****Aaron's POV****

Nadia walked down the aisle first, taking her place on the other side as the maid of honor. I held my breath as I waited for Caroline to show up.

I heard the gasps of the guests as Caroline came into view. Many heads turned to me to watch my reaction. I, on the other hand, was utterly and completely mesmerized by the woman walking towards me with slow steps. She was not looking at me, nor at the guests, nor anyone. She was staring at the ground, her face had turned a light shade of pink, and I could understand everything she was feeling right now. Because I was too.

"How does she know the Dylan fucking VanAssche?" Brian spoke, leaning towards me.

It was only after he mentioned his name did I realize the man walking her down the aisle was VanAssche. I wondered where that bastard who called himself her father was.

Brian was waiting for an answer, but I focused on the woman in front of me.

My heart skipped a beat when she looked up at me from behind the veil. She was nervous, it was written all over her face, but when her eyes met mine, it all disappeared. She smiled at me, her steps became more confident.

Moving my eyes away from her face might be the hardest thing I did that day. I had to though. The man beside her was glaring holes in my head after all.

I returned the glare, until he placed Caroline's hand in mine. He cared for her, dearly. The haunted look he gave me in that moment explained exactly what the woman standing in front of me meant to him.

I softened my expressions and gave him a slight nod, he repeated my act and moved back to take his seat among the other guests.

Caroline and I turned to face the Bishop, who opened the book he was holding and started the ceremony.

"You look better than I fantasized about you," I whispered to Caroline. She tried to hold her smile but chuckled at the end, the last bit of nervousness flying away from her.

Finally it was time to say our vows.

"Do you, Aaron Woodwords,

Take, Caroline Marshall,

To be your wife;

To have and to hold,

From this day forward,

For better, for worse,

For richer, for poorer,

In sickness and in health,

To love and to cherish,

'Till death do you part."

The Bishop turned to me. I looked into Caroline's eyes—a light shade of brown that glowed like honey in the sunshine. "I do," I said. I had never been more sure about anything else.

He then turned to Caroline.

"Do you, Caroline Marshall,

Take, Aaron Woodwords,

To be your husband;

To have and to hold,

From this day forward,

For better, for worse,

For richer, for poorer,

In sickness and in health,

To love and to cherish,

'Till death do you part."

"I do," she said the next moment, a huge smile spread on her face.

Nate passed the wedding rings to us. We slipped it on each other's fingers.

"With the power invested in me at this moment, I now pronounce you both husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

As soon as the words were said, I pulled Caroline to me. Lifting the veil over her face, I covered her mouth with mine, sealing a lifelong deal.

It wasn't long when Kevin patted my shoulder to pull back. "Enough man, we all are still here," he laughed. The guests clapped and laughed, while I finally pulled back to look at Caroline, who was blushing hard.

When I turned to Kevin to give him a glare, he shrugged and gestured to me to look somewhere. I followed his gaze over to where Dylan was sitting. He was looking at me with an expression that conveyed how desperately he wanted to rip my head off. Asshole, I thought and looked away.

"You're officially mine from this moment," I whispered into Caroline's ear. I took her hand in mine and guided her inside the mansion where the after party was about to start.

After the cake cutting and numerous rounds of dancing we finally sat down at one corner of the hall. Friends and relatives, one after another, were coming to congratulate the both of us.

"All this feels so good," Caroline said, looking around the hall with a wide smile.

I hummed entwining our fingers together and brought her hand to my face, brushing my lips over the back of her palm.

I was curious about where James was. I had met Lahaina and Juliea a while back, after the ceremony, but he wasn't anywhere. Though I wanted to ask Caroline about his whereabouts, I knew bringing him up would curse every good thing happening in my life right now.

Did he die? Nah, I won't be able to digest all this happiness in a single day.

"Are you going to tell me now where we will be going from here?" She asked, her eyes twinkling with excitement.

We would be leaving for our honeymoon right after this party and I had still not informed her of where I was taking her to. I wanted it to be a surprise.

"Patience, love" I chuckled. She pouted with impatience and I leaned forward to kiss her lips.

Nate and Brian walked towards us after several rounds of dancing with their respective partners. They pulled the chair at our table and sat down.

"Why don't you both leave? The party is almost over," I offered. They had been messing with me all day, it was only fair I got back at them.

"What do you see in him?" Nate asked Caroline, with genuine curiosity. Caroline laughed.

"Something that Grace failed to see in you," I smirked. Brian laughed.

"Hey!" Nate warned.

"Hey!" Caroline defended him.

"We're taking sides, Caroline?" I faked a hurt expression.

"That was rude," she said, her voice sweet and melodious.

"Yes, Caroline. Please keep your husband in check," Nate said. He called up a waiter and picked up two glasses of champagne, passing both of them to Caroline as a thank you. I shook my head disapprovingly. The last thing I wanted was my wife to start defending these morons.

"Where's Kevin?" she asked, looking around. She had started to think that my friends were usually found together in a trio, which considering the only two times she had met them, was true.

"He's busy. We'll leave after he's done," Brian said, borrowing Caroline's untouched glass of champagne, and to Nate's displeasure, gulping it down at once.

"Where is he?" I asked. I needed to know what he was up to now.

"He went to chat with a girl. Your maid of honor to be precise," Brian told Caroline.

"Oh no. Please stop him," she said, concerned.

"Don't worry. Girls love him," Brian assured her. For whatever reason, she didn't believe him. She gave Brian a brief smile and looked around the hall for Nadia.

So they really didn't give a fuck that this was my wedding day and the girl he went after was my wife's best friend.

As if on cue, Nadia emerged from one side of the room. Her face was red with anger as she made her way towards us. Kevin was nowhere to be seen.

Nadia roughly pulled a chair for herself and sat next to Caroline. Caroline looked over at me with a worried look, then asked Nadia about what had happened to make her so angry.

"Just came across a bloody pervert. What's wrong with these men? I felt like committing a murder." She said between clenched teeth.

"You're talking about Kevin?" Brian asked with a mischievous smirk.

"You know him?" She asked, lifting her head and looking at all our faces. "Don't tell me he's your friend," she literally begged me to say no. All I did was nod.

Anger drained from her face and it was soon replaced by regret.

"He deserves your curses," I told her, assuring whatever she had said to Kevin would not be a big deal. Knowing him, he really would have deserved it.

"You guys talk. I'll go and change. This dress is really heavy," Caroline said. I got up from my seat to help her stand.

"I think you'll need my help with it," I whispered in her ear. She must have noticed the mischief in my eyes because she laughed shyly and shook her head.

"I think I can manage on my own."

"Stupid asshole," Nate and Brian said in unison. I searched for ways to keep my anger under control. It would not be good to have two funerals on my wedding day.

She started to move towards the room, where our bags and clothes were all ready and packed. My gaze then went to VanAssche, who stood afar in the direction Caroline was headed to. He was holding a glass of red wine, while he talked to someone over the phone. Not a person was around him.

Business was a lot about making social interactions and social connections through those interactions. I had learned that at a very young age. It had never been a problem to me though, as people were always vying for my attention. I could see some eyes in the room at VanAssche too, but none of them dared to be around him. As much as I disapproved of the man, it was impressive how he had built his company and still managed to maintain the arrogant bastard he was.

"I think I'll help her," Nadia said. She looked worried. It made me wonder what she had done to Kevin.

Was he alive?

Lifting her gown a little, she ran after Caroline, eager to get away from us.

Kevin was dead, wasn't he?

I watched as Caroline moved gracefully, stopping for a split second to say something to VanAssche. She turned to her right, I was about to turn back to my table when I realized what was going to happen and stopped to watch.

VanAssche ended the call and placed his phone back in his pocket. He had started to leave his lone position in the corner and move within the hall—probably to leave—when he crashed into the woman running after her friend.

They both stilled after the impact, with VanAssche being momentarily confused about the sudden collision and Nadia looking down at her dress. The wine had spilled over, leaving a huge red stain on it.

Even with the heavy music playing in the hall, the sound of the glass breaking made Caroline run back to check what had happened. She stared at the duo with her eyes bugging out of their sockets.

Well, this is gonna be interesting.

- Analia