I still remembered the day she left, five years ago. She kept turning back with every step, until finally she threw herself into my arms and wept.
"Mervyn."
"Wait for me. When I come back, I'll be your kitten for the rest of my life—gentle, loving, never leaving, never letting go."
Back then, her eyes shone with adoration, her voice dripping with love.
Now, that same gaze was laced with pity and contempt. Every word fell light as air from her lips—and cut sharper than any blade.
I opened my mouth, wanting to demand answers. But in the end, I swallowed every one of them. I shook my head, let out a quiet laugh, and said, "Distinguished guests, please head home."
"This wedding is off."
The entire hall went silent.
Amelia's eyes widened in shock. Then, just as quickly, her whole expression turned to ice.
"Mervyn Henson, are you threatening me?"
I shook my head.
"Amelia."
"I mean it."
Our eyes locked. The air between us crackled. Not a single person in that room dared make a sound.
No one wanted to pick a side. Everyone knew that Amelia's father valued me highly—he'd once declared publicly that anyone who tried to push me around would have to step over his dead body first.
At the same time, I wasn't someone to be trifled with. I'd stayed behind in the country all these years and single-handedly dragged the Sullivan family into the top ten. I moved fast, hit hard, and never tolerated a grain of sand in my eye.
Of course, I also had a secret.
The name Henson—my name—belonged to the most powerful of the Eight Great Houses of Crestworth.
"What's going on here?"
Right at that moment, Morgan Sullivan walked in. He took one look at the atmosphere and frowned, confusion written all over his face.
I turned and laid out everything that had happened, figuring that after all the years he'd watched me deliver results with his own eyes, he'd at least speak up for me.
Instead, his face hardened. "Mervyn, this one's on you. You're a grown man—why make a fuss over something so trivial?"
"We should all get along. Harmony brings prosperity."
"I've watched Darren grow up since he was a boy. There's not a malicious bone in his body. Besides, he just got back to the country and already secured a partnership with the Hensons of Crestworth."
Morgan called me his beloved son-in-law on any ordinary day. But when it came down to it, profit always won.
My feelings didn't factor in at all.
The cruel irony was that the partnership had nothing to do with Darren. It was something I'd arranged—part of my bride price to the Sullivans.
"Mervyn Henson, did you hear that? Stop acting like you matter!" Amelia let out a cold scoff. "If we're talking seniority, Darren's been part of this family longer than you."
"If we're talking ability—you spent five years and couldn't even get a meeting with the Hensons of Crestworth, while Darren sealed the deal with a wave of his hand."
Watching father and daughter close ranks around Darren, the guests read the room. More than a few shot amused, mocking glances my way.
Some didn't even bother to whisper.
"He's just a kept husband. Who does he think he is?"
"Exactly. Even if he's got some talent, without the Henson family backing him, he's nothing—a turd buried in dirt."
"He's not the only one angling to marry into the Sullivan family these days. He'd better tuck his tail between his legs and play the dog before it's too late. What an idiot."
Darren drank it all in, a smug grin curling at the corner of his mouth.
As for me—I was so furious I laughed. My gaze swept over every face in the room, one by one, before finally settling on Amelia.
"Amelia."
"Have you forgotten what my last name is?"
The moment those words left my mouth, every expression in the hall shifted.
"They share the same surname—could Mervyn actually be from the Hensons of Crestworth?"
"No way. If I were part of that family, I'd have been strutting around Harborfield like I owned the place!"
What they didn't understand was that the real heirs of great houses kept a low profile. They spent years being tested and tempered, laying the groundwork to one day inherit the family legacy.
Besides, Amelia had always told me she didn't want me to stand out too much.
Because that would attract other women.
She said she didn't feel secure.
So I'd planned to take it slow—to wait until the wedding, and then tell her the truth.
