Our Wedding Turned Into Their Battlefield

Percy Fritz flinched. A few seconds later, he finally looked in my direction. When his gaze landed on my bleeding forehead, he stumbled toward me.

"Ines, are you okay?"

I turned my head and swept my eyes over the mess around us. Only a few close friends were left standing in the corner.

My hands clenched into tight fists. The wedding I had dreamed about for years had been destroyed in minutes.

"It's all my fault," Percy said. "I shouldn't have let that crazy woman in. Don't be angry. In a few days, we'll hold the wedd—"

"Who are you calling a crazy woman?" Carlene Skinner's shrill voice cut in from behind us. "I did this to get back at you. I swear to God, I'll ruin every wedding you try to hold."

"Why you little—" Percy's temper flared up again in an instant.

He turned back to argue with Carlene again, but I held on tightly to the hem of his shirt. Gritting my teeth, I poured all my emotions into what I said next.

"If you keep fighting with her, we're done."

Percy immediately backed down. In the end, he ordered the security guards to throw Carlene out.

Her bitter curses echoed from outside.

"As long as I'm here, I won't let you have a moment's peace!"

Percy finally ignored her. He bent down and scooped me up in his arms.

"Ines, I'm sorry you had to go through that. Let's get you to the hospital and have that looked at."

After a round of examinations, I fell into a deep sleep in the hospital room.

I was eventually woken up by a heated argument.

Percy stood by the door, arguing with whoever was on the other end of the phone.

"Carlene, if you ever try to wreck my wedding again, I swear I'll make you pay! You still dare to provoke me? Just you wait!"

He hung up and was about to rush out, but I grabbed his wrist.

"If you go, she'll just hit back again," I said. "Tit for tat. The two of you will be at each other's throats forever. Just let today go."

I didn't know what kind of mood I was in when I said those words.

In the three years I had been with Percy, I had suffered no small amount of torment from this pair of sworn enemies.

Carlene had once swapped the birthday present Percy prepared for me with a gag gift. Percy had made me wait two hours in the freezing cold when he came to pick me up, all because he fought her over a parking spot on the way.

I had tried to talk him out of it, tried to put up with it, and even tried to understand the ten years of complicated history between them. But in the end, even my wedding had been reduced to collateral damage.

Even in their quarrels, I could sense something twisted in what they felt. That was why I was afraid that once Percy got his revenge, I would spend the rest of my life being dragged into their feud.

Percy sighed and placed his hand over mine.

"Okay, I'll listen to you. I won't go. I'll stay right here with you."

As we left the hospital, Percy held my hand the entire way back. Every word he spoke was a gentle, cautious attempt to soothe me.

But the moment we reached our front door, I froze.

The security door was slightly ajar.

The instant I opened it, the chaotic scene hit me like a wave.

The mess all over the floor made my breathing stop abruptly. My mom's memorial portrait had been viciously thrown down in the entryway, a shoe print smeared across the black-and-white photo.

I collapsed onto the floor amid the shattered glass, reaching out to grab the scattered frame.