Chapter 3
By the next morning, the headlines were everywhere.
“Runaway Bride Replaced by Mystery Groom—Wedding Ends in Shocking Twist!”
“Linsey Brooks Marries a Stranger in Her Gown—Is This Real or Revenge?”
Photos of Linsey standing beside Collin, hand in hand, were splashed across gossip blogs and news pages. Comment sections exploded with speculation. Some called her desperate, others praised her boldness. But everyone was talking.
Linsey scrolled through the articles with a blank stare. She didn’t feel regret—just exhaustion. Her phone kept buzzing with messages from old classmates, curious acquaintances, and of course… Felix.
His name flashed across her screen for the third time that hour. She hit “Ignore” again.
She didn’t owe him a word.
A soft knock interrupted her thoughts.
The door opened, and Collin entered—still in a sharp tailored suit, clean-shaven, calm. He didn’t look like someone who had just been publicly dumped and married a stranger out of the blue.
He looked like he’d planned it all.
“You’re awake,” he said. “Breakfast’s ready.”
“You made breakfast?”
“No,” he replied dryly. “I’m wealthy, not skilled in the kitchen. But I ordered enough to feed a small country.”
Linsey followed him into the massive dining area of his penthouse. The place was stunning—floor-to-ceiling windows, marble floors, and more rooms than she could count. The view alone stole her breath. She hadn’t realized where she’d ended up last night. She had been too tired to notice when his car brought them here after the wedding.
“You live here?” she asked, stunned.
“For now,” he said casually. “I have a few places.”
Linsey sat at the table, quietly sipping her coffee. It felt strange. She had gone from being abandoned at the altar to waking up in a luxury home with a man she barely knew.
And yet, he felt oddly familiar.
She watched him as he read something on his tablet, his face calm and unreadable. There was no wedding ring on his hand yet. No picture frames on the walls. No sign of a life shared with anyone.
“Why were you getting married?” she asked suddenly.
Collin didn’t look up. “Arranged. She was a family friend. It made sense on paper.”
“But not to your heart?”
He finally glanced at her. “No.”
“Do you love her?” Linsey asked.
He paused. “I don’t know her well enough to love her.”
Linsey was silent for a moment. Then she asked the question that had been clawing at her all night. “Why did you say yes to me yesterday? A stranger in a wedding dress?”
Collin’s eyes didn’t leave hers. “Because five years ago, I made a mistake.”
She blinked. “What do you mean?”
He leaned back, his expression unreadable again. “Forget it. It’s not important right now.”
But it was important. Linsey could feel it in her bones.
Before she could push further, her phone buzzed again. Another call from Felix. This time, she didn’t ignore it. She answered and held the phone to her ear in silence.
“Linsey, thank God,” Felix’s voice rushed in. “I didn’t mean to hurt you yesterday. I was just—panicking. I didn’t know what to do. Joanna—she’s fine now. She overreacted. I should’ve stayed. Can we talk?”
Linsey stared at the wall. Her voice came out cold and quiet. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Come on,” he pleaded. “You and I… we’ve been together for five years. That can’t just end overnight.”
Linsey glanced at Collin, who was still calmly eating his toast, pretending not to listen. But she knew he could hear every word.
“You’re right,” Linsey said slowly into the phone. “It didn’t end overnight. It ended five years ago. I just didn’t see it until now.”
Felix fell silent.
“I’m married, Felix,” she added. “And my husband actually wants to be by my side.”
Without waiting for a reply, she hung up.
Collin raised a brow. “That was dramatic.”
“Was it?” she asked, folding her arms. “I thought it was direct.”
He chuckled, then stood. “Good. You need that fire. We’ve got a few appearances to make—people need to believe we’re happily in love.”
Linsey sighed. “You mean interviews and paparazzi?”
He nodded. “We’ll need to hold hands, exchange glances, maybe even fake a kiss if it comes up.”
She stared at him. “Are you enjoying this?”
“I like winning,” he said. “And I hate giving people a reason to gossip.”
As she followed him to get ready, Linsey couldn’t help but feel she was stepping into something bigger than herself. What had started as a moment of impulse now felt like the beginning of something real—even if neither of them dared admit it yet.
But what she didn’t know was this:
Five years ago, Collin had met her once—briefly, secretly, and completely. It had changed him.
And after that, he vanished into the shadows—not because he didn’t care.
But because he needed to rise to a level where he would finally be worthy of the woman who had smiled at him that one rainy night.