Chapter 7
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My wedding day with Louis arrived as scheduled, with all guests in attendance.
Amid thunderous applause, I walked step by step toward the altar holding Louis’s hand.
“Mr. Louis Caldwell, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
Louis answered without hesitation: “I do!”
The crowd erupted in excitement as the officiant turned to me.
“And Ms. Brielle Jennings, do you take this outstanding gentleman to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
I took a deep breath.
“I…”
“I object!”
With a loud bang, the doors were kicked open, and a man walked toward me against the light.
“Brielle should be marrying me! Why has it come to this?”
If not for his familiar voice, I wouldn’t have believed the man
Chapter 7
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before me was Damien.
He looked utterly disheveled–unshaven with blue stubble covering half his face, his bloodshot eyes looking as if they might drip blood at any moment.
“Brielle… you can’t leave me!”
“Please take pity on me! Give me one more chance!”
“I’ve already broken up with Ariana. I promise I’ll treat you right from now on…”
The guests began whispering among themselves, and the content of their gossip sent chills down my spine.
“Ariana recently tried to force him into marriage with her pregnancy, but Damien refused to acknowledge it.”
“He exposed all the dirty things Ariana did abroad, and she jumped from a building in a fit of rage.”
“Ariana didn’t die, but she’s permanently disabled–probably worse than death.”
Damien, hearing these comments, didn’t shy away but instead looked at me as if expecting praise.
“Brielle, did you hear what they said? I really have broken up with Ariana!”
“I just want to live a steady life with you now. I’ve realized my
Chapter 7 mistakes!”
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“After all these years, you’re the one I can’t live without. If you leave me, I’ll die–I really won’t be able to go on!”
No wonder Ariana hadn’t bothered me lately—she had crippled herself.
Damien pressed a knife against his own throat, threatening me to come down from the altar and leave with him immediately.
Louis nervously gripped my hand, his breathing growing heavier by the second.
“Don’t go… please don’t leave?”
I pressed my lips together without responding.
Seeing blood already seeping from the wound on Damien’s neck, I could only sigh deeply and slowly walk down toward him.
Everyone watched me in shock. Damien was triumphant, while Louis looked utterly broken as he stared at my retreating figure.
Damien was so excited he nearly burst into tears.
“I knew you wouldn’t leave me. You still love me, right?”
“It’s okay. With Ariana gone, no one will disturb our happiness. I won’t treat you like I did before.”
I slowly took Damien’s hand, smiling both gently and cruelly.
Chapter 7
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“You’re holding the knife wrong. You should point the blade at your throat.”
“That way it’s instantly fatal, and death won’t be too painful.”
Damien’s incessant chatter stopped abruptly, his eyes filled with confusion.
“What do you mean?”
I covered my nose, making no effort to hide my impatience.
“Don’t you find yourself disgusting? How could someone like you ever deserve me?”
“You stink worse than a garbage can. You’re absolute trash.”
“If it weren’t for Louis, what right would you have to stand before me?”
Everyone present gasped, finding these words strangely familiar.
Damien had spoken to me this way in public countless times, and I had endured it all because I couldn’t bear to leave him.
Now I was returning those exact words to him, letting Damien experience what I had felt.
The pain of being treated like garbage by someone you value.
Chapter 7
What I had endured, Damien now had to feel.
With a clatter, the knife fell from Damien’s hand.
I snorted coldly.
“I thought you had more guts than that. If you’d actually stabbed yourself, I might have considered you a real man.”
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I clapped my hands, and police officers rushed in from outside.
I didn’t even spare him another glance as I turned and returned to Louis’s side.
He looked at me nervously, like a child who had done something
wrong.
I patted his hand, comforting him the same way he had comforted me.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m here to stay.”
