Chapter127 Aliya:Marcus, I’m willing to give you a second chance.
Aliya POV
Ava stared at me in complete shock, her champagne glass trembling violently in her hand as the amber liquid sloshed dangerously close to the rim. "What the hell is going on here?"
Marcus had just finished his declaration, his words still hanging in the air like smoke. He cast a cold glance at Sarah, who stood frozen beside him, then moved through the crowded ballroom with purposeful steps.
He took my hand in his, lifting it to his lips to press a gentle kiss to my knuckles. The gesture was so tender, so public, that gasps rippled through the crowd.
Then, to everyone's complete astonishment, Marcus dropped to one knee right there in front of hundreds of witnesses.
"Aliya," he said, his voice carrying across the silent ballroom, "will you marry me again? Will you trust me again?"
The silence that followed was deafening. Not a single glass clinked, not a heel clicked against the marble, not even a breath could be heard. It was as if the entire ballroom had been placed under a spell.
"Yes," I said, my voice steady and clear, projecting across the vast space with the authority of someone born to command. "Yes, Marcus, I will. I've always believed in second chances, and I believe in us."
The crowd erupted in a cacophony of mixed reactions that threatened to shatter the crystal chandeliers overhead. Some people clapped uncertainly, their applause hesitant and confused. Others whispered furiously to their companions, their voices rising in pitch and urgency as they tried to make sense of what they were witnessing.
But one voice rose above them all, loud and unmistakable, filled with a rage so potent it seemed to electrify the very air around us.
"You can't marry him!"
I turned to see Patrick pushing through the crowd with the desperation of a drowning man, his formal attire disheveled and his face flushed bright red with anger.
"He doesn't deserve you, Aliya!" Patrick shouted, his voice cracking with emotion. "Not after what he did! Not after how he humiliated you! You can't possibly forgive him for that public display of infidelity!"
Henry stood nearby, his arms crossed over his chest in a defensive posture, watching the drama unfold with cold amusement dancing in his dark eyes.
"Interesting," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm and barely contained malice. "So you two are betraying Nikolai together now? How absolutely fascinating. I wonder what our dear Nikolai would think about this touching reunion between star-crossed lovers."
The comment sent another powerful wave of gasps and increasingly frantic murmurs through the assembled crowd.
"The Luna Queen and the future Alpha King..." "But what about Nikolai?" "Wasn't she supposed to be his ally?" "This changes everything about the political landscape..."
Simon Collins stepped forward then, his face purple with fury, the veins in his temples visibly throbbing as his rage reached a boiling point.
"Today, no matter what happens, Alpha Marcus needs to give me an explanation!" he bellowed, his voice booming across the ballroom with such force that it silenced even the most persistent whispers.
"How dare you put my daughter in this position! How dare you make a mockery of her in front of the entire pack elite! Sarah has sacrificed everything for you, and this is how you repay her loyalty?"
Sarah moved closer to me then, her designer gown rustling with each desperate step. Tears were streaming down her face in rivers, creating dark streaks of mascara that carved dramatic paths down her cheeks like war paint.
"Maybe I did some things wrong before," she said, her voice breaking with each syllable, the words coming out in hiccupping sobs that made her sound like a lost child. "You can hit me, you can yell at me, you can destroy my reputation and my standing in the pack, but you can't steal my Marcus away from me! He's mine! He's always been mine!"
"We have a bond!" she continued, her voice rising to a near-shriek. "We have history! We have love! Real love, not whatever political arrangement this is! You can't just erase that with pretty words and public gestures!"
"You must give my daughter an explanation!" Simon Collins demanded, his voice shaking with barely contained violence. "You cannot treat her this way! You cannot use her and discard her like yesterday's newspaper! The Collins family demands satisfaction!"
But Marcus didn't even look at Simon or Sarah. His eyes remained fixed on me with laser-like intensity, his hand still holding mine in a grip that was both possessive and protective.
"I only said today was my engagement party," he said, "But I never said who I was getting engaged to. Whoever spread those rumors knows exactly what they were doing. They were trying to manipulate the situation for their own benefit."
People started spreading rumors like wildfire through the ballroom, their voices rising in excitement as they seized upon this new narrative:
"She spread the rumors herself."
"She was just trying to force her way into a marriage with the Alpha."
"How absolutely mortifying."
Sarah's face went chalk white as she realized what was happening.
"No!" she screamed, her voice cracking under the strain. "That's not what happened! Marcus, tell them! Tell them about us! Tell them about our love!"
But Marcus remained silent.
Simon Collins raised his voice again, trying desperately to defend his daughter against the mounting tide of opinion. "Stop it! Don't you dare slander my daughter like this! I won't allow anyone to speak about her that way! She is a good girl, a loyal girl, and she deserves better than this public humiliation!"
Just then, the massive ballroom doors burst open with a loud crash that echoed through the vast space like a gunshot. The sound was so sudden and violent that several guests screamed and clutched at their companions for support.
A thin, fragile-looking woman stumbled through the entrance.
The ballroom fell into absolute silence as every head turned to stare at this unexpected intruder. The contrast between her bedraggled appearance and the elegant gathering was so stark it was almost surreal.
She scanned the crowd frantically, her eyes darting from face to face with desperate intensity, searching for something or someone with the single-minded focus of a person possessed. When her gaze finally landed on Simon Collins, her entire body seemed to sag with relief.
Without hesitation, she threw herself forward, pushing through the startled guests with surprising strength for someone who looked so frail.
"Daddy!" she screamed, her voice raw and hoarse as if she'd been shouting for hours. The word echoed through the ballroom with heart-wrenching desperation. "Daddy! I finally found you! I've been looking everywhere! They told me you'd be here!"