"Marry me, please...," Avery's voice resounded through the empty garage.

She sobbed, falling to her knees. She was ready to do anything, anything at all, if it would make the man standing in front of her to marry her. If she had raised her head to meet his gaze, she could have detected the hint of surprise in his ocean blue eyes at what she just proposed.

"You don't mean that, Ava. You hate me," his cold voice stated.

"I fucking mean it!" Avery screamed, her voice echoing through the silent garage. "Marry me, Archie. And I will do whatever you want in return."

She was gripping her wet wedding gown tightly as she spoke, transferring her aggression onto the satin fabric as she waited for his reply. However, even in her irrational state, she had not expected to receive a positive response from him the very next moment.

"Anything I want..." he murmured, the words rolling off his tongue as if he was contemplating her proposal, "Alright then, Ava. Consider yourself my wife from this moment on."

Shocked speechless, Avery watched him walk away to his car and return after a few minutes with a white paper and pen in hand.

"Here. Sign that and we are good to go," he ordered.

Without the least bit of hesitation, she snatched the pen and paper from his hand to input her signature, not bothering to read what it was that she signed. He took it from her when she was done, folded it neatly and tucked it into his breast pocket.

Just then, the sound of approaching footsteps from the distance reached their ears, causing them to share knowing glances. Avery's eyes filled with hate and determination while Archie's had a mixture of amusement and anger.

"Anything to say before you are whisked off?" he asked.

"I WILL MAKE THEM ALL REGRET THE DAY THEY MET ME! I WILL MAKE THEM WISH THEY WERE NEVER BORN! AND I WILL MAKE THEM HATE THE DAY THEY THOUGHT OF BETRAYING ME!"

"You will, Sweetie. And I'll help you with that..." His words faded as she slipped into oblivion, her body crumpling to the ground.

Archibald Donovan did not attempt to catch her before she could hit the ground. Instead, he straightened to his full height and stood there, staring down at her with a calculative gaze.

Feeling the unwanted intruders closing up on them, he let out a tired sigh, "She's breathtaking."

★★★

24 Hours Ago.

Avery rushed into the hospital, her overflowing wedding dress trailing behind her. She blocked out the screams of agony that echoed around her, that of families who had just lost their loved ones, as she looked around for a familiar face.

Brian's face.

Through the past few weeks, she had imagined this day and all kind of bad events that might occur. She wanted to be prepared for whatever would happen and just a few hours ago, she had thought everything was going well. Not until she received the news...

"Miss Avery, I think we should change directions. Just received the news that Brian got into an accident on his way there."

"What?! Is he alright—What's the name of the hospital he was taken to?" Her system had been thrown into total disarray and the only thing she could think of at that moment was seeing him. Brian, her boyfriend of 6 long years and fiance of a whole year.

She had called off the wedding immediately and gotten behind the wheels of the car herself, speeding off towards the hospital. But now that she was here, she had no idea where to go.

Judging by the number of stretchers being pushed into the hospital at the moment, she could tell the accident was a fatal one which would take the lives of countless people. Her selfish self could only pray that Brian wasn't part of them.

Seeing that everyone was busy rushing up and down the lobby, she took matters into her hands and pulled one of the nurses who passed by her.

"Hey, I'm Avery McCallum and my fiance was involved in that accident. Take me to where he is," she ordered, not bothering to give out her fiance's name.

Anyone living in that city knew who he was, the same way they knew who she was just by hearing her name. Not only because the two led the leading companies in the city, but because their names had been making waves on TV for the past few months.

The direct heir and heiress of two rival families were getting married, what could be more gossip-worthy than that? The reporters had used the information to their satisfaction by also revealing how the two families were against the marriage, and how the lovebirds had discarded their families' opinion and forged ahead with the marriage.

It was no surprise when the nurse's face brightened, a smile spreading on her face.

"You are Mr Walker's guardian? He's currently in the operating theatre," she informed.

Avery released a deep sigh of relief. The fact that Brian was in the OR already meant the doctors were attending to him.

"The operating theatre? Is it..." she hesitated, clapsing and unclasping her hands nervously. "Is it looking good in there?"

"I can't say, Miss. Why don't I lead you to the—"

Avery was nodding in affirmation even before the nurse was done speaking. Without questions, she followed the latter to the hallway leading to the OR where she was asked to sit and wait until the surgery was over.

Time passed as slowly as it could with Avery's worry growing each second. It was all she could do not to barge into the theater to see what was going on in there. However, the only thing keeping her sane was the thought of how she would settle the bills for the cancelled wedding.

A cancelled wedding meant she would have to plan another but with Brian already disowned by his family and she who was already estranged from hers, their bank accounts would definitely go red if they attempted to plan another.

Still, everything would be alright as long as Brian was alive. Or so she thought...

~ Dear readers, this book is participating in the Cupid's Quill Contest, tell me what you think about it all!