Chapter 16

Astrid raised her hands and…slapped Paul straight across the face. An audible gasp went through the wedding audience.

Silence immediately followed. No one dared say a word. All eyes were on Astrid. Kane was about to stand but Astrid moved her hand ever so slightly to indicate him to sit back down. Which he reluctantly did. Paul was still standing there, at the altar, in front of the priest, in complete shock. His left hand had gone up to his face in an effort to sooth the burning sensation on his cheek. Astrid turned back to him; her face calm yet riddled with anger in its smallest features.

"I will not be marrying you today," were the first words out of her mouth. Paul now looked up and made eye contact with his uncertain fiancé. He was about to protest but Astrid didn't let him. "I was foolish to ignore the problems that had been slowly building over the last few months. I thought we could work through them. That marriage was the answer to figuring it all out, together." She took a deep breath.

"But I was wrong. I was wrong to think you would put in the same effort as I was making. I was wrong thinking you were just being friendly to other women. I was wrong to think that when you came to me with plans of investing in a shady start-up company and I refused to be an investor you would smarten up and let it be." With the last sentence, Paul's eyes went wide. He began to look uncomfortable and guilty of something.

Astrid stood a little straighter. They wouldn't know it but she was fighting every urge to run, every bone in her body telling her to cry, and every ounce of her brain telling her to ask for forgiveness and to marry the man standing in front of her. But she fought the feelings and pushed through. "But the proposal was just a scam. You gave up on our relationship and future months ago. All you want is a signature giving you access to our money. MY money! Money that you would foolishly invest in a failing company all because your pride is larger than your common sense," Astrid spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear.

Paul now looked angry himself. His world was imploding and he was not having it. He turned and glared at Clarke for a moment.

"Who told you this? Was it your step-sister? The one who's been trying to clearly undermine our wedding this entire week. You're going to believe her over me?" Paul hissed. He took hold of Astrid's wrists, as if trying to shake the thoughts out of her head.

"I saw the emails!" Astrid responded. Paul's face twisted slightly. But his hands remained tightly around her wrists. She wasn't sure what he was going to do.

Kane now stood again; he began making his way towards the altar. But someone else took hold of Paul's shoulder. He slightly winced at the pressure that was suddenly being applied by his shoulder blade. "I would let go of the girl if I were you," Murphy said sternly. Paul shot daggers at his best man.

"For too long I have turned a blind eye at how you treat Astrid. I too thought you would work it out. That you would wake up and realize what you had going for you. But I won't silently stand by and watch this incredible woman shackle herself to such a lowlife." Murphy's eyes narrowed. He had waited too long to do the right thing. But he wouldn't let him get away with it anymore. "And yes, making out with a random bartender is cheating," he finished.

"You vulture," Emori whispered with disgust. She put on a hand on Murphy's arm and told him to let Astrid take it from there. That it wasn't worth getting into a fist fight.

"I do not consider you a vulture, I only consider you what vultures would eat," Astrid spoke to him. The words hurting the man plenty. "You should probably leave before my father gets to you," she added. Paul whipped his head to see a very angry Marcus Kane heading in his direction. Without a second thought he turned.

He stopped in his tracks. "I never meant for this to happen, I'm sorry," he spoke softly. It wasn't enough to make up for even a fraction of what he had done, but it gave Astrid a little peace of mind knowing he took the moment to look her in the eye one last time and apologize. Then he disappeared out of sight.

Later – At the beach

The sun is slowly falling below the horizon. Astrid is sitting just above where the water rolls onto the sand. Her shoes sit abandoned a little way up the beach. She is lost in her own thoughts and doesn't notice Clarke making her way over until she plops down in the sand beside her. "Hey," Clarke offers quietly.

"Hey," Astrid responds. She pulls her sunglasses up into her hair. Revealing lightly puffy eyes. Clarke feels for her and just wants to wrap her up in a hug. She tilts her head a little in questioning and Astrid reads her mind. "I'm okay, truly."

Clarke narrows her eyes, saying plenty without talking. Astrid sighs and a smile appears on her lips. "You worry too much, Clarke."

"Isn't that the story of my life," Clarke responds while nudging her sister softly.

"But really, I'm doing alright given the circumstances. You know, of course it's hard. And of course, I am majorly embarrassed about how it all went down. But you know what," Astrid turned back to the setting sun. "I'm just glad that in the end I didn't marry someone who wasn't going to be the right person for me," she said. Clarke nodded her head. "I guess you kind of know how this all feels," Astrid tested the waters.

Clarke chuckled. "Yeah, I guess so." She flung her arm around Astrid's shoulder and pulled her close. "At least now we both don't have to see them ever again," Clarke sighed, sounding more than relieved.

They sat at the water's edge for a while, just taking in the sunset and the crashing of waves. "I never thanked you," Astrid suddenly broke the silence. Clarke looked at her curiously. "For trying to show me earlier. I didn't want to see it, but you were right all along."

"I guess, but I overstepped, I had no actual evidence. You should really be thanking Murphy for standing up to him at the right time," Clarke responded. "And I'm glad you found those emails."

Astrid turned to face Clarke. "I wasn't the one who found them," she said. A confused look came over Clarke's face. "He didn't tell you," she added quietly.

"Who?"

"Bellamy."

Clarke's eyes widened a little. "What do you mean?"

"Bellamy came to me before the wedding. He showed me the emails," Astrid explained. Clarke still wasn't following.

"But he had a flight out on Thursday."

"He said he had a feeling after hearing Paul on the phone with a representative from Azgeta. And apparently Raven is quite tech savvy and helped him get a hold of those emails. Without those I would have never believed it." Clarke was still quiet, taking in this new information. "He left right after he told me, said he had a flight to catch," Astrid answered the question Clarke hadn't asked yet. "Sorry."

Clarke shrugged her shoulders. "It's probably better this way."

"He really is a good guy, Clarke," Astrid offered. "I think he could be really good for you."

Clarke sighed. "It was just pretend," she answered quickly. She was tracing circles in the sand.

"That kiss on the beach the other night sure didn't look pretend," Astrid dared to say, raising her eyebrow slightly.

"It was literally followed with him asking me if I thought that looked believable," Clarke trailed off in thought. Astrid leaned her head on Clarke's shoulder and took her hand in hers.

"You think we'll be alright?" she asked gently.

Clarke was still for a moment. Then nodded her head. "Of course we'll be alright. If anything, we will always have each other."