The Billionaire Bride of Destiny

"Cathy! Why can't you ever get my mask ready in time? Don't you know that I'm going to a banquet hosted by Mrs. Lanyon tonight? Do you want to see me make a fool of myself at the banquet?" Cathy was in her mother-in-law's dressing room laying out her evening gown and necklace for the night when she caught the shrill sound of her voice. She could not help a quiet sigh, set down the necklace in her hands, and hurried toward the kitchen to make the cucumber mask. "I'll be ready in a minute." Cathy replied loudly as she walked away. When Cathy reached the kitchen, the maid Milah handed her a silver tray holding the cucumber mask. "Thank you, Milah. You’ve been such a help!" Cathy smiled warmly as she thanked her. Milah looked helpless. She was always at a loss around this young mistress. Cathy could summon the servants whenever she pleased, yet she preferred to handle things herself. "My Lady, you don’t need to be so polite all the time. We all know she likes to give you a hard time. You can rely on us more for these little things," Milah whispered, following Cathy. "You’re kind and never hard on us, and we are all happy to work for you." "I know. I just thought I could manage it myself, so I didn’t ask for your help. But I truly appreciate it today. Without your help, it would have taken me quite a bit longer." Cathy carried the tray carefully up the stairs and smiled upon hearing Milah’s words. Milah looked at Cathy’s back and recalled the day Cathy had first come as a bride three years prior. Back then, Cathy was utterly unused to life in a wealthy household and insisted on doing everything herself — cooking, laundry, sweeping the floors, and more. This only made her mother-in-law, Old Mrs. Lewis, hold her in even greater contempt for her humble origins. Old Mrs. Lewis was convinced Cathy must have tricked her son, Kevin Lewis. She therefore insisted that Cathy wait on her, eager to uncover whatever schemes Cathy might be plotting. For these past three years, Cathy had endured daily insults and scoldings from Old Mrs. Lewis. The old woman kept leveling accusations against her and harping endlessly, to the point where even the servants grew exasperated. Yet Cathy bore it all, day after day. Living under such constant pressure, Cathy still managed to smile each day and never lost her temper with the servants. She would even chat and joke with them without the slightest trace of condescension. This made the servants fond of her, and they were glad to wait on her. Like Milah, they all did what they could to lighten Cathy’s load and reduce the brunt of Old Mrs. Lewis’s tirades. These small gestures helped. Old Mrs. Lewis no longer berated her nonstop as she had in the beginning, leaving Cathy feeling far more at ease. At the very start, Cathy truly felt sorrowful, for a tangle of reasons. For one thing, when she had fallen in love with Kevin Lewis, she had no idea his family stood so prominent. Though the Lewises were merely middle-class, their status was still imposing for an orphan like her, and she felt intimidated and out of place around Kevin’s relatives. Beyond this gap in family background, she also faced a lack of understanding from Kevin’s family and friends. They believed Cathy had married Kevin solely for his money, so they constantly looked down on her and mocked her. Kevin, for his part, treated his friends' mockery as nothing more than joking. He never took it seriously, and he never thought to defend Cathy against it. As for his mother's insults and scolding, he brushed that off too, telling himself that if Cathy simply endured long enough, his mother would eventually come to see her good qualities. And so Cathy endured—because Kevin expected her to. Cathy, meanwhile, kept telling herself that with enough time, Kevin's family and friends would eventually understand that she had married him for love, not money. So she adjusted. She learned to swallow her pride, to lower her expectations, to hold on to the one thing that made it all bearable—Kevin's love. As long as she had that, she believed there was nothing she couldn't endure. And with that belief, she endured for three years. Cathy couldn't help but smile at the thought of her husband, Kevin. The people around them might not have thought much of their relationship, but Cathy knew what they'd had was real—at least, she had believed it was. The memory of how they first met still felt vivid in her mind, like something out of a romance. They met on a breezy spring day. Kevin had picked up her sketchbook. She'd turned back to look for it and found him already flipping through her drawings. When he looked up at her, something in her shifted—she felt it before she could name it. Kevin was handsome in a way that was hard to ignore, with a face that was almost too perfect, too gentle. His lashes were long and thick, and his eyes—dark, bright, warm—held a smile that seemed to draw her in. She felt the moment stretch, the sunshine and breeze suddenly gentler, warmer. The instant their eyes met, Cathy was certain they both understood—this wasn't just a chance encounter. It was meant to be. So they fell in love. Kevin was a gentleman, polite and attentive, and every date made Cathy more certain he was the one. Kevin, too, seemed completely taken with her. They had only been together a week when he couldn't wait to tell his friends. He took her to party after party, introducing her to everyone with an easy confidence, as if he wanted the whole world to know she was his. Four months later, he chartered an entire restaurant for his proposal. He brought all his friends, and they filled the room with laughter and blessings. Cathy cried tears of joy. No one had ever done anything like that for her before. At that moment, she felt she would have done anything to hold on to that happiness. So even after they married, and so many things turned out far different from what she had imagined, she held on to one belief: as long as Kevin loved her, nothing could bring them down.