From Bride-To-Be to His Kept Woman

Zara's POV

"Congratulations, Mr. Fuller and Ms. Lochner, for finally tying the knot," a man in the audience said while standing up and raising his wine glass in the air.

He then shot a smile at me while giving me a little toast. "Don't be too upset, Ms. Sherwood. It's your good fortune to be able to catch Mr. Fuller's eye and be his mistress."

Laughter erupted around us.

"Mr. Fuller sure does know how to enjoy himself."

"She's just a university student. She's never seen anything like this."

I was frozen in place. Although I was still wearing my wedding dress, I felt as if I had been stripped naked and forced to stand in the middle of the hall to be ridiculed by the guests.

Everyone present knew the truth except me.

My 'fiancé', James Fuller, pulled out a keycard from the inner pocket of his suit and pressed it into my palm. "Be good and wait for me at the apartment. I'll look for you once the wedding ceremony is over."

His hot breath fanned across my ear when he moved closer to me. Lowering his voice so that nobody else could hear his words, he murmured flirtatiously, "After all, I promised you that you wouldn't be able to get out of bed the next day after the wedding."

I stood rooted to the spot in a daze. A wave of anguish and humiliation crashed over me. The tight feeling in my chest made it nearly impossible for me to breathe.

"Why?" I asked as I stared into James' eyes, tears welling up in my own eyes. "You could have just told me if you didn't like me. Why did you humiliate me like this?"

The sympathy on James' face deepened as he looked at me. He gently wiped the tears from the corner of my eyes.

His words dripped with affection when he said, "It's not that I don't like you, Zara. Your pureness is truly very cute. That's why I like seeing you shatter into a million pieces after finding out that you've been lied to when you've given your whole heart to me."

The blood in my veins instantly turned to ice. I stared at James in disbelief, feeling as if I was looking at a stranger.

I still remembered how he had helped me when I tried on my wedding dress last night. He had wrapped his arms around my waist with an adoring expression.

"Did you know, Zara? From the first moment I laid eyes on you, I thought that you would look beautiful in a wedding dress."

"What about now?" I asked, blushing.

James smiled and pressed a kiss to my earlobe. "You look even better than I imagined."

I was still distracted when James' so-called best friend, Melanie Lochner, walked up to us. She had changed into a wedding dress that was much more extravagant than mine.

Her voice was laced with teasing when she affectionately patted James' shoulder and said, "That's enough, James. Don't make her cry. Zara's still so young."

She then turned to me and smiled at me warmly. "Don't worry. I'm not petty. As long as you behave, you'll get plenty of benefits from us in the future."

My entire body was trembling. I grasped my hands together so tightly that I could barely feel my fingers anymore.

I took a deep breath and calmly said, "I won't be anyone's mistress."

The faint scent of alcohol floated through the air.

James' expression remained unchanged. He simply arched his brow before using the gentlest tone to say the cruelest words. "Zara, your graduate program application is still being reviewed, right?"

My entire body went rigid. My mouth fell open, but I couldn't say anything. A few seconds later, two bodyguards approached me and grabbed either side of my arms.

James affectionately tapped the tip of my nose before he left. "Be good, Zara. Don't make a fuss. You've been with me since you were a freshman. Everyone knows that you'll have nowhere to go if you leave me."