Chapter 5 A Brother or a Groom

Morgan's POV

The dark-haired stranger approached me with the confidence of someone who hadn't been told no one day in his life. His eyes were boring into mine, focused and unblinking, as if he knew something that I didn't. With broad shoulders and a tailored suit and perfectly messy dark hair, he looked as though he had just been delivered from the pages of a billionaire romance novel.

Which made no sense because I was supposed to be about to marry someone who, in Kylie's words, resembles a "foot."

As he drew near, my heart raced. I could feel the heat creeping up my neck, my palms getting sweaty. Who was he? My groom? My groom's brother? A wedding crasher in the mix to make my life an even bigger disaster?

Before I could utter a coherent thought, Kylie opened her mouth because naturally, she did.

"Who is this?" Crossing her arms, her voice dripping with unnecessary attitude, she asked.

Ethan shot her a look that definitely communicated Shut up, for the first time in your life, but she ignored it. "Are you Maxwell's brother?" Use the situation to your advantage. - Make them want it, she pressed, her eyes narrowing.

The man broke his eyes off me to look at her. He didn't answer. Just stared.

The silence was suffocating. Tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Because she is Kylie, she wouldn't take the hint. "Because I heard that Maxwell's not as cute as you," she added, sizing him up as if he were a car she was thinking about buying. "So you must be his brother."

I internally facepalmed.

The corners of the man's mouth turned into the barest smirk, but he continued to hold his tongue. The longer he remained quiet, the more Kylie bristled. Her least-favorite one was when people didn't notice her.

I had to intervene before my sister escalated this. "Kylie, stop. You're being rude."

She scoffed. "I'm just asking questions-"

"No, you're just being an ass," I barked, losing my patience. Not everything is about you, Zoey.

Kylie looked up at me, her eyes flashing. "Oh, sorry for wanting to know who this stranger at the altar is!"

The priest cleared his throat, and looked like he was thoroughly done with all of us. "Shall we begin?"

I held up a hand. "Not yet."

"The groom is not here," I said, my eyes darting to the entrance, in case Maxwell had chosen to arrive fashionably late.

The priest looked at me, then the man beside me, then back at me. "Then... who is this?"

Sure, Priest Who's Just Trying to Do His Job.

I looked at the man, confident he would explain. For God's sake, please say something before Kylie does.

Instead, he just smiled.

"Oh, him?" I waved vaguely at him. "He must be Max's brother. His best man, maybe?"

The priest appeared still puzzled. "Max's... brother?"

Finally the man chose to speak. And when he did, his voice was low, smooth and way too knowing.

"My name is Max Prescott Fleming.

Silence.

Dead. Cold. Silence.

I blinked. What.

Kyie literally died choking on his own breath.

Ethan pretended like he wanted to evaporate.

My stepmother, Victoria, gasped as dramatically as if someone had died.

The priest gazed as if he wanted to register a formal complaint against all of us.

I just stood there, trying to processed the crazy plot twist I'd been given. "You can't be serious," I finally said.

The real groom, Max, smiled bigger, the eye corners crinkling a bit. "I'm afraid not."

I took a full step back. "No. No way. This-this isn't possible."

"You seem surprised," he said silkily, stepping forward.

"Surprised?" Really? I said again, this time laughing in disbelief. "Surprised doesn't even come close."

Max cocked his head, his eyes still not blinking. "And why is that?"

I opened my mouth and closed it again. How could I have explained? Oh, because they said you were ugly? That sounded terrible.

Before I could even come up with a real answer, Kylie snapped out of her shock. And, naturally, she made it all worse.

"Wait, you're Morgan?" she asked, jabbing a manicured finger at him as if he were an imposter. "You're joking, right?"

Max gave her a look that clearly said, I wish I wasn't here right now.

Zoey rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "This is ridiculous. You aren't the man Mother set up for Morgan."

"Do you want to see my ID?" Max said, his voice so steady it bordered on mocking.

Kylie's mouth flapped like a fish and then she turned to me. "You believe this?" she demanded.

I ... didn't know what to believe.

Max was just some boring rich dude I was being indentured to marry. But this man? The one that was blocking my view, whose immeasurable beauty seemed chiseled directly into vengeance and perfection?

This is not what I came prepared for.

And the worst part?

He was staring at me like he knew me. As if we had some kind of history I forgot about.

My stomach twisted. "Have we met before?" I asked cautiously.

Max's lips twitched slightly. "In a way."

Not an answer. Not even close to an answer.

Kylie groaned, throwing her hands above her head. 'Oh my God, this is crazy! Morgan: You owe me for that one. Without me, you wouldn't even HAVE a groom right now!"

My jaw dropped. "Excuse me?!"

She turned on Ethan. "Tell her, Ethan! Tell her how much you would have stayed with her if I hadn't seduced you!"

Liam had the look of a guy who wanted to melt into the floorboards.

Max, infuriatingly inscrutable, raised an eyebrow. "This is the ex-boyfriend?"

"Unfortunately," I muttered.

Kylie sighed, in annoyance. "You're welcome, by the way."

Something in me snapped. "This is why you think I should be GRATEFUL? Because you plagiarized with my boyfriend?! "

Kylie just shrugged her shoulders, unfazed. "Obviously. Otherwise, you'd still be stuck with him instead of this upgrade." She pointed at Max as if he were a luxury car I'd just won.

I had never wanted to throttle her more in my life.

Max laughed - literally laughed - then looked at me, his blue eyes sparkling. Well," he murmured, voice smooth as silk, "at least one of us is pleased with this marriage."

I didn't know how to respond to that.

What I did know was that my life just got much more complicated.