”
The words struck harder than any slap could have.
They were perhaps the cruelest words a father could say to his daughter.
And to Evelyn, they hurt even more because they came after the betrayal she had just suffered.
She stared at him, her eyes growing heavier with unshed tears.
She knew she had defied him.
She knew she had stood against him and chosen the man who had ultimately betrayed her.
But she had never imagined her father would punish her by forcing her to marry his enemy.
She was his daughter.
His own flesh and blood.
Didn’t that matter to him?
How could it not?
“Dad…” She called out softly, yet her voice carried through the silent hall.
“Is your organization more important than your own daughter?”
She already knew the answer.
Yet there had been countless times when she had chosen to believe that she mattered just as much.
That beneath the Capo, beneath the leader of the Beaumonts, there was still a father who would choose his daughter when it truly mattered.
But now…
She finally saw the difference. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
She was his daughter, his family.
And hadn’t he always taught them to put family above everything else?
Then why wasn’t he putting her first today?
Had those words always been nothing more than a convenience?
“You chose him yourself,” Charles said, making his stance clear.
“Since you started this, you will finish it.”
His voice hardened.
“That is your responsibility.
And you won’t leave this hall until you fulfill it.”
Evelyn’s fingers curled tightly.
She searched her father’s face.
She searched for even the slightest hesitation.
A flicker of regret.
A trace of the father she knew.
Anything.
But there was nothing.
All the love she thought she had seen in him…
All the care she had believed was there…
Suddenly felt like an illusion.
Her heart sank.
“Fine.”
The word left her lips quietly.
“If that’s the responsibility you want me to bear, then I will.”
She turned and walked back into the hall.
Back toward the man who had broken her heart.
She stopped beside Damian.
Her eyes met his —cold, empty, and detached.
“Since you demand to marry me, then on behalf of the Beaumonts…” She paused.
“I agree.”
Damian stared at her.
For a moment, all he could see was his own cold reflection in her eyes.
Evelyn held his gaze for another second before turning away.
She walked toward the stage.
But then —
“Stop.”
Damian’s voice halted her.
Evelyn stopped.
She didn’t turn immediately.
A moment later, she heard his footsteps approaching.
Damian walked toward her and stopped at her side.
He lowered his gaze to her, his expression unreadable.
Evelyn’s indifference was palpable.
Damian’s eyes flickered over her wedding gown before returning to her face.
“The Callahans don’t take a bride into their family and make her husband bear none of the cost.” His voice was calm and controlled.
Yet there was an unmistakable authority in it.
“Our brides are dressed by their husbands.”
He paused.
“And since you’re going to become my wife tonight, you will wear the wedding dress I chose for you.”
Evelyn’s brows drew together slightly.
Before she could respond, Damian glanced toward Xavier.
Xavier immediately understood.
He stepped forward with the black garment bag he had been carrying and handed it to Damian.
Damian took it.
Then he extended it toward Evelyn.
“Go change.” His eyes met hers.
“Then we’ll finish the wedding.”
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