Chapter 3

The surrounding guests crowded in, pointing and whispering.

Celeste instantly switched to a pitiful act, eyes brimming with tears.

"Thank you all for coming to my wedding today. This woman showed up uninvited to seduce my husband on our wedding day."

I raised my head furiously and screamed.

"You're lying! I'm Alexander Sterling's sister!"

Celeste's expression twisted with fury, her body swaying as if she might collapse.

"You're the liar! My sister-in-law has showered me with gifts — houses, cars, you name it. Someone like you doesn't deserve to call yourself my sister-in-law!"

"Alexander told me himself — his sister had a deal to close on the day of the wedding and wouldn't be able to make it!"

I stopped wasting my breath arguing with Celeste and turned my head toward the crowd, shouting with everything I had left.

"I really am Alexander Sterling's sister! You can call him right now and he'll confirm it!"

The guests looked around at each other, but with Celeste standing right there, none of them dared make the call.

I gritted my teeth and sweetened the deal.

"Call Alexander. He'll confirm who I am — and I'll make it worth your while!"

The crowd buzzed with temptation. But one look at Celeste's icy glare and contemptuous scoff, and no one moved a muscle.

Just when I thought no one would help me, a young woman stepped forward and dialed Alexander's number.

The moment the call connected, she put it on speaker.

"Mr. Sterling, I'm at your wedding. There's a woman here claiming to be your sister."

"No—"

A single syllable was all he got out before the line went dead.

Every last trace of doubt that Celeste had been suppressing vanished.

"You all saw that! This woman is lying! She's not my husband's sister!"

She had the recording from her phone projected onto the big screen.

The guests watched me and Alexander embracing, and the way they looked at me shifted to pure revulsion.

"Wow, and this is supposed to be the Sterling family."

"She could've had her own man, but no — had to go after someone else's. Disgusting."

Right on cue, Celeste dabbed at her tears, the picture of wronged innocence.

Suddenly, someone hurled something at me, shouting.

"Homewreckers deserve to die!"

Then more objects came flying — one after another, pelting me from every direction. Nothing I said made a difference. No proof I offered mattered.

Celeste surveyed my battered, humiliated state, and a satisfied smile finally spread across her face.

She leaned down and whispered in my ear.

"You little whore — that homeless psycho I lined up for you? He's already here."

My eyes flew wide with terror, and I shook my head frantically.

"Celeste, if you go through with this, I'll make sure Alexander divorces you!"

Celeste's expression went rigid, her teeth clenched in fury.

"Oh, so I've been going too easy on you? And you still have the nerve to threaten me?"

"Alexander recently got a dog — a big, aggressive one. And wouldn't you know it — it hasn't been fixed."

I stared at her in disbelief, my voice trembling.

"You... you're insane! You're out of your mind!"

"If you do this, I swear I'll destroy you!"

"You'll never be a Sterling!"

Celeste laughed bitterly, utterly unfazed.

"Yeah? Let's see if you still feel that way after."

I thrashed and fought, screaming, begging.

But the louder I pleaded, the wider Celeste smiled.

They dragged me away. Her merciless laughter was seared into my brain.

I was thrown into the dog pen. The animal was enormous — nearly half my height.

Perhaps taking pity on me, the person who'd dragged me in untied the ropes around my wrists.

The dog came lumbering toward me, drool hanging from its jaws, visibly aroused.

I scrambled backward in terror, my hands groping desperately along the ground until my fingers closed around a long stick.

The dog saw the weapon, bared its teeth, and lunged.