The night before our wedding, my fiancée Debi’s stepbrother locked her in the master suite, a lit Zippo held threateningly over her wedding dress. “Debi, if you dare wear this to marry that old man tomorrow, I’ll burn this entire apartment to the ground!” Debi lunged for the lighter, but he slammed her against the wall, pinning her there. “I’ve waited ten years for you, Debi! Since the day you first walked into our house! If you marry him, I’ll kill myself right here in front of you!” I kicked the door open. But Debi spun around, shielding her stepbrother with her own body, her eyes red as she glared at me. “Julian Sinclair, have you not caused enough trouble? He’s only nineteen! Can’t you just let it go for once?” The next second, she yanked down the zipper of her dress, her voice ringing with a desperate, self-destructive finality. “Leo, what you want… I’ll give it to you. Tonight, I’m yours. But you have to promise me you’ll keep living.” I watched her drag him into the bedroom. I heard the click of the lock. Then, my face a mask of stone, I pulled out my phone. “Inform the guests the wedding is still on for tomorrow morning. And per my grandfather’s wishes, I’ll be marrying you.” … When the bedroom door finally opened, Debi was wearing Leo’s oversized shirt. The collar was askew, revealing a cluster of angry, purple bruises on her collarbone—bite marks. She was unsteady on her feet. She walked straight past me to the refrigerator, her voice flat. “Julian, don’t be hard on Leo. He’s just used to being clingy with me. It’s just a childish tantrum.” “‘Just’?” I laughed, a cold, sharp sound. “You’d throw away your own dignity just to pacify him?” Debi slammed a glass of water on the counter. “Enough! You know how much he means to me!” Hearing the commotion, Leo strolled out of the bathroom wearing a bathrobe. On the chest, embroidered in silk thread, were my initials. “Julian,” he began, a lazy smile on his face, “my sister has given me everything I’ve ever wanted, ever since we were kids. That includes…” He let out a soft chuckle and pulled open the lapel of the robe, deliberately revealing the fresh scratches on his chest. “She told me I was very good just now. Said if I behaved, there would be more nights like this…” “Leo!” Debi’s face flushed crimson. She grabbed a throw pillow and hurled it at him. “Say one more word and I swear—” Leo ducked to pick it up, then looked at me with a smirk. “See, Julian? She could never truly be cruel to me.” I watched them, brazen in the afterglow of their betrayal, and a bitter acid rose in my throat. Everyone in our circle knew I had pursued Debi for three years. If she so much as frowned, I’d spend half the day trying to figure out why. The day she agreed to be my girlfriend, I was ecstatic. I booked a private island and set off a fireworks display that lasted all night. For her, I had defied my grandfather’s fury and called off the arranged marriage with the Vance family. My relatives called me a fool, but all I wanted was for her to be happy. When she asked me to buy a villa on the outskirts of the city for Leo, I signed the contract without even looking at it. I had given them everything. I had been more than generous. “Julian, why are you making that face?” Debi walked towards me, reaching out to touch my cheek. I instinctively turned my head away. Her hand froze in mid-air, her voice turning to ice. “The wedding is tomorrow. Do you really have to make this so ugly?” “Ugly?” I stared at the ill-fitting shirt swallowing her frame. “And what you and Leo just did in our wedding bed, that wasn’t ugly?” “I was just—” “Don’t,” I cut her off, my patience gone. “Don’t bother explaining. It’s just a deep, profound sibling bond. So deep you had to take off your clothes and share a bed.” She opened her mouth to argue, but was interrupted by the sound of heels clicking in the hallway. Debi’s bridesmaids had arrived. Her best friend, the maid of honor, immediately spotted the marks on Debi’s neck and laughed teasingly. “Well, well. Not even married yet and Mr. Sinclair is already so eager.” “This has nothing to do with him!” Leo snapped. He wrapped an arm around Debi’s waist, pulling her close in a possessive display. “Her first time could only ever be with me.” The air in the room froze. The smile on her friend’s face stiffened. She tried to laugh it off. “He’s just a kid, joking around. Don’t take it seriously, Julian.” “Who’s joking?” Leo’s voice rose, laced with contempt. “She belongs to me! If you don’t believe me, go look in the bedroom. Her blood is still on the sheets!” “Leo!” Debi was trembling with rage. She slapped him hard across the face. He clutched his cheek, his eyes wide with disbelief. “You hit me? For this old man?” “That’s enough.” I turned and walked out. If I stayed another second, I wasn’t sure I could stop myself from doing something violent. “Julian, stop!” Debi ran after me, grabbing my arm. “Where are you going? Leo is still upset, you can’t leave!” Her friends chimed in. “Yeah, Julian, she’s going to be your wife tomorrow! You proposed three times before she said yes. You should cherish her!” “Besides, who even cares about virginity anymore? It’s not like she was cheating with some random guy. She was just comforting her brother.” “Leo’s young and impulsive. Just cut him some slack. You’re all going to be family soon.” “Impulsive?!” Leo pointed a shaking finger at me, his eyes bloodshot. “You think you’re so great with all your money, Julian? She loves me! It’s always been me!” He snatched his jacket from the sofa and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. The moment it closed, Debi rounded on me, her eyes blazing. “Are you happy now, Julian? It took me two hours to calm him down, and you drove him away with a single word!” Two hours? The audacity. I looked at the undisguised accusation in her eyes and felt my throat tighten. Five years of my devotion meant less to her than one of her stepbrother’s tantrums. Debi grabbed her purse impatiently. “If anything happens to him, I will never forgive you!” She pulled open the door, only to be stopped by the sight of her parents standing by the elevator. They saw the bruises on her neck, their gazes sweeping over the disheveled apartment, and their faces went pale. “It’s the middle of the night, what are you two fighting about? Tomorrow is—” “Mr. and Mrs. Thorne,” I said, loosening my tie. “Good, you’re here. Let’s not beat around the bush.” “The wedding is off.” Mr. Thorne’s legs gave out, and he nearly collapsed. His wife caught him, her eyes wide with terror as she looked at me. “Julian… my dear boy… you can’t be serious. This isn’t a joke you can make!” “Does this look like a joke to you?” I stared at Debi, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “Since you’ve been raising her future husband right here in your own home, why did you ever come begging to my family in the first place?” Her parents looked even more panicked. “Future husband? The Thorne family only acknowledges one son-in-law, and that is you.” I scoffed. “Since some people have no shame, let me spell it out. The bond between your children is so profound they ended up in the same bed. Since Debi loves her brother so dearly, and you know him so well, why not just make the adopted son your son-in-law? It’s all in the family, right?” Debi’s face went white. Her hand tightened on her purse. “Julian, what nonsense are you spouting!” “Nonsense?” Three years ago, it was her father who knelt in my office, begging me to save his company. Debi, always so proud, had humbled herself for the first time. “Julian, if you agree, I’ll be with you.” Her eyes had been defiant, devoid of any affection, only the numb desperation of someone cornered. After her parents left, she had kept her distance, her voice stiff. “This is a transaction, Julian. Nothing more.” I was the fool. I thought with enough time, enough devotion, I could warm a cold heart. Now I understood. You can’t force love from someone whose heart isn't yours to begin with. Over the past three years, I had injected billions into their company, helped them acquire three of their main competitors, and even relinquished my own overseas distribution channels to them. In just three years, the Thorne family had gone from a small, failing factory to a major player, all on the back of my family’s resources. I thought I had given them enough. But in Debi’s eyes, none of it mattered as much as Leo. “Julian, it’s our fault! We failed to raise her properly!” Mr. Thorne fell to his knees before me. “Please, for the sake of all the years the Thorne family has served you, give her one more chance!” His wife started to cry. “Julian, she was just confused for a moment! The only person she’s ever wanted to marry is you!” Debi stood silently, her face flushed, her lips pressed into a thin, stubborn line. It wasn’t until her friends had managed to escort her parents away that she finally unleashed her own fury. “Julian, my parents are old. Do you have to threaten them with the company?” “Threaten?” I laughed. She had a talent for twisting the truth. “You were the ones who came to me for help. If you truly cared about your parents, you would have known the consequences of betraying me.” She staggered back a step. Her phone rang. “Leo, where are you?” Whatever he said on the other end made the color drain from her face. Her lips trembled. “Don’t do anything stupid! I never said I was going to marry him! Just pull over—” She hung up and glared at me, her eyes wild. “Julian, Leo’s been drinking. He’s on the freeway! He said if I dare to marry you, he’s going to drive his car into a wall!” She took a step closer, her voice venomous. “If you have a single shred of conscience, you will stop pushing us!” I looked at the blatant threat in her eyes and found it almost funny. This was the woman I had cherished for three years, using our own wedding to protect the boy who wanted to sleep with her. “And?” I twisted my lips into a sneer. “You want me to go save him now?” “You…” Debi was shaking with rage, but then a cold, calculating look crossed her face. “Julian, don’t think I don’t know what you want.” “You just want me to beg you, don’t you? Fine. I’m begging you. Is that what you want to hear? Now go find him!” She paused, her voice laced with a desperate cruelty. “Otherwise, even if we get married tomorrow, I will never let you touch me! I’ll go on birth control, get my tubes tied, and make sure the Sinclair line ends with you!” I stared at her furious, defiant face and let out a low, dark laugh. End my family line? She gave herself far too much credit. I turned to leave, but then I noticed that the keys to my limited edition Maybach were gone from the console table. Leo must have taken them. Debi saw me freeze. A look of triumphant certainty spread across her face. “If I remember correctly, that car has a GPS tracker, doesn’t it?” “Even if you don’t care about Leo, you should at least care about that precious car you waited six months for.” A cold dread settled in my stomach. The car was just a thing. I could replace it. But hanging from the rearview mirror was the jade pendant my grandmother had left me. It was the last thing I had of her. “What are you waiting for?” Debi urged impatiently. “I’m telling you, if Leo does something crazy and gets hurt…” “Shut up.” I cut her off and dialed my assistant. “Bring a car to the apartment. And sync my Maybach’s GPS to my phone.” I looked back at her, my voice like ice. “And don’t ever bother me with your stupid threats again.” The car was waiting for me downstairs. I buckled my seatbelt and started driving towards the red dot on the GPS map. My phone rang again. I was about to ignore it, but when I saw the caller ID, I took a deep breath before answering. Isabelle Vance’s voice, calm and collected as always, came through the speaker. “Julian, are you sure about tomorrow? This isn’t just a fit of pique?” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Do I seem like the kind of person who would gamble with a family alliance out of spite?” “No,” she said with a soft laugh. “But you do seem like the kind of fool who lets a woman cloud his judgment.” “Which is why I need a sober ally.” The Maybach’s icon was heading towards the winding mountain roads outside the city. I frowned. “Vance Industries wants to break into the European green energy market. The Sinclair network is your fastest way in. We get married. It’s mutually beneficial.” Isabelle was silent for a moment. “I have no interest in marrying a man who’s in love with someone else.” “As of tonight, he no longer exists,” I said, my eyes fixed on the rapidly moving red dot. “I’ll see you at the chapel tomorrow.” I hung up and floored it. At the end of the mountain road, I finally saw the familiar silhouette of my car. But then, it spun around and accelerated, hurtling straight towards me. I had no time to react. The blinding headlights seared my eyes. CRUNCH— The violent impact sent my car spinning out of control. My head slammed into the steering wheel, and hot blood streamed down my face. Pain exploded behind my eyes. Through the shattered windshield, I saw the Maybach’s door open. Leo stumbled out. In his hand was a small, glowing green object. My grandmother’s jade pendant. “This thing must be worth a lot, right?” I tried to crawl out, but a sharp pain in my ribs made me cry out, my body trembling. “Put it down…” “Put it down?” He kicked my car door. “You’ve been clinging to my sister for five years! Why don’t you let go?” He raised his hand and violently smashed the pendant on the asphalt. The crisp sound of it shattering echoed in the night. As if that wasn’t enough, he ground the pieces under his heel. “Leo!” I roared, the taste of blood flooding my mouth. “That was my grandmother’s—” “Your grandmother? Not even your ancestors can help you now!” He grabbed the front of my blood-soaked shirt and dragged me out of the car. He pointed to the bite marks on his neck. “My sister did this. Only I get to touch her body.” “You think she actually loves you? You’re just her ATM!” he crowed, his excitement growing. “The villa, the shares, the sports cars—every single thing she asked you for was for me!” He looked at me and threw his head back, laughing like a madman. “Julian Sinclair! You think you’re so powerful, don’t you?!” “You tried to take my sister from me! Now I’m going to send you to your death!” He grabbed my collar and started dragging me towards the cliff edge. Headlights swept across the scene. Debi jumped out of a car and ran towards us. “Leo! Are you okay?!” She threw her arms around him, checking him from head to toe. When she was satisfied he only had a few scrapes, she breathed a sigh of relief. Then she saw the blood pouring from my forehead and quickly looked away. Of course Leo was okay. I’d had that Maybach specially reinforced. It barely had a dent in the bumper. “Julian, did you do this on purpose?!” “Leo is my brother! You’re so vicious, you actually tried to kill him!” A cold laugh escaped my lips. “Debi, anyone with eyes can see that he hit me.” I pointed to the shattered jade on the ground, my voice dangerously low. “And he smashed the last memento my grandmother gave me!” Debi glanced at the jade fragments, her expression flickering for a second before she scoffed. “It’s just a piece of jade. The Sinclair family has plenty of money. I’ll buy you a better one tomorrow, how about that?” I looked at her and started to laugh. I laughed until my vision blurred, the tears stinging my eyes. Of course. In her world, everything had a price tag. My grandmother’s memory, my heart… none of it was worth as much as a moment of her lunatic brother’s happiness. She had climbed so high on my generosity that she’d forgotten who had given her the money to be so reckless in the first place. Leo, hiding behind her, mouthed two words at me: You lose. The pain was overwhelming. My fingers trembled as I fumbled for my phone. It took several tries to dial my assistant. “Tomorrow…” “The wedding is still on.” Leo immediately sneered. “See, sister? He’s on death’s door, and he’s not calling an ambulance. He’s still obsessed with marrying you.” Debi knelt in front of me. “Do you really want to marry me?” Before I could answer, she held up three fingers. “Fine. But you have to agree to my terms.” “First, set up a gaming company for Leo and fund it with one billion dollars.” “Second, transfer the ownership of your beachfront villa in Australia to him.” “Third, give him a thirty percent stake in all of your companies.” “Money is so vulgar,” she said, staring at my broken face. “What I want is for Leo to be set for life.” I looked at the undisguised greed in her eyes and turned my face away, saying nothing. The wail of sirens grew closer. The last thing I heard before I lost consciousness was their piercing cry. The hospital lights were harsh and white. The doctor said I had three broken ribs, a fractured left leg, and fifteen stitches in my forehead. My assistant stood by my bed, hesitating. “Sir, are you absolutely sure about marrying Ms. Vance?” I kept my eyes closed. “I don’t make decisions I regret.”
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