They Betrayed Me, So I Ruined Their Wedding

Chapter 2

Every last flicker of love and every spark of rage came surging up, spilling out right along with my blood.

Through the fog in my head, I was thrown back to that earth-shattering afternoon seven years ago.

The school building crumbled around me, and I was trapped under a prefabricated concrete slab, trapped, helpless, waiting for death to take me.

But Stanley dug through the rubble like a man possessed, dragging me out inch by inch with his hands raw and bleeding.

Aftershocks kept rippling over the ground, and just when a massive chunk of concrete came crashing straight toward us, he threw himself over me without a single moment of hesitation, using his own back as a human shield to protect me.

Shards of rock and concrete pelted his head, his back, his face, yet he still gritted his teeth and gave me a wobbly smile.

"Ellie, don't be scared. As long as I'm here, you won't die."

After that disaster, a hideous, gnarled scar cut across his back.

I ran my trembling fingers over that ragged ridge of skin, sobbing so hard I could barely breathe.

He just grinned like an i***t. "What are you crying for? This scar is proof of how much I love you."

Then there was the time in high school, when a gang of mean girls cornered me in an alley.

They screamed that I was a fatherless bastard, snarling they'd s***h my 'slutty little face' to ribbons with a box cutter.

But Zoey charged in all alone, shoved me behind her back, and pointed right at those girls, voice sharp enough to cut glass.

"Try her. Just try to lay a finger on her, I f*****g dare you."

From that day on, Zoey walked to school and back home with me every single day. She told me, dead serious, that she meant every word.

"Ellie, we're gonna be best friends for life."

When I finally woke up in the hospital, Stanley's gaze landed on the crisscrossed scars wrapping my wrists, and he let out a soft, heavy sigh.

"Ellie, I always thought you were smarter than this." His voice was low, calm, like he was just stating a fact he'd known for years.

"What's wrong with staying by my side? You know your background. I could never actually agree to marry you."

"All that nonsense about me proposing on the ninety-ninth time… it was just a lie to keep you sweet." Ever since my dad ran off with his mistress, my mom's mental health had never been stable.

And both Stanley and Zoey came from old money powerhouses in our city.

Every time people whispered snide things about me behind my back, Stanley and Zoey never hesitated to shut them down hard.

I'd always ask myself the same question…

How on earth did I ever deserve such kindness from a prince and a princess like them?

Stanley paused for a beat, his expression unreadable. "Ellie, what do you actually want? Money? Love? Top-tier medical care for your mom? Or…" He leaned in close, his words dropped soft as a blade. "Do you want me to give you a baby?"

Of course, everyone knows the old rule: a kid buys you the status, and that trick never fails.

I summoned every last bit of strength I had and slapped him hard across the face. "Get the hell out! Don't you ever show your face in front of me again for the rest of your life!"

Stanley froze for a split second.

He slowly dragged his long, elegant fingertips over the stinging mark on his cheek, then bared his back teeth and laughed.

The hospital room door creaked open a second time.

Zoey walked in carrying a basket of mangoes, her laugh bright and bubbly… and totally forced. "Aww, my best friend, still pulling that whole playing hard-to-get crap, huh?"

She sauntered over to stand beside Stanley, her gaze sliding over me, lazy and taunting. "Stanley got tired of that seven years ago. Isn't it a little awkward to keep dragging it out now?" With that, she started peeling a mango for me.

I'm deadly allergic to mangoes, and Zoey has known that since the very first day we met.

She deliberately held her hand out to flash the blindingly big, sparkling solitaire diamond on her ring finger.

Stanley had once told me he would buy the biggest, shiniest diamond ring for his future wife.

My chest twisted with a thousand tiny, stabbing pains as I remembered the chunk of flesh I carved out of my own palm when I handmade Stanley’s wedding ring.

Zoey held the peeled mango out to me, and I swatted it clean out of her hand before I even thought.

Thick mango juice splattered all over her pretty dress.

Stanley’s eyes darkened instantly, fury coiling in them. "Ellie! If you’ve got a problem, take it out on me! Zoey has been nothing but good to you! She doesn’t even mind that I’ll keep you after we get married! What more could you possibly want?!”

Zoey lifted her big watery eyes and stared at me, all wounded innocence. "Ellie, why do you have to target me like this?"

I’d just opened my mouth to tell both of them to get out when two trending notifications popped up on my phone.

The first one was the official announcement of the high society wedding between Stanley Lewis and Zoey Adams, joining two of the capital’s most powerful families.

The second one? Every single detail of my seven-year relationship with Stanley was laid bare for the whole world to see.

The comment section was flooded with people tearing into Zoey, calling her a bully who abused her power and a homewrecker who knew she was the third party.

Stanley’s normally carefree, cocky face dropped straight into a dark scowl.

He ground his teeth and spat the words out through clenched jaws, "Ellie… you’re such a b***h…"