Chapter 582

The explosion of scandal detonated across the grand ballroom.

Silence swallowed the celebration.

Every clinking champagne glass froze mid-toast.

The elegant string quartet's melody now sounded grotesquely out of place.

Tristan Whitmore's face drained of color. His pupils contracted to pinpricks.

"Shut it down!" He charged through the crowd like a madman. "Who authorized this slideshow?"

Panic bled through his commanding tone.

No one answered.

The damning photographs kept cycling - each image stripping away the facade of his perfect life.

What should have been his triumphant second wedding became a public execution of his reputation.

Blessings turned to muffled laughter behind gloved hands.

Tristan lunged toward the control booth, desperate to stop the carnage. Only one thought consumed him.

Vivian mustn't see this. She couldn't witness his humiliation.

Then the crowd gasped.

A procession of women in designer wedding gowns emerged on the red carpet.

Each bride mirrored the women in the scandalous photos.

Their runway strut transformed the venue into a grotesque fashion show.

Tristan's knees buckled. Cold dread seeped into his bones.

The sword of Damocles had fallen.

All eyes turned to the groom - his earlier arrogance replaced by visible terror.

He seized the nearest woman. "Who sent you?" Spittle flew from his trembling lips. "Answer me!"

The woman remained silent.

"Get out!" Tristan roared, shoving her away. "All of you!"

But the bridal procession continued circling like vultures.

His manic gaze landed on another woman. "Tell me!" He shook her violently. "Who orchestrated this?"

Then came the voice that froze his blood.

"I did."

Vivian Lockwood stood framed in the doorway.

Gone was her wedding gown. She wore the same navy dress from twenty years ago - the one he'd mocked when she first arrived at the Whitmore estate.

Recognition flashed in Tristan's eyes.

Memories flooded back - how he'd forced this marriage, tormented her, bankrupted her family.

He'd been the worst kind of husband.

And now she'd become the most dangerous kind of ex-wife.