Substitute Wife for the Mafia King R18-Chapter 439: Alternatives

"Nope. He’s nowhere to be seen. Should we postpone the starting time? I can always make an announcement in your place and smooth things over. We can still buy some time," Diana suggested.

I could tell that she was trying her best to remain calm and help me out, but I doubted that we could buy much time. We needed to find out where Bradon was and what he was up to.

"We need to find a way to contact him. Is Zain around? He has to be..." I said.

"You mean that stoic man that works for Bradon? He’s actually no here," Diana replied.

"What? Zain isn’t here?" I asked, without hiding my surprise.

"The other guards are here. Don’t worry about safety, this place is definitely guarded like some top-rated prison," Diana said before rolling her eyes upwards.

"I’m not concern about my own safety. Right now, I’m worried about Bradon," I admitted.

We both looked around us as we whispered to each other, afraid that members of the organization team might hear us. Once we saw that the coast was clear, we continued with our conversation.

"You’re always so worried about him. I’m more worried that he changed his mind and ran away after getting cold feet or something," Diana hissed back.

"I don’t think so. Bradon wants this as much as I do, if not more. He’ll never ditch our wedding for anything...unless he can’t help it," I whispered back with confidence.

"I wish I had that much confidence in the man. So, what should we do?" Diana asked.

"I don’t know. The wedding cannot start without the groom, so..." I replied before trailing off.

I wondered if there really was something that we could do at that point. Even before I had enough time to squeeze my brain for ideas, there was a soft knock on the door before Leona poked her head in. The uncomfortable look on her face told me everything that I needed to know at that moment.

"We have less than 10 minutes until the start of the ceremony..." Leona informed us politely.

The look on her face as her words trailed off told me that Bradon had not yet turned up, and time was no longer on our side.

"What should we do?" Diana asked.

I knew that it was up to me to decide. After all, it was my wedding and since Bradon wasn’t there to make any decisions with me, I knew that I had to decide on what was best for us.

"Can you help me buy a little time? Entertain the guests somehow, maybe for 10 minutes," I told Diana after I had made up my mind.

"Sure, I can definitely do that. But what next? What if he still doesn’t turn up in time?" Diana asked.

"I’ll just tell everyone the truth that he is unable to make it. I’ll apologize sincerely, and tell them that the wedding will be postponed to another day.

That’s it, I mean, what else can I do?" I replied with a shrug of my shoulders.

After thinking about it, the solution was actually straightforward and simple. It wasn’t the ideal outcome, but it wasn’t like I had another choice.

"I’m sorry to interject, but the King will be arriving soon as planned," Leona reminded us with a tight smile.

With Bradon missing, I had completely forgotten that Desmond was coming to our wedding. The fact that he wasn’t simply coming as Desmond, but making an official appearance as the king surely made a big difference.

"The king is supposed to preside over this wedding as the host. I’m not sure he’s going to let us all off the hook if the wedding doesn’t happen as planned," Diana whispered what I already knew into my ear.

Shit.

That was the only word that ran through my head. Not only was Bradon missing from his own wedding, we were running out of time. On top of that, the king had just arrived to attend our wedding. The situation was quickly spiralling out of control, and I wasn’t sure where to start in patching everything back together. I didn’t even know if it was possible to fix anything at that point. Perhaps, it was already too late and all I could do was tell Desmond the truth, apologize, and beg for his mercy and royal pardon.

"Well? What shall we do sister?" Diana asked.

The solemn look in her eyes told me that she was willing to travel to the moon and back for me multiple times to help me out. I knew that she was on my side and would always be no matter what happened.

"We just have faith..." I whispered in reply.

"The King will be here any moment. Then the ceremony has to start..." Leona said through clenched teeth.

"There will be no ceremony," I told her firmly as I turned to face her directly.

There was nothing else that could be done but call the wedding off. Leona’s face turn as white as a prestinely cleaned sheet as her mouth hung open to display her shock. I knew why she felt that way, but there was nothing else that I could do.

"I can go out there and entertain the guests and Desmond to buy some time. Perhaps Bradon will appear just in time," Diana suggested.

"You can try that, but I’m afraid that it would not change the outcome. Then when we tell everyone that we need to postpone the wedding, we would look even more like fools," I said as I contemplated my options.

"You need to decide and fast. We cannot leave the King hanging like this. It is not proper and..." Leona said as she threw her hands up in the arm in surrender.

All of her calm composure was gone, and I knew that she probably had a clear image of herself and the rest of her team getting executed by the king in her head. That thought brought a smile to my lips, it was all just too funny.