On my wedding day, my own sister locked me in a bathroom. The scholarship student I’d mentored, seeing my fiancée standing alone and humiliated at the altar, heroically stepped up to marry her in my place. My sister, Sarah, was so moved that she immediately declared him her adoptive brother, allowing him to fulfill the marriage alliance with the Vance family on my behalf. My now ex-fiancée, Luna, later said to me, “Asher, you cured my legs. I love and respect you for that. But I’m legally married to Leo now. From now on, you can be my boyfriend, and he’ll be my husband. We can all be just like we were before, okay?” I slapped her across the face. What she didn’t know was that her recovery wasn't complete. Without the final support brace I designed, her legs would fail in seven days, and she would be paralyzed again. And as for my treacherous sister? She’d clearly never seen our parents’ will. What made her so certain the company was hers to control? … I clawed my way out of that bathroom, a complete wreck, only to see Luna Vance holding Leo’s hand, the two of them gliding through the reception hall, graciously accepting toasts from the guests. “Welcome, everyone, to my wedding to the heir of the Blackwood family,” Luna announced from the stage, her voice ringing with false joy. “This day marks a new era of partnership between the Vance and Blackwood corporations.” She was clever, deliberately blurring Leo’s identity, letting the crowd assume the man beside her was still me, Asher Blackwood. The hall erupted in applause. Then, Luna’s eyes caught sight of me standing in the doorway, soaked and disheveled. Her smile faltered, and her face hardened. She shot me a look, a silent, venomous command not to ruin her moment. Leo followed her gaze, his face lighting up with a sickeningly feigned delight. He rushed over to me. “Asher! You made it!” he exclaimed, his voice dripping with false sincerity. “Perfect timing. Come on, have a drink with us. It’s a double celebration!” Before the ceremony, my sister, Sarah, had pulled me aside, claiming it was an emergency. She’d led me into a bathroom stall and, in a moment of distraction, bolted the door from the outside. A minute later, a bucket of vile, stinking water cascaded over the top, drenching me. My bespoke suit, now ruined, clung to me, soaked through with the stench of fermented filth. The catering staff pinched their noses as I passed, their disgust poorly hidden. Sarah rushed toward me, trying to drag me out of sight. “Ash, whatever it is, can it wait? Don't make a scene—” The moment she touched me, I snapped. I swung my arm and struck her hard across the cheek. SLAP. Sarah stumbled back, her hand flying to her face, a red welt already blooming on her skin. “Asher… you hit me?” she whispered, her eyes wide with disbelief. A cold, mocking smile twisted my lips. I didn’t offer an explanation. I just raised my hand to strike her again. But before my hand could fall, it was caught in an iron grip. Luna stood before me, her face a mask of fury. “Asher, that’s enough! First, you abandon me at the altar and make me a laughingstock, and now you’re hitting your own sister?” Looking at the woman I had loved since childhood, a wave of hurt and betrayal washed over me. I opened my mouth to tell her everything, to explain the locked door, the filth, the humiliation. But before I could speak, Leo dropped to his knees in front of me with a dramatic thud. “Brother, if you’re going to blame someone, blame me!” he cried, his voice thick with phony anguish. “I couldn’t bear to see Luna standing up there alone, being whispered about by everyone.” “I only did it to repay your kindness, to save the merger between our families!” he sobbed, his head bowed. “Now that you’re back… I won’t even ask you why you ran out on your own wedding.” His words were poison wrapped in pity. He painted himself the hero while branding me a coward who’d fled his own marriage. Sarah, biting her lip, grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the stage. “Ash, do you have any idea what you’ve done?” she hissed, her voice low and menacing. “If the Vance deal falls through, it will be your fault. You’ll be the one who destroyed everything!” I stared at her face, twisted with a rage I’d never seen before, and my heart turned to stone. When our parents died in that crash, she was just ten years old. I was the one who stood between her and the vultures—the shareholders, our own relatives—who wanted to tear the company apart. I protected her. She used to look at me with such adoration. Now, her eyes held nothing but hatred. “Why can’t you ever think of me?” she pleaded, her voice cracking. “Leo is a better match for the Vances than you are! Why can’t you just let her go?” I ripped my arm from her grasp and turned my gaze back to the stage, to the woman I was supposed to marry. “Luna,” I asked, my voice dangerously calm. “Is he really your choice?” Luna’s eyes met mine, then flickered to Leo, a storm of indecision brewing within them. But that flicker of hesitation was all it took. It was a shard of ice in my heart. After her accident, when the world had given up on her, I was the only one who didn't. I pulled her from the abyss and poured everything I had—my time, my fortune—into getting her back on her feet. I handed over the day-to-day operations of the company to Sarah, assembled a world-class medical team, and practically lived in my research lab. A year of sleepless nights and relentless work finally led to a breakthrough: a new material, a new procedure. I, along with the nation's top surgeon, put her back on her feet. And now, less than a month after she walked again, she was hesitating between me and him. A bitter smile touched my lips. I had no use for a love that wasn't absolute. Suddenly, Leo grabbed my arm, his face a mask of crocodile tears. “Brother, don’t worry. Even though Luna and I are legally married, I’ll give her back to you!” He then pulled a marriage certificate from his jacket, tore it to shreds, and scattered the pieces like bitter confetti. Luna gasped and rushed to embrace him, her voice firm and resolute. “Leo, we are married. You are my husband now. Nothing and no one can change that!” She turned to me, her eyes red and blazing with anger. “Asher, are you happy now? Are you trying to drive him to his death?” Before I could answer, a wine glass shattered at my feet, spraying shards across the floor. A sharp pain shot through my ankle as a piece of glass sliced my skin, drawing blood. Luna didn't even glance down. Her voice grew colder, laced with impatience. “All those years I was stuck in that hospital bed, where were you? You were always busy, buried in your damned lab, impossible to reach.” “It was Leo,” she said, her voice softening as she looked at him. “Leo was the one who stayed by my side, day and night. He wasn't disgusted by my helplessness. He cleaned me, he cared for me. Where were you then, Asher?” She looked back at me, her eyes hard as diamonds. “Fate has made its choice. I’m his wife now. My husband is Leo, and only Leo!” My soaked clothes felt like a second skin of ice, the chill seeping deep into my bones. She had forgotten. She had forgotten who I was buried in that lab for. Sarah stepped in, pushing me back. “Brother, stop it. You’re only making things worse for yourself.” Her eyes were cold, calculating. “There’s only one way to fix this. You need to gift your hospital and your entire medical research team to Leo. A wedding present. Then I’m sure Luna will forgive you for abandoning the wedding, and we can officially welcome Leo into our family as my brother.” I stared at her, my voice dropping to a frigid whisper. “Our parents only had one son. I have no idea who this ‘sister’ is you're talking about.” I left them there amidst the wreckage of my wedding. That night, I posted a single, clear message on all my social media accounts: my engagement to Luna Vance was over. I didn't expect to find her on my doorstep the next morning, looking haggard and worn, with a sullen Leo trailing behind her. She was holding a bouquet of red roses, and the moment she saw me, her bloodshot eyes lit up. “Don’t be like this, Ash. A night has passed. Surely you’re not still angry?” she said, attempting a playful smile. “I know you love me. We’re not breaking up.” My eyes drifted to the fresh, purple hickey on Leo’s neck. A humorless laugh escaped my lips. “You slept with him, and we’re not breaking up? What am I supposed to be, your side piece?” “Don’t be so crude,” Luna frowned. “Leo is my husband. You are my boyfriend. We can be just like we were before. What’s wrong with that?” I stared at her as if she’d grown a second head. I was seriously beginning to suspect her accident had damaged her brain, not just her legs. My stunned silence must have given her the wrong impression, because a flicker of triumph crossed her face, as if she believed my love for her was so absolute I would accept any terms. Leo, gnashing his teeth behind a fake smile, reached out to touch my sleeve. I instinctively pulled away. I barely moved, but he recoiled dramatically, stumbling backward as if I’d shoved him with all my might. Luna, reaching out to steady him, was pulled off balance. They both went down in a heap on my porch. Suddenly, Luna cried out, her hands clutching her stomach, her face contorted in agony. She looked at Leo, her voice a panicked shriek. “The baby! Our baby!”
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