Wedding Showdown

The ballroom erupts in murmurs, eyes glued to the screen in horror. They had all come here for a celebration, a union, a merger but instead they got….a show to say the least!

The giant screen still flickered in the background, frozen on the most damning image of the night. Rune pressed against Yumi in the bathroom, her emerald dress bunched at her hips, his mouth on her throat.

It was unmistakable, that was Rubes in her wedding suit and Yumi in her bridesmaids dress.

Yolanda’s eyes widened on the screen, Camila but her lip anxiously, how the hell did this get out? Is someone recording them right now?! She sends a glance Seraphine’s way who looked just as mortified and angry at the situation.

How could they both have been so careless to do something like this on his wedding day?!

“Is that Yumi?” Yolanda whispered, hands trembling at the revelation before her.

For a long heartbeat, neither of her friends spoke. Hell, what were they supposed to tell her? The music had died, the quartet silenced mid-note. Only the soft hum of the speakers and the rapid clicking of reporters’ cameras filled the room.

“I asked a question!" Yolanda snapped, eyes moving over to her friends.

“I don't know Yolanda! I'm just as shocked as you are!” Seraphine replied and Camila nodded.

The last thing they want is to be the subject of her fury right now..

“Oh my God…” a woman gasped, clutching her pearls.

“On his wedding day?” another muttered, scandalized.

A man at the back barked a laugh that was more disbelief than amusement. “He accused Thea of cheating and this is what he’s been doing? Hypocrite!”

The whispers spread like wildfire, tongues wagging, fingers pointing. Every guest who had once come to toast the happy couple now had their phones out, some recording, others furiously messaging the outside world.

And at the center of it all stood Posy Balmero, mortified. There's no way that video is real…

Her bouquet lay forgotten at her feet. Her lips trembled as she stared at the frozen screen. “No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “No, that’s not…”

Thea, standing a few paces away with her arms folded, arched a brow. Her silence was louder than any words.

“It’s fake,” Posy suddenly declared, her voice pitching high. “The video…it’s doctored. Someone manipulated it. This isn’t real!”

Yolanda stared at the video a bit longer, there's no way that is fake. She didn't know some video analysis expert to tell her that it was all real. Her precious older brother, tangled with Yumi, her best friend!

“Doctored?” a man in the crowd scoffed. “Then where’s Rune now, huh? If it’s fake, where is the groom?”

Heads turned toward the empty space where Rune should have been. His glass still sat abandoned on the bar counter, condensation dripping onto the wood.

Silence stretched.

“Exactly,” another guest said sharply. “If this was fake, Rune would be out here denying it himself. But he’s not. He'sa cheat!”

The murmur grew louder, nastier. “On his wedding night.”

“Shameless.”

“He's doing the same thing he accused Thea of?! Unbelievable!”

Posy’s composure cracked. “You don’t understand!” she cried, her voice desperate. “This is an attack! They’re trying to destroy Runes…”

A voice cut through her performance like a blade.

“Destroy Runes? Or expose Runes?”

The crowd parted as Andy stepped forward. Each step he took closer to Posy seemed to make everyone itch in anticipation. What is he talking about? What does he know about Runes that they don't?

“Mr Andy,” Posy stammered, relief flooding her tone. She had met him a couple times in the past and seeing a business partner of Runes, a close friend maybe, made her feel better. “You believe me, don’t you? You know Rune would never..”

Andy’s laugh was short and humorless. “Believe you? I was fooled long enough. Rune Sterling is a fraud, and so are you.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd. Cameras flashed.

“What are you talking about?” one reporter called.

“The business partners of Sterling board invested millions into Rune’s ventures,” Andy said, his voice ringing out clear and steady. “Do you know what I discovered while working for him? Shell companies. Fake invoices. Money shipped offshore while he and his family lived like their empire was thriving. Rune Sterling scammed his partners out of fortunes.”

“What?!” someone shouted.

“That can’t be true…”

“It is,” Andy snapped, cutting the protests down. “I have documents. Receipts. Wire transfers. All neatly prepared for court. Rune and his precious fiancée have been playing the perfect couple while drowning the rest of us in their lies.”

All eyes swung back to Posy. Her face was drained of blood. “You…you’re lying.”

But another screen flickered to life. This time, it wasn’t Rune and Yumi. It was Rune himself, seated in an office, unaware of the small camera recording him as he bragged to a colleague about “bleeding his investors dry.” And how he plans to ‘use the Balmero empire to stabilise his company’. He couldn't use the money he had stolen because it would be questioned so he'd use Balmero for his wicked acts instead.

The room erupted again.

“No…” Posy whispered, her chest heaving. “No, no, no…”

“Still think it’s all doctored?” Thea’s voice slid through the chaos, eyes fixed on Posy with nothing but disgust.

Posy turns to face her guests, pointing at Thea. “How can we believe her, uh? She cheated on Runes on the night of her engagement party, remember? She was disowned for that incident too! She could be doing this because she's bitter! Think about it!” Posy said. “Why would she pick my wedding day for this? It's clearly out of spite!”

Thea chuckled in disbelief, is she really going to play that card right now? How pathetic!

“My goodness! The Balmeros and the sterlings are no good either! One is caught cheating and the other is a fraud!”

Posy breaks down into tears. “All I ever did was treat you like my sister and this is what I get in return? I even made you my maid of honour and you…”

Adam stirs in his seat, uncomfortable. Gina remained still, her eyes foxed on Pisy. How could she have missed this for so long? She recalled many times when she had let Posy have her way and her eyes swung shut, heart aching.

She should have paid more attention. She should have known…

“True! Woah, I can't believe Thea would stoop this low for revenge! Even planting fake evidence?”

“You cheated on Rubes Sterling didn't you? Are you trying to get even?!”

“That happened because Posy drugged me!”

The crowd gasped in horror and Posy froze, she didn't believe Thea would say that out loud. She had always seen Thea as a kiss ass, desperate to keep the peace and this…this caught her off guard.

“No…you…” Posy stammered, hands trembling as everyone stared at her in disgust.

“She drugged her sister?”

“I am so confused right now..”

Fiona steps forward, irritated."What nonsense are you spewing? This is clearly a bunch of lies you've put together to ruin my son for ending things with you! You're just a bitter angry wench!”

Thea scoffed, Fiona is so delusional. She must have thought her son was such a hot cake and everyone desperately wanted a bite!

“Posy drugged me on the night of my engagement to Runes and hired a man to assault me..”

Before Posy could speak, the doors at the back of the ballroom burst open, and two policemen dragged in Kent. His hair was disheveled, his shirt wrinkled, his eyes wild. He looked like he’d been drinking for days. Hell, he looked worse than Thea and Gina had found him.

Posy’s heart stopped.

“What the hell?” she breathed.

He smirked, swaying on his feet, his voice slurred but vicious. “Long time, sweetheart.”

“What is this?” a guest whispered.

Kent’s laugh was ugly. “What is this? Oh, just your golden bride showing her true colors. She paid me. Paid me to drug Thea Balmero the night of her engagement party. Slipped me cash to make sure her perfect sister looked like a whore.”

The room exploded. Shouts, curses, shocked gasps filled the air.

Posy shook her head violently. “That’s not true! He’s lying…he’s drunk!”

But the projector changed again, and there it was: grainy footage from a shady looking café cameras. Kent and Posy in the corner, her slipping an envelope into his hands, her lips curled in satisfaction.

“Drug her. And do whatever you want with her afterwards.”

Kent collects the envelope in the video. “Drug who?”

“Thea Balmero. I want her life ruined and I want it done on the night of her engagement party! I'll pay you the balance once the job is done.”

“Oh my God…” Clara whispered from across the room, clutching Daisy’s hand.

Daisy, who had returned from discreetly recording Runes and Yumi, was seeing the video for the first time and she was mortified. Posy was just an evil…vile witch!

“This can’t be real.”

But it was.

Posy’s knees buckled. She grabbed onto the edge of a table to steady herself. “No… this isn’t… it’s not…”

And then Thea stepped forward.

The crowd hushed instantly.

Thea’s eyes swept over the sea of faces. Then her eyes landed on Seth and Arian in the back. He nods, sending her his assurance to go on.

She nodded.

“You all wanted to know the truth, didn’t you?” she said. “Well, here it is. The night of my engagement party, Posy drugged me, paid that man to assault me and get it on camera. She made sure I lost everything. My reputation, Rune, my future….because she couldn’t stand me having what she wanted.”

Reporters leaned in, their pens scratching furiously, cameras flashing brighter than ever.

Thea’s lips curved, her voice smooth as silk. “She painted me a cheat while pretending to be the saint. And you all believed her. But the truth… the truth always claws its way to the surface.”

Murmurs swept the crowd.

“She’s right.”

“We judged her too harshly.”

“That poor girl…”

“Liar!” Posy screamed, but her voice cracked, brittle and shrill.

Thea didn’t flinch. She tilted her head, her smile serene. “Enjoy the rest of your party, sister. You’ll need it. It may be the last one you ever host.”

With that, she turned on her heel, her gown trailing behind her like a queen’s robe. She pulls a stop next to Seth who takes her hand, places a kiss on the back of it, before leading her out.

Daisy, Arian and Clara followed,holding their heads high.

Reporters swarmed, cameras flashing as they followed Thea’s exit, desperate to capture every second of the fallen Balmero daughter to the Golden Child that she was.

Behind them, the ballroom descended into chaos.

Guests crowded Posy, their questions cutting like knives.

“Did you really drug her?”

“How long have you been lying?”

“Is Rune scamming us too?”

Posy’s hands trembled. “No…it’s not…I didn’t…please…”

Runes walks into the ballroom and immediately notices the chaos and how many people had their eyes on him.

Confused, he walks deeper into the hall only for Jay to find him and send a slap across his chin.

“You are a disgrace to my family!” Jay snapped as Fiona held him back.

Runes stumbled backwards, confused by the situation. “What is…”

“You've been sleeping with Yumi?!” Yolanda snapped, joining them.

Runes froze, then it started to sink in. They somehow found out he's been sleeping with Yumi.

“Where is she? Where is that bitch?!” Yolanda asked, storming out of the hall in search of Yumi.

Posy is confronted by people accusing and cursing her out. She leans away from them, eyes lowered to the ground in disgrace.

“Ms Posy?”

It was the policemen who were holding Kent. “You are under arrest for illicit use of drugs, consent to attempted assault, falsification of legal documents alongside other charges.”

And just like that, silver metal cuffs were wrapped around her wrist. She would be getting dragged out of her own wedding, dressed as a bride, in handcuffs..

But the mask was gone. The sweet smile, the practiced innocence, the coy charm—it had all crumbled into ash.

Now there was only Posy Balmero, stripped bare in front of the world, drowning in her own lies as the empire she built on deceit collapsed around her.

And for the first time, there was no one left to save her.