Runaway Groom Fine, I'm Marrying Your Billionaire Uncle!

On my wedding day, a video of a girl about to commit suicide popped up on the big screen.

And just like that, my groom ran out on me. That girl was his white moonlighthis precious ex.

He said, Chloe, we can have our wedding anytime, but her life is on the line.

Later, he literally cried his eyes out, begging me: "Baby, please give me another chance."

"Baby? You should call me Aunt Chloe!"

Under the dazzling spotlights, I held my fathers arm, dragging the long train of my white wedding gown as I walked slowly onto the stage. At that moment, I was still fantasizing about our beautiful future together.

But just as the officiant was about to start the vows, a girl suddenly appeared on the giant projector screen.

"Ethan, I regret it. Please don't leave me. Without you, my life has no meaning."

Gasps echoed through the crowd. In the video, the girl held a razor blade and slashed her own wrist.

Ethan immediately let go of my hand. He turned to leave.

"Ethan?"

My eyes welled with tears as I called out to him. I didn't want him to abandon me for another woman.

"Chloe, we can have our wedding anytime, but her life is on the line."

With that, he left me standing there, running out of the venue without even looking back.

In this gorgeous, lavish hall, I had become a laughingstock. I looked at the whispering guests below the stage.

I snatched the microphone from the host. "Is there anyone in this room willing to marry me today?"

I was probably losing my mind. Actually, noI was just driven mad by Ethan's sheer disrespect. I have the looks, the body, and a degree from a top-tier Ivy League business school. Why on earth should I act like he was my only choice?

Our relationship wasn't some epic love story. Our families had been doing business together for years and wanted to merge our empires through us.

When I first met Ethan, I thought he was exactly my type.

Six months later, he asked me out, and we naturally transitioned into a relationship.

The entire hall fell dead silent. My parents, terrified that I was having a breakdown, rushed up to pull me back.

I turned my head and noticed a devastatingly handsome man sitting in the corner, staring at me with cold, piercing eyes.

"Damian Vance-Cole, would you marry me? Right now, today..."

I shook off my parents' hands, holding the mic tight as I walked toward him. He was Ethans young uncle. Though he was only five years older than me, he had already taken complete control of the Cole Group.

The silence in the room grew almost suffocating. I stood tall, biting my lip as I locked eyes with Damian.

Just when everyone was waiting to see me humiliate myself, Damian stood up. He walked over and took the microphone from my hand.

"Miss Vance, it would be my honor. Let's spend the rest of our lives together."

The moment the words left his mouth, the crowd went wild with disbelief. The Miller family, embarrassed out of their minds, spat out some angry words and stormed out of the hall.

The rest of the wedding was a chaotic blur. My family wrapped things up in utter awkwardness.

That night, out of pure spite, I went home with Damian. But the second we stepped into his mansion, regret washed over me. I barely even knew him.

Sensing my discomfort, Damian told me I could have the master bedroom while he took the guest room.

"Wait..."

I called out to him. I wanted to explain my impulsive behavior.

Damian seemed to understand. He gently patted my head and told me not to overthink it. Since we hadn't signed the marriage papers yet, today was just a show. If I wanted to back out later, I could just tell him.

I was stunned. Why didn't he care about his own reputation? Why did he help me? All he said was that he would give me an answer in a month, and then he left.

A million questions kept me awake all night. My brain kept replaying everything that had happened with Ethan.

The next morning, Damian had already left for work. He left a note on the table.

*I might be a bit late tonight. If you're bored, feel free to visit your parents. I'll pick you up after work.*

He wrote his phone number at the bottom. For the first time, I felt like this marriage wasn't such a bad idea after all.

I took a cab back to my parents' house. As soon as I walked in, I saw the anger on their faces. I thought they were mad at me for going home with Damian.

But then I found out the Millers were actually using my "sudden marriage" as an excuse to demand compensation for their losses. They were even threatening to pull out of our business partnerships.

So, Ethan was allowed to run off to save his precious ex, but I wasn't allowed to find someone else?

I talked to my dad and decided we should cut all ties with the Millers. In all our years of partnership, they were always the ones leeching off us anyway.

When the Millers realized we were actually serious about cutting them off, they panicked. That was when Ethan finally showed up after vanishing for days.

"Chloe, you can hit me, you can scream at me, just don't ignore me."

Seeing that I wasn't responding, Ethan started playing the victim, reaching out to grab me.

He kept pestering me, trying to block my path. I dodged him twice.

"Chloe, you weren't like this before. You wouldn't even hurt an ant, yet a girl's life was on the line! I know you can understand why I had to go, right?"

Looking at him, I felt physically sick.

My friends had already snapchatted me the truth. Ethan had spent the last few days constantly by Hailey's side.

If my father hadn't threatened to cancel our contracts, I bet I wouldn't have seen Ethan for the rest of my life.

"Baby, give me another chance. I promise our next wedding will be way bigger and better."

Ethan grabbed my wrist, squeezing it tightly.

"Baby? According to family ranking, you should be calling me Aunt Chloe."

I couldn't shake him off, and my anger was boiling over. He abandoned me in front of everyone, and now he wanted forgiveness? Did he think I was some kind of saint?

"Stop playing around. Damian is not a good guy. Don't do this just to spite me."

Before he could finish, his phone started buzzing crazily in his pocket. I caught a glimpse of the caller ID. It was Hailey.

He let go of me, mumbled that he would come back tomorrow, and rushed off to his car before I could even reply.

I let out a cold laugh. That was the second time he had abandoned me for that woman.

Originally, I had taken a six-month sabbatical for our honeymoon. Now, that was obviously off the table.

Since our "wedding," Damian had given me total freedom. He shared his schedule with me every single day and never pried into what I was doing.

Whatever I wanted to do, he backed me up 100%. I was starting to think Damian was actually a great catch.

A week later, I went back to work. The moment I sat down, the receptionist called, saying a Mr. Miller had sent a bouquet of flowers and asked if she should bring them up.

I told her to reject any deliveries from him and never let him into the building again.

But I underestimated how thick-skinned Ethan was. He actually went to the parking garage to corner me.

Seeing him now only made me feel disgusted. There's a saying that comparison is the thief of joy, but in this case, comparing Ethan to Damian only proved that Damian was lightyears better.

"Chloe, how long are you going to keep this silent treatment up? Hailey and I are just friends. If your friend was in danger, would you just stand by and watch?"

Ethan chased after me, desperately trying to explain. I had already blocked his number and Snapchat.

"What does that have to do with me?"

I scoffed. What was he so frantic about?

"You're the woman I want to spend my life with! I just want you to understand me, not let these little misunderstandings ruin us."

Little misunderstandings? To him, me being publicly humiliated at my own wedding was a "little thing"? His running off to his ex was a "misunderstanding"?

Our values were so misaligned we couldn't even speak the same language.

Suddenly, Damian's sleek black car pulled up right in front of us. Ethan instinctively took two steps back. I immediately hopped into the passenger seat, eager to escape.

At first, I wanted to end things with Ethan gracefully, but I realized the Miller family had absolutely no shame.

He literally camped outside my office building every day and kept calling me from burner numbers.

Did he do it out of love? No. He just realized his family was losing the Vance family cash cow.

"Do you need me to handle this?" Damian asked.

This situation had given Damian a perfect excuse to drive me to work every day. But I felt bad dragging him into my mess.

"No, it's fine. I'll handle it."

Everyone thought I was just throwing a tantrum and waiting for the day I'd crawl back to Ethan. But I knew there was absolutely no turning back.

Damian didn't press the issue. He just patted my heada gesture that had seemingly become his habit.

It wasn't that he didn't care; I had simply told him I wanted to handle it myself.

He just told me that if things got messy, he'd be there to clean up the aftermath.

"Are you Chloe?"

I was in the breakroom getting water when a girl in a pastel dress appeared in front of me. I recognized her instantly. It was Hailey.

"Can I help you?"

I had no intention of inviting her into my office.

Suddenly, with a loud *thud*, Hailey dropped straight to her knees in front of me.

It was lunchtime, and the breakroom was packed. The moment she fell, a crowd immediately gathered to watch the drama.

"Chloe, it's all my fault! Please, I beg you, don't punish Ethan!"

She looked like a normal person, so why was she talking like a lunatic?

Hailey's eyes were red, brimming with tears. Classic damsel-in-distress act.

The onlookers started whispering among themselves.

"Ethan and I could have been happy... if only his family didn't force him into this business marriage..."

Ah, I got it. She was blaming me for using my family's wealth to tear them apart.

"Are you done?"

Even if I spoke plain English, she probably wouldn't choose to understand.

I didn't want to waste my time on her. Let her say whatever she wanted; I had zero interest in Ethan anyway.

In that very moment, I realized I had never actually loved Ethan that much. I had just thought we were a good match for marriage.

I didn't know what Hailey told Ethan, but the very next day, he came barging into my office to interrogate me.

"Chloe, I already told you Hailey and I are just friends! Why did you have to humiliate her like that?"

Wow. I couldn't tell if Ethan was just a massive jerk or if Hailey was just a master manipulator.

Yesterday's drama had already been filmed by my colleagues and posted on Snapchat. Besides, I had made it clear multiple times that I was married now.

"Chloe, I know you still love me. I really love you too. Can we please just give each other another chance?"

His constant nagging was giving me a massive headache.

Before I could react, Ethan lunged forward and locked me in a tight embrace. No matter how much I struggled, I couldn't break free.

"I know you don't love Damian. You're just using him to make me jealous. I don't believe you could change your mind in just a few days!"

I was still fighting to push him off. Ethan held me tighter, raising his voice.

"Yes! I don't love Damian! So what? I used him just to show you that I, Chloe Vance, don't need you!"

The second those words left my mouth, I froze. I looked past Ethan's shoulder and saw Damian standing in the doorway.

My heart sank. I had been set up. Ethan must have seen Damian coming and pulled this stunt on purpose.

So, Damian had heard everything? He heard me say I didn't love him and was just using him?

For some reason, a wave of sheer panic rushed through me.

"Damian!"

The moment Damian turned around to leave, I used every ounce of my strength to shove Ethan away and ran after him.

Gosh, I didn't think Damian could be this petty.

I didn't see him for the next three days. Out of a strange sense of guilt, I actually initiated a call to his phone.

It rang for a long time before going to voicemail. It seemed he was truly furious.

Staring at my phone, I felt so childish. I decided I would wait for him to come home tonight and talk things out.

But when I woke up the next morning, it was clear Damian was actively avoiding me.

I decided to go to his company.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but without an appointment, I cannot let you up," the receptionist said, her eyes filled with thinly veiled contempt.

I had already told her who I was, but she clearly didn't care.

"Chloe? What are you doing here?"

Just as I was debating whether to call Damian again, Ethan suddenly appeared in the lobby of the Cole Group.

I didn't even bother giving him a glance. But men are truly patheticthe colder you are, the harder they cling.

"Chloe, you're my wife. What is this messy affair you're having with my uncle?" Ethan said loudly.

I whipped my head around, staring at him in shock.

"Wow, this girl is shameless. Jumping between Mr. Cole and his nephew?"

"Exactly. Why would Mr. Cole want someone so loose?"

Hearing the whispers from the employees nearby, I finally understood Ethans game. He was trying to ruin my reputation.

"Chloe, my uncle might have power and money, but he can't give you the love you actually want," Ethan said, looking incredibly devoted. He was successfully painting me as a gold-digging heartbreaker who played with his feelings.

He was humiliating himself just to drag me down with him.

"Wow, the heir to the Miller family is so naive. Why is he begging a girl like that?"

"I know, right? Why do the loyal guys always get hurt?"

This was exactly what Ethan wanted. To throw dirt all over my name.

But even if my reputation was dragged through the mud, I would never, ever go back to him.

"What makes me so much worse than Damian?" Ethan snapped, visibly angered by my cold demeanor. He couldn't understand why I still wouldn't bow down to him.

"What makes you worse? For starters, Damian doesn't keep running back to his ex, and he didn't abandon me at the altar."

My words made Ethan's face turn pale. The loving, devoted persona he had just built began to crumble.

"Chloe, why can't you just let Hailey go? She already left the city! Why do you keep bringing her up?"

Left the city? What a joke. He was probably only saying that to fool the onlookers.

"Just come home with me. My uncle will never love you anyway. I don't want to see you get hurt."

The crowd was swayed by Ethan's acting again, completely ignoring what I had just said.

Ethan stepped forward and grabbed my wrist, trying to drag me out by force.

"Touch my woman again, and see what happens."

My other wrist was suddenly caught in a warm, firm grip.