📖 The Story Continues
The story doesn't end here.Continue reading the full story adaptation below and discover what happens next.
The Double Life of My Billionaire Husband – Episode 04
Sebastian’s arrival transformed the room. Guests who had mocked him moments earlier now watched with open curiosity, while Cassie stared as if someone had replaced the despised Klein outcast with the man who should have been waiting for her all along. Natalie felt the shift but kept her attention on the stranger holding her hand. Handsome or not, he remained the price of her mother’s treatment.
The officiant cleared his throat and called the gathering to order. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, family and friends. Today, we gather to witness and celebrate an act of deep love between this bride and this groom.” The traditional words floated awkwardly over a union built on obligation, money, and secrets.
Natalie lowered her eyes, afraid Sebastian might see the truth written across her face. There was no deep love between them; they had known each other for less than a minute. She wondered what his family had promised him and whether he knew that Cassie should have been standing beneath the arch.
Sebastian studied her profile instead of the officiant. The bride’s guarded expression confirmed that the change had not been a romantic whim. He leaned just close enough to keep their conversation private. “I wasn’t aware the Quinn family had two daughters,” he murmured. “I thought I’d be marrying Cassie Quinn today.”
Natalie’s stomach tightened. She had feared this moment from the instant he walked in. If he refused to continue, Lauren would blame her and the hospital money would disappear. “I’m the older one,” she answered, choosing the smallest piece of truth she could offer without exposing the bargain.
Sebastian waited, and something in his silence invited more. Natalie looked toward George, who stood beside the woman who had replaced her mother, then back at the man she might soon call her husband. “My dad divorced my mom when I was three,” she explained. The rest hardly needed saying. Cassie’s place in the family was displayed in diamonds; Natalie’s was displayed in a rented dress.
Understanding flickered across Sebastian’s face. He knew what it meant to carry a family name without receiving the protection that should accompany it. “So you’re just like me,” he said, a wry note entering his voice. “The black sheep of the family, huh?”
Natalie had expected anger, perhaps humiliation that the Quinns had switched brides. She had not expected recognition. For a brief moment, the crowded room receded, leaving two unwanted children presented to each other as a problem their families could solve through marriage.
“Are you disappointed I’m not the Quinn family heiress?” she asked. If he wanted Cassie’s status, he deserved the chance to stop before vows made the deception permanent. Natalie’s pulse raced as she waited, knowing his answer could decide whether her mother received another treatment.
Sebastian glanced toward Cassie. Her expression had changed from mockery to avid interest, and the speed of that transformation told him everything he needed to know. “I can’t say that I am,” he replied. Cassie stiffened, while relief loosened the painful knot in Natalie’s chest.
She searched his face for sarcasm and found none. Still, fairness demanded that she acknowledge what this marriage meant for her too. “Are you disappointed that you have to marry a good-for-nothing loser?” Sebastian asked before she could speak, repeating the label the room had already assigned him.
“Can’t say that I am,” Natalie answered, borrowing his words. Perhaps it was reckless to trust the instinct, but she did not see a loser in front of her. She saw a man who had walked into a hostile room alone and remained entirely at ease beneath its judgment.
“And you shouldn’t talk down about yourself like that,” she added. Her sincerity surprised him. Sebastian had spent years encouraging people to underestimate him, yet hearing Natalie reject the insult unsettled something carefully sealed away. She had defended him before he arrived and offered him dignity when she had little of her own left to protect.
The officiant resumed the ceremony. “Do you, Sebastian Klein, take Natalie Quinn to be your wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?” Sebastian’s original plan had called for a Quinn bride, not necessarily this one. He looked into Natalie’s anxious eyes and made his decision.
“I do.” His answer was immediate and firm. The two words traveled through the gathering, final enough to quiet every whisper. Natalie released a breath she had not realized she was holding, though Sebastian’s certainty created a new unease. He had accepted the switch too easily for a man caught by surprise.
“Natalie Quinn, will you take Sebastian Klein as your husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both may live?” The hospital’s demand rose again in her mind, but so did Sebastian’s refusal to humiliate her. She met his gaze. “I do.”
They exchanged rings beneath the arch. The simple band felt cool and unexpectedly heavy on Natalie’s finger, its circle closing around a promise neither of them fully understood. The officiant completed the blessing and smiled at the newly married strangers. “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Awareness tightened between them. Sebastian leaned in, giving Natalie enough time to pull away, then brushed a restrained kiss against her lips. It lasted only a moment, respectable for the watching guests, yet Cassie’s jealous stare followed them when they separated.
Once the ceremony ended, Natalie stood beside her husband with no idea what marriage required next. The bargain had occupied every thought until the vows; she had not imagined the hours after them. “So what happens now?” she asked. Sebastian arched a brow. “What do you mean?”
“You’re my wife now,” he said, as if the answer were obvious. “Of course you’re going to move in.” Natalie stared at him, suddenly realizing she had promised to share a life with a man whose home, habits, and intentions were complete mysteries. Sebastian’s faint smile returned as he led her away from the altar, and she wondered whether the wedding had ended her ordeal—or merely opened the door to it.
