Wedding Betrayal, I Took His Empire

Chapter 3

The hot spring resort sat right in the heart of the scenic area, and the view from the top-floor balcony stretched out before me in every direction, unobstructed.

Down below, the hot spring bubbled steadily, thick steam curling up into the air and blurring the tangled forms of Jeremy and Sarah into one hazy shape.

I couldn't make out a single thing clearly.

Not until Sarah stepped out of the water and picked up a glass of deep crimson red wine.

"Jeremy, are you thirsty?"

Jeremy's gaze burned so hot it felt like it could singe skin, locked tight on Sarah, and his voice came out rough, like it had been licked by fire.

"I'm dying of thirst. You gonna feed me?"

Sarah swirled the wine glass in her hand, the scarlet liquid sloshing back and forth.

She put on a perfect act of hesitation, tilting her head. "If I feed you, what if your wife finds out? Won't she beat me up?"

Jeremy huffed a laugh and played right along with her filthy little role-play. "You've set my whole heart on fire. How could I ever let her lay a hand on you? Don't you worry. If she finds out, I'll come clean with her straight away. I'll tell her she doesn't hold a candle to you anywhere!"

He shot out a hand and grabbed Sarah's delicate, pale ankle hard. "C'mon, good Sarah, I really am dying of thirst here."

Sarah giggled breathlessly, stepping her foot up onto his chest, then flipped her wrist and poured the icy cold wine all over her own body.

Jeremy's eyes darkened instantly, and searing hot kisses rained down one after another. Amidst the tangled swirl of white and red, waves churned in the hot spring water.

I stood frozen stiff on the balcony, my fingers trembling so hard I could barely press the shutter.

The man I’d loved for ten years was completely unrecognizable at that moment. Every sweet memory I'd cherished for so long was stained crimson in the blink of an eye.

That red was the color of my own broken heart, split open and bleeding out all over everything.

Franco suddenly let out a dry laugh behind me, but underneath that laugh raged a wild, burning inferno of fury.

"I told you the second he started scrambling to climb the social ladder, even going so far as to call me godfather just to get ahead, that trash doesn't deserve you!"

Franco was only five years older than Jeremy and me.

He'd watched me grow up, the most important person in my whole life. That's why, barely a month after Jeremy and I got together, I introduced Jeremy to him.

But Jeremy went behind my back and called Franco godfather without my permission, using my name just to weasel his way into Franco's connections.

I bit down hard on my lower lip, tears streaming down my face and splashing onto the carpet beneath my feet.

For the first time, I didn't argue back or deny what Franco said.

Ten years of meeting, knowing, loving each other… and I'd turned into nothing but a prop for Jeremy and his mistress to spice up their dirty little games.

It was like just mentioning my name added an extra thrill to their sordid, secret affair.

I didn't know how much time passed, but the sudden downpour downstairs finally stopped.

Sarah's sated, breathless voice drifted up, "Jeremy, I really did think of Wenna as my best friend back then… but I fell in love with my best friend's boyfriend. I know it's wrong, but I can't help it. If you hadn't been so good to me, I never would've fallen for you, never would've done something this terrible to my friend."

Her voice caught in sobs, her whole body shook like a leaf, like she was genuinely torn between love and friendship.

Jeremy's face melted into open pity. He pulled her tight into his arms and pressed little kisses over and over to her cheek.

"It's my fault, all my fault. I met you too late. If we'd just found each other earlier…"

Sarah cut off his unfinished words with a kiss, and the two of them tangled together in a whole new round of passion.

But right in the middle of their tangled embrace, Sarah's taunting gaze cut straight through the billowing steam and locked dead on my face.

A high, shrill buzz roared to life in my ears.

The last scrap of my sanity snapped and vanished in an instant.

She did this on purpose. She did this deliberately, just so I'd hear every rotten word.

Franco clamped down on my wrist, fed up with my refusal to stand up for myself.

"Wenna, how much longer are you going to put up with this?"

His words exploded inside my head, and instantly set the fury coiled in my chest ablaze.

I’m done.

I'm done putting up with any of this, starting right now!

I spun around and bolted downstairs, hammering the shutter button over and over.

Jeremy froze for a split second when he saw me, but he still moved faster than lightning to shield Sarah behind his body.

"Wenna, are you out of your damn mind?"

Even now, after everything, he was still protecting her.

I bared my teeth in a cold smirk. "What? Exposing your dirty affair makes me crazy? Then what do you call what I'm about to do next?"

The words barely left my mouth before, under everyone's shocked, wide-eyed stares, I yanked Franco's tie and bit down hard on his lip.

The coppery tang of blood spread between our lips, and Jeremy's furious roars echoed nonstop around me.

I lifted an eyebrow and smirked at him. "Jeremy, from now on, you're gonna have to call me godmother!"