A Joke, A Lifelong Regret Chapter 04
On the day of the ceremony, I stepped out of the car with Damian.
Aria walked behind us in a daze, reaching for my hand a few times before pulling back each time.
“Elena, are you sure about this? Marriage is a big deal…”
I shook her off without looking at her.
“I’ve never been more sure. But since it’s such a big occasion, I’m waiting for a few friends to come
and witness it.”
Damian didn’t think anything of it.
He even reached over and straightened my wrap, his voice soft the way it got when he was playing the devoted fiancé. “Of course. Whoever you want.”
I looked up at the building in front of us.
Technically it wasn’t a real City Clerk’s Office. It was an entire floor the Vale family had rented out under the cover of a private registration service.
The clerks, the witnesses, the security guards, even the couples standing in line to get married or divorced. All of them were Vale family plants.
The digital display on the wall cycled through ticket numbers. Staff bent over paperwork looking busy. The outdated magazines fanned out by the waiting chairs completed the picture.
If I hadn’t already known the truth, I would’ve believed every inch of it.
Just as we were heading to the counter, Aria pressed a hand to her stomach and went pale. “Elena, I’m not feeling well. I’ll be right back.”
The second she disappeared, Damian’s phone buzzed.
I caught the contact name: Ms. Bellamy.
He’d gotten a new assistant with that last name around a year ago. Said it was a family office arrangement, told me not to read into it.
So it had started that long ago.
Damian stepped aside to take the call.
I put in my earpiece and hit record.
Their voices came through clean.
“Damian, let’s stop this.” Aria’s voice was barely above a whisper. “If Elena ever finds out it was all fake, it’ll destroy her.”
“It can’t stop.” Damian’s voice was flat and final. “Aria, you and I are already legally married. This time, I’m giving you and our child a real name. As for Elena, she can never know.”
Even hearing it confirmed, that they’d registered behind my back, my chest still cracked open.
It wasn’t just that I’d been betrayed.
It was that they’d never seen me as anything more than the fool standing in front of them, playing
the unwitting prop.
Damian ended the call and turned back with a flawless smile. “Elena, we’re up.”
I let him take my hand and lead me forward, my face completely blank.
The future Damian’s voice ran on in my ear.
[You can keep Elena around if you want. But I only want Aria. She lost the baby later, and her réputation was destroyed by Elena. You cannot let Elena find out the truth.]
Damian guided me into a seat at the registration window.
The clerk reviewed our documents and looked up. “Just to confirm. You’re both entering this marriage voluntarily, no coercion, and there are no existing legal marriages on either side. Is that correct?”
Damian answered without hesitation. “That’s correct.”
I met the clerk’s eyes and nodded calmly. “Yes.’
The clerk lifted the red-covered marriage certificate and lined it up carefully.
“I’ll now apply the marriage seal. From this moment, your marriage is legally binding and recognized under the law.”
The stamp came down with a heavy click, the circular seal pressing deep across the photo and document seam.
Damian picked up the certificate. Something lit up in his eyes. An actual flash of excitement.
He wrapped his arms around me like a man who’d finally gotten what he wanted.
“Elena. Starting today, you’re my wife.”
There was a time I’d imagined that scene a thousand different ways.
Now I just pulled free from his arms.
Then I turned around and handed the red certificate to the three people who had been standing behind me this whole time.
Two plainclothes detectives.
One investigative journalist.
The smile on Damian’s face froze solid.
I looked at the detectives. “We’ve got the witnesses, the physical evidence, the recordings, the
forged documents, the fake clerk’s office, and Damian Vale’s concealed legal marriage. Is that everything?”
One detective took the certificate, voice flat. “That’s everything.”
I finally turned to face Damian.
“Damian Vale. You have an existing legal marriage, yet you set up a fraudulent registration,
concealed that marriage, and induced me to sign fraudulent documents. I’m pressing charges.
Bigamy. Marriage fraud. Forgery of government documents. Conspiracy.”
I looked past him at Aria, who had just come back from the bathroom and was gripping the wall, barely standing.
I smiled at her.
“And you, Aria Bellamy. Don’t panic. You’re not going anywhere either.”