Every man is the architect of his own fortune. - Sallust
Chloe turned to face Clark with a worried expression. "I spoke to the wedding chapel. They said the marriage was valid, but wouldn't confirm the groom. Only that he wasn't you."
Clark tried his best to puzzle out the mystery. "Maybe it's Oliver."
She hoped this was true, but couldn't hide her anxiety if she was mistaken. "Maybe. I wish they had told me his name. Trust me. I gave them hell for not saying. And they will have a ton more problems once I get back to Watchtower."
As she left the Watchtower loft, Chloe gave a slight chuckle at the actions revealed on the emphasis tape. However, her humor wasn't enough to alleviate her fears. She noticed Oliver had followed her outside. "A lot of crazy things happened last night. Including the fact that I'm married."
Oliver appeared genuinely surprised. "I don't know anything about that."
From behind them, a voice said, "I do." Chloe and Oliver looked to see the voice was coming from none other than Lex Luthor. In all honesty, they were not surprised to find him alive. Both had suspecting his return for some time now.
He approached the pair with a torn half of a piece of paper. As he came closer, Chloe realized it was the torn half of the marriage certificate. "Imagine my luck to come across all of you when your guard was…shall we say less than fortified."
Oliver stepped in front of Chloe and stared down Lex. "Something tells me luck had a little help."
Lex didn't let Oliver intimidate him. He stepped aside to look at Chloe, and handed her the other half of the certificate. "As you can everything is in order. However, this is just a copy. I have the original in a secure safe. We'll want to keep those precious memories intact. Won't we, Chloe?"
Chloe approached Lex and slapped him. "You can take your memories and shove them…" He didn't let the slap faze him and smirked in return.
As the two refused to look away from each other, Oliver broke the silence. "No judge will honor this marriage because Chloe wasn't in full capacity."
Lex actually dropped his gaze to turn to Oliver. "And I'm sure if you had married Chloe, this would be some silly tale you tell your grandchildren one day."
Oliver grabbed Lex by his jacket collar. "Our relationship is none of your business."
Lex scoffed, and removed Oliver's hands. "As Chloe's husband, I respectfully disagree."
Oliver moved forward to punch Lex, but Chloe held back his arm. She refused to stand back and let Oliver argue for her. "You are not my husband because this marriage is not valid."
In a calm voice, Lex said, "We can take it to court if you like. I'm sure a judge will rule in my favor. But I have a feeling it won't get that far."
"What does that mean?" She tried not to let her fear show.
"Queen's extra-curricular activities may be out to the public, but I know a number of young men and women who are still leading a double life. You wouldn't want to ruin their chance at happiness, would you? I hear one is about to get married." His smile was genuine, but all three of them would be fools if they thought it was for the engaged couple.
Chloe stared at Lex with both loathing and silent resignation. Oliver pulled her away, and had to force her to look at him. "Chloe, he's bluffing. He doesn't have any proof. Even if he did, nobody would expect you to go through with this farce of a marriage."
Chloe tried to hold back her tears as she looked at Oliver. "I know that, but I can't take the chance." She had to do this for Clark, Lois, all of Oliver's team, even Oliver himself as Lex could still find a way to hurt him if she didn't comply.
Oliver leaned down to kiss her, but Lex cleared his throat. "I'm in no mood to watch my bride kiss another man." He approached Oliver from behind, and covered his nose with a rag drenched in chloroform. Oliver fell to the ground as Chloe gasped and tried to protect him from any damage. Lex made no effort to help. Instead, he pulled her away from Oliver and toward the waiting limousine.
She wrenched her arm away from his grasp. "You didn't have to do that. I was going with you; however, unwillingly I may have been to do so."
"I'm not ready to have everyone see off the newlyweds yet." He grabbed her arm once again, ushered her into the limo and shut the door.
"This is crazy. You know nothing good can come out of this for you."
"On the contrary, I've taken you away from Queen, and soon Clark will know that there is nothing he can do to save you. The repercussions of this event will keep me happy for a long time." He smiled.
"All the crap your ex-girlfriends and ex-wives put you through will feel like a Mardi Gras party compared to this marriage." Chloe spat before attempting to move away from him.
However, Lex caught her before she could. "I look forward to it, dear." He pulled her into him for a kiss. A moment passed before Chloe pushed him off of her and slapped him. She kept to the other end of the seat. No matter her feelings right now, Lex felt the fire in that kiss. Given time, he knew he could turn that passion into love.