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Chapter 2

Penulis: Sunny Ramsay
During the day at the office, I discussed wedding dress styles with my coworkers, sampled wedding cakes, and played the part of a blissful bride flawlessly.

After work, I threw myself into the boxing gym.

Protective gear on. Gloves on. One second, I was calling him honey on chat. The next, I was gritting my teeth and counting strikes against a heavy bag.

At my request, the coach designed a specific defense-and-counter routine against spinning kicks.

"You said your opponent is good at spinning kicks?"

"Yes."

"What level?"

"Underground fight-club sparring background."

The coach frowned.

"People from underground rings use dirty leg techniques. They don't follow official rules. They aim for vital spots."

He pulled up a clip from an underground fight.

"See that? Before they kick, their hips tuck in for a split second. Very fast. Less than point-three seconds."

"What you need to do is shift sideways within that point-three seconds, bleed off the force, then close in and strike at short range."

I nodded and practiced it over and over.

When I cornered a six-foot man against the wall, he instinctively covered his groin.

The coach cursed him for being useless, but I saw the corner of his mouth lift slightly.

That night, my best friend Sophie came to pick me up from the gym.

When she saw the bruises all over my arms, her eyes reddened immediately.

"Vivian, are you crazy? Why are you torturing yourself like this?"

I took off my gear, opened a bottle of water, and drank two mouthfuls.

"Look at what I found."

I handed her my phone.

On the screen were transaction records sent by the private investigator.

Derek's online loan: eighty-three thousand.

Of that, sixty-two thousand had been spent on a Cartier bracelet. Recipient: Chloe Shaw.

Sophie's eyes went wide.

"That bastard took out online loans to buy Cartier for that woman? What has he ever bought you? On your birthday, he gave you a nine-dollar bouquet of baby's breath with free shipping! Call off the wedding, Vivian. Do not marry him!"

I shook my head and took back the phone.

"That is exactly why I can't call it off. I need him to kneel and spit out everything he swallowed."

Sophie looked at me, and the look in her eyes changed.

"Vivian, I don't know exactly what you are planning, but whatever it is, I am on your side."

I watched her leave, then bent down and kept hitting the bag.

Three nights before the wedding, the investigator sent me the final recording. It had been recorded inside Derek's car.

Chloe's voice came through.

"Derek, after the wedding day, she will be ruined. That house under her name was paid in full, right? Once it is transferred to you, we can move in together. How perfect would that be?"

Derek laughed. "What's the rush? Once I get her house, then transfer out her savings, that will make this marriage worth it."

Chloe giggled. "Derek, you are so bad."

"Do you like it?"

"I love it."

The recording ended there.

I sat on the bench in the gym locker room and listened to it three times.

My hands were steady enough to back it up to three different cloud drives without a single mistake.

Then I transferred the remaining payment to the investigator and added a note: excellent work, worth every cent.
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  • Bride Hits Back   Chapter 10

    Two months later.I was sitting in a coffee shop in another city when I received Sophie's message."Girl, finale time."Sophie sent a string of screenshots.The first was a court enforcement notice.Because Derek refused to repay his online loans and the wedding company's debt, he had been listed as a judgment defaulter.In other words, a deadbeat debtor.High spending restricted. All bank accounts under his name frozen.He lost his job too. Once his company learned he was on the list, they told him to pack up and leave that same day.The second screenshot was from Derek's mother's social feed.A photo of an IV drip, with the caption: "Raised a son all my life, only to have a woman destroy our family."No one liked it. No one commented.Because everyone who should have blocked her had already blocked her.The third was a recent photo of Chloe.Someone we both knew had posted it.In the photo, Chloe stood at the entrance of a small diner, wearing a greasy apron. The surgi

  • Bride Hits Back   Chapter 9

    The next month was the longest thirty days of Derek's life.The collection calls from the online loan platform went from three a day to fifteen a day.The collectors' attitude went from "please handle this as soon as possible" to "do you not want to live?"After his contact list was bought by the collection company, his parents, coworkers, and college classmates all received calls."Hello, do you know Derek Hale? He owes twelve thousand dollars and refuses to repay it. Please tell him to contact us as soon as possible..."Derek's father was so angry that his old illness flared up. At home, he pointed at Derek and cursed."You borrowed online loans to buy jewelry for some wild woman? Have you lost your marbles? How did I raise something like you?"Derek's mother no longer had the energy to curse Vivian. The mother-in-law battle line collapsed instantly, and she turned her weapon toward Chloe."Return that Cartier bracelet right now! More than sixty thousand! If we return it, we

  • Bride Hits Back   Chapter 8

    Derek found out about the house on the third day after the wedding.His mother dragged her sick body to the county recorder's office to check the records and discovered the house had been mortgaged three weeks earlier.Property status: mortgaged.The old woman howled in the lobby on the spot."She tricked me! She mortgaged the house! A house worth three million eight hundred thousand! Where will my future grandson live?"The staff reminded her expressionlessly, "This was a legal action by the property owner. The house was bought in full before marriage. The owner has the right to dispose of it."The old woman refused to stop. She pointed at the ceiling and cursed for half an hour.After she finished cursing, she called Derek.Derek was at the hospital with Chloe when he received the call.Chloe's jaw had a metal plate in it. Her mouth was swollen like she had two eggs stuffed inside, and she leaked air when she talked.After Derek heard his mother's words, he nearly crushed h

  • Bride Hits Back   Chapter 7

    That afternoon, videos from the wedding hit the local trending list.The headline was written by netizens: "Bride KOs Bridesmaid on the Spot, Then Plays Groom's Cheating Evidence. Guests Riot for Refunds."The video views passed five million in two hours.The comments section was overwhelmingly against Derek and Chloe.The top-liked comment read: "Was this bride a kickboxing champion in her last life, here to collect debt in this one?"When I saw that comment, I was sitting on Sophie's sofa eating takeout.I nearly choked on my soda.I had not been a kickboxing champion in my last life.I had been a fool kicked into paralysis, then rolled off a rooftop.My phone rang.Derek's number.I answered.His voice on the other end was rushed and tight, as if something were stuck in his throat."Vivian, you went too far. Do you know my father was so angry he ended up in the hospital? My mother's blood pressure spiked. She is lying in the ER!"I was chewing on a chicken leg, so I an

  • Bride Hits Back   Chapter 6

    The first clip was an audio recording.Derek's voice came through the speakers, clear and complete."After we ruin her that day, that house under her name was paid in full, right? Once it is transferred to you, we can move in together. How perfect would that be?"Chloe's voice followed."Derek, you are so bad.""Do you like it?""I love it."All three hundred guests turned to look at Derek at the same time.In two seconds, Derek's face went from red to white, then from white to green.He rushed toward the sound booth, trying to unplug the projector.But the presentation had been uploaded to the cloud and set to play automatically. The equipment was not controlled from the venue.He pulled the projector power cable. The screen went black for one second.The next second, the banquet hall's backup projector switched on automatically, and the image appeared again.The second section was a screenshot of spending records.An online loan record: eighty-three thousand.Then came

  • Bride Hits Back   Chapter 5

    Although she was shocked, Chloe's leg had already shot out.It cut through the air, aimed precisely at my left temple.The exact same angle as in my previous life.But I was no longer the Vivian who could barely hold a glove.The instant she tucked her hip and lifted her leg, I shifted out of the way. Then my right fist drove upward from below in a standard uppercut, smashing into her chin.The crisp impact echoed through the entire hall through the microphone.Chloe's head snapped back. Her mouthguard flew out, drawing an arc of blood and spit through the air.Her eyes lost focus instantly.Her legs went soft, and her whole body fell straight backward.The back of her head hit the wrestling mat with a dull thud.Her limbs spread out. She did not move.The entire hall fell silent.More than three hundred guests froze with their phones raised in midair.No applause. No cheers.Everyone looked as if someone had grabbed them by the throat. Even breathing seemed forgotten.B

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