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Chapter 4

Author: Fierce Sleeping Dog
Mason's POV

By the time I finished showering, it was already 4:00 pm. My phone was vibrating furiously on the coffee table. I picked it up and saw a voice message from Shelia Winslow, Susie's best friend and one of her bridesmaids.

I tapped play, and Shelia's shrill voice filled the room.

"Mason, how dare you call yourself a man? You left Susie all alone at the hotel to deal with the people asking her for money! Do you know that the hotel called the police and is keeping her in the lobby? She's a woman! How is she supposed to deal with the police? How could you be so despicable?"

I couldn't even be bothered to reply. I immediately blocked her.

Then came a call from Aria. I answered the call and put it on speakerphone. As soon as the call connected, her shrill, grating voice blasted through the phone.

"Mason, you heartless bastard! Get your sorry ass to the hotel right now! The hotel is threatening to have her arrested! How do you expect our family to show our faces now? I'm warning you! If you don't cough up the money today, this wedding is off!"

I sat on the sofa and poured myself a glass of water. I explained, "Aria, let me remind you of a few things. First, I have no intention of going through with this wedding.

"Second, I'm not the one who humiliated your family. It was your precious daughter, the one who exchanged rings with her childhood sweetheart in the middle of her own wedding.

"Finally, isn't Jeremy such a capable man? Isn't he a successful overseas-educated elite? Why can't he even cough up 20 thousand dollars for a wedding banquet?"

On the other end of the line, Aria was panting with rage. "Jeremy is sick! How could he possibly have so much cash?"

"If he doesn't have it, and Susie doesn't either, why did they order 20 bottles of liquor at the wedding banquet?" I took a sip of water, my voice turning cold. "Why don't you take your precious daughter and Jeremy to a loan shark instead?"

"Mason! Don't you dare hang up on me! I swear I'll—"

I immediately hung up and promptly blocked her too.

Once again, everything was silent. I opened my laptop and plugged in my flash drive. It was time to settle things.

Half a year ago, Susie and I had been planning to buy a home and get married. She had told me we would split the down payment on the house and save the remaining money for renovations and a car.

We opened a joint account to save for the car's down payment, depositing a total of 25 thousand dollars. I contributed 20 thousand dollars, and Susie put in five thousand dollars.

Last month, when I checked the account transactions before picking up my new car, I discovered that 12 thousand dollars had mysteriously disappeared.

I asked Susie where the money had gone. She avoided my gaze and told me she had lent it to her cousin to help him get a business off the ground. She would pay it back the following month.

I hadn't called her out on her lie back then. But the very next day, I asked a friend to look into it and discovered that she had used the money to buy Jeremy a suit. It had cost 11.88 thousand dollars.

The white designer suit Jeremy had worn when he had stormed into the banquet hall was the very one she had bought with my car savings.

And so, I called an old college friend of mine, Josiah Sterling, who was a lawyer. "Josiah, are you at your law firm?"

"Yeah. What's up? Isn't today your big day?"

I gave him a rough rundown of what had happened.

Josiah fell silent on the other end of the line for a full minute before finally cursing, "Holy shit! How can someone be this shameless? What are you planning to do?"

"I'm going after the marital assets she transferred without my consent." I flicked the ash from my cigarette into a paper cup.

After hanging up, I went straight to the travel agency in the city center where I had booked our honeymoon. I canceled both plane tickets and the resort reservation.

A few minutes later, Susie called me from an unfamiliar number. I put on my Bluetooth earpiece and answered the call. She sounded completely worn out.

"The hotel staff won't let us go! They've called the police and won't stop demanding that we pay the 19 thousand dollars. Jeremy's card has been frozen, and I've maxed out all my credit cards. There's also nothing I can use in my credit line! I could barely scrape together nine thousand dollars!

"The hotel says I have until noon tomorrow to pay the remaining ten thousand dollars. Otherwise, they'll file a complaint against me!"

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  • Left at the Altar, Like I Wanted   Chapter 10

    Third-Person POVThe divorce proceedings went quickly. As Susie and Mason stepped out of the courthouse, the sun was shining brightly. Golden rays warmed them on an early winter's day.As they parted, Susie raised her head, her expression extremely conflicted. If only she hadn't let go of his hand at their wedding that day. She would still be Mason's wife—envied by all, living in a good home, driving an expensive car, and basking in the love and devotion he had once given her without reservation.But now, she had nothing. Her reputation was in ruins, and she could only skulk from place to place. One choice was all it had taken to make her life a living hell.…Mason's POV"Mason… i-if there's a next life, I swear I'll be faithful to you and you alone…" she sobbed out an empty, meaningless promise.I smiled and shook my head. "There's no need for that, Susie. I've had more than enough in this life. In the next, let's just make sure our paths never cross."With that, I didn't lin

  • Left at the Altar, Like I Wanted   Chapter 9

    Mason's POVThere was only one day left before the 30-day cooling-off period ended. At 11:00 pm, I had just finished working late and returned to my apartment building. I felt the biting wind of early winter against my face.In the shadows cast by a street light near the building entrance, a gaunt figure was curled up on the ground. She wore an old down jacket covered in dust and a pair of flat shoes so filthy that their original color was impossible to make out.At the sound of my footsteps, the woman suddenly lifted her head. It was Susie. It had only been a month since I last saw her, but she had become almost unrecognizable. Her cheekbones jutted sharply, and her once-radiant cheeks had sunken in, leaving her looking like a walking corpse.When she saw me, tears streamed down her face. With a thud, she dropped straight to her knees on the cold, hard concrete, surprising me. "Mason… I'm sorry…" Her voice was hoarse and barely recognizable, filled with despair and regret. "Je

  • Left at the Altar, Like I Wanted   Chapter 8

    Mason's POVAria froze for a moment, then instinctively narrowed her eyes to get a better look at the page. The instant she saw the words "Date of Abortion" and the operating surgeon's signature, her expression stiffened. "W-what is this?""Two years ago, I was sent to Glayden on a two-month business trip." I lowered my voice, but every word reached her ears with perfect clarity. "Your daughter was pregnant with Jeremy's child. She underwent a D&C procedure at a women's and children's hospital. And you must be the family member who signed the consent form for the procedure."Aria's face drained of color. Her lips trembled as she stared at me as though she had seen a ghost. "H-how did you…"The noisy crowd that had gathered in the lobby gradually fell silent. No one could make out the exact details of our conversation, but when they saw Aria's terrified expression, the mood shifted completely.I stepped forward and looked down at her. "Go ahead. Keep making a scene. The lobby's sur

  • Left at the Altar, Like I Wanted   Chapter 7

    Mason's POVEarly the next morning, a bombshell announcement began circulating like wildfire in several major industry group chats in the local area. The multinational company Susie worked for had officially announced her termination.The statement was worded in the usual formal corporate language, but every word was devastating. "Susie Smith is hereby dismissed for misconduct involving serious breaches of public morality, multiple civil and financial disputes, and public security cases, all of which have severely damaged the company's reputation."The wealthy, beautiful heiress who had returned from overseas and had been the center of attention at the company had become the laughingstock of the entire industry.At 2:00 pm, I was attending the company's quarterly risk management review meeting. A young receptionist knocked on the conference room door and hurried inside, looking flustered. "Mr. Montgomery, there's an elderly woman making a scene in the lobby downstairs. Security

  • Left at the Altar, Like I Wanted   Chapter 6

    Mason's POVThree days after leaving the courthouse, I returned to the new home Susie and I had shared, not to reminisce, but to move my things out.I hired a professional moving crew in the city. Four men arrived, working quickly and efficiently. I pointed at the things in each room and listed them one by one."I bought that 75-inch TV before the marriage. Take it. That high-end computer in the study is mine. Take it too. And take all of those bottles of liquor and red wine people gave us in the liquor cabinet."The movers immediately got to work, packing everything with practiced speed.Susie loved showing off our home on social media, calling it her little modern cream-toned haven. But she had probably forgotten that I was the one who had paid for every genuinely expensive appliance and piece of soft furnishing in the house.While clearing out the walk-in closet, one of the movers took a locked box from the top storage shelf. "Sir, is this also yours?" he asked.I looked at t

  • Left at the Altar, Like I Wanted   Chapter 5

    Mason's POVI continued driving at a steady pace. I said impassively, "Oh, that's rough, buddy.""Mason! How can you be so heartless?" Susie completely lost it on the other end of the line. "I'm your wife! We're legally married! Do you even understand what a marital debt is? You have to pay half the banquet bill!""Marital debt, you say?" I couldn't help but laugh. "Susie, if you're that clueless about the law, maybe you should learn a thing or two from TV. You ordered the extra 20 bottles of imported liquor and the premium seafood after I had already left. You and Jeremy were the ones who consumed them."Also, the 12-thousand-dollar suit he is wearing? You took the money from our joint account to buy it. That was a deliberate concealment and transfer of marital assets. I've already sued Jeremy for unjust enrichment. I'm demanding that he return every last dollar."There was dead silence on the other end of the line. I could only hear Susie's heavy, ragged breathing. She had proba

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