The words hit the ballroom like a thunderclap.
"I do not!"
Chloe's voice echoes through the stunned silence, her wedding bouquet falling from nerveless fingers to scatter white roses across the marble floor. Three hundred guests sit frozen in their chairs, unable to process what they've just witnessed.
The minister stares at her with his mouth hanging open. "I'm sorry, did you say—"
"I said I do not!" Chloe repeats, her voice stronger now, carrying clearly to every corner of the ballroom. "I cannot marry this man!"
Ethan Pierce stands beside her in his thousand-dollar tuxedo, his face cycling through confusion, humiliation, and rage. "Chloe, what are you doing?"
She turns toward him, her wedding dress rustling with the movement. "I'm making the biggest mistake of my life right! No, I already made it. The biggest mistake was divorcing Noah!"
