The wine bottle sits between us like a loaded weapon. Ethan stares at it, his face cycling through shades of red and white as the weight of his father's demand settles over him.
Pour wine for Noah Lancaster. The man whose wife he stole. In front of three hundred wedding guests.
His hands shake as he reaches for the bottle, then stop midway. Something shifts in his expression—a dangerous glint that I recognize immediately. Pride. The kind of stubborn, destructive pride that makes men choose ruin over humiliation.
"No."
The word cuts through the ballroom's tense silence like a blade. Adrian Pierce's face goes rigid with shock.
"Ethan," his father warns, voice low and deadly. "Don't—"
"I said no." Ethan straightens to his full height, color flooding back into his cheeks. "I won't pour wine for this fraud."
The gasp that ripples through the crowd is audible. Phones turn in our direction, recording every moment of what's about to unfold.
