Chapter 2

When Lucille saw the pain on Derek's face, her expression changed again. She hissed, "Spencer, you actually tried to cripple Derek? Now the whole city knows I'm marrying a mad dog like you! Are you trying to humiliate me?!"

She jabbed her finger at me viciously. "If you still care about my reputation, get on your knees right now and apologize to Derek, and bow your head a hundred times! If you do that, I'll pretend none of this happened."

My heart plunged into an icy abyss. All these years, she had forced me to compromise and submit in every way for Derek's sake.

Derek had ruined our engagement party and even insulted my mother's memory. Even so, she still would not side with me, not even once.

Derek spoke up, "Lucille, even if Spencer does apologize, everyone will just think he's doing it because of you.

"How about this... Let's make him eat all these cookies. That way, everyone will think Spencer is the bigger man. What do you say?"

Lucille's eyes lit up. "Hold him down!"

The next second, security guards swarmed forward and forced me to my knees on the ground.

Lucille then pried open my mouth and shoved the cookies in one by one. She did not stop even when I was choking and could not breathe. Finally, the entire box was emptied, and I curled up on the floor, vomiting uncontrollably.

All I heard was Lucille's cold voice. "You offended Derek and upset me, too. I'm not in the mood to marry you today. For the next few days, you'll kneel in the busiest part of downtown every day. I'll think about our wedding when I'm calmer."

As she helped Derek turn to leave, I suddenly spoke up. "Lucille, if you're dead set on protecting this man, then we might as well never get married at all!"

The moment those words left my mouth, Lucille stopped walking.

Derek suddenly coughed and grabbed Lucille's arm, choking up. "Lucille, I can go to the hospital by myself. You should stay here with Spencer.

"I'm such a terrible person, always hurting your relationship without meaning to, and now I've ruined your wedding, too."

Watching his performance made me feel sicker.

However, Lucille seemed blind to it, and she actually pulled him into her arms with concern.

"Spencer, look at you! You've made Derek cry. He said he didn't mean it. What more do you want? I'm not falling for your tricks. Also, I'm not falling for your threats, so stop trying. It won't work!"

She sneered as she looked around at all the guests and continued, "Everyone, you're all witnesses to this. This is the man I'm supposed to marry, and he's this petty!"

With that, she helped Derek up and left without looking back.

I stood there frozen. Eventually, I forced down the sharp pain in my chest and apologized to the guests.

"I'm sorry you all had to witness this. The reception ends here. Please, everyone, go home."

After seeing off the guests, I finally could not hold on anymore. A wave of dizziness hit me, and I collapsed to the floor.

When I woke up again, I was lying in a hospital bed. The doctor said my ribs were slightly fractured. My stomach had also suffered internal bleeding from the trauma.

I lay there weak and powerless, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Seven years of our relationship had just gone down the drain. I did not want to face this, but I finally saw Lucille for who she truly was.

Before long, Lucille arrived at the hospital. She was drenched in sweat, and several buttons on her shirt had been torn off.

When she saw I was awake, she awkwardly adjusted her collar, her tone harsh.

"Derek was so upset he cried all morning, so I was busy comforting him. That's why I'm late coming to see you.

"Honestly, you make such a big deal out of nothing, and now I have to run back and forth between you two grown men. You're nothing but trouble."

I remained silent and closed my eyes; those words sounded all too familiar.