Chapter 1

It was the night before my wedding to my fiancee, Ciara Hudson. Out of nowhere, her adopted younger brother, Carl Hudson, locked her in our marital home and threatened to set her wedding gown on fire.

"Ciara, if you dare put this on to marry that old bastard, I'll burn this place to the ground!" Carl declared.

Ciara lunged for the lighter in his hand, only for him to press her against the wall.

"I waited for you for ten years. I've been waiting since the day we became a family! If you marry him, I'll kill myself right in front of you!"

I kicked the door open and stormed into the house, but Ciara swiftly shielded Carl and glared at me, her eyes red.

"Julian! Haven't you kicked up enough of a fuss? He's only 19 years old! Can't you just cut him some slack?"

At the very next moment, she unzipped her clothes and said decisively, "I'll give you what you want, Carl. I'll be yours tonight, but you must promise me you won't try to end your life ever again."

After watching as she led Carl into the bedroom and locked the door behind her, I pulled out my phone, my expression neutral.

"Inform all the guests that the wedding will proceed as planned. I will abide by my grandpa's wishes and marry you."

…

When the bedroom door opened, Ciara came out in Carl's shirt. The collar hung crooked, revealing the dark hickeys along her exposed collarbone.

She walked right past me and headed straight for the fridge, her steps a little unsteady. Her voice was curt and indifferent as she said, "Don't make things difficult for Carl, Julian. He's just throwing a tantrum because he's used to being closest to me. That's all."

"That's all?" I repeated with a snort. "You'd do something this shameless just to coax him, huh?"

Ciara slammed the water glass down on the table and snapped, "That's enough! You know damn well how important Carl is to me!"

Hearing the commotion, Carl finally emerged from the room, dressed in a bathrobe that was embroidered with my initials.

"Ever since we were little, Ciara has always given me anything I wanted, Julian," he remarked, chuckling as he tugged aside the collar of the bathrobe to reveal the scratches on his chest.

"She said I did so well in bed just now and even promised that if I behave myself, in the future, we'll—"

"Carl!" Ciara interrupted, her face scarlet. She grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and threw it at him, saying, "Don't you dare say another word!"

Carl picked up the pillow before shooting me a taunting look. "See that, Julian? She can't even bear to truly get mad at me."

My stomach churned at the sight of them flaunting their shamelessness after their illicit act.

Everyone around us knew that I spent three long years pursuing Ciara. If she so much as frowned, I'd spend almost the entire day trying to figure out why.

On the day she agreed to be my girlfriend, I was so overwhelmed with joy that I rented out an entire island and put on a fireworks show that lasted all night long.

For her sake, I rebelled against my grandfather and endured his wrath, just to call off the marriage alliance that had been arranged between my family, the Spencers, and the Langstons.

Although my parents and others in the family rebuked me for my foolishness, all that mattered to me was keeping Ciara happy.

Even when she wanted me to buy Carl a villa in the suburbs, I signed the purchase agreement without even reading it.

In all honesty, I believed I'd already been more than generous with the two of them.

"What's with the long face, Julian?" Ciara questioned.

She came over to touch my face, but I instinctively jerked my head aside to avoid her. With her hand hanging stiffly in the air, she snapped sharply, "The wedding ceremony's tomorrow. Must you insist on making things ugly between us?"

"I'm the one making things ugly between us?"

Eyeing the oversized shirt on her, I retorted, "What do you call sleeping with Carl in our marital home then?"

"I was just—"

"Save it," I cut her off heatedly. "You're just going to say that you two are close—so close that you'd even get naked and roll in the sheets with him."

Ciara was just about to argue when the sound of high heels approaching the door interrupted us.

Her bridesmaids had arrived.

Grace Morris, the maid of honor, spotted the hickeys on Ciara's neck and said with a teasing grin, "Oh, my! You two aren't even married yet. I guess you couldn't wait, huh?"

"Hah! Like he had anything to do with those!" Carl fumed with a scowl on his face.

He marched over and threw his arm around Ciara's waist to stake his claim. "I'm the only one who can be Ciara's first."

The atmosphere tensed at once as the smiles on the faces of all of Ciara's friends stiffened. After a long pause, Grace made a feeble attempt to smooth things over.

"He's just a kid who likes to crack jokes. The two of them are just fooling around. Don't take it seriously, Mr. Spencer."

"Who said I'm joking?" Carl scoffed, his eyebrows raised in contempt. Raising his voice, he declared, "Ciara belongs to me! If you don't believe me, feel free to check the bedroom! Her blood is still on the sheets!"

"Carl!"

Ciara was so mad that she slapped him.

Clutching his cheek, Carl stared at her in disbelief. "I can't believe you'd hit me for that old bastard!"

"That's enough."

I turned to leave, afraid that if I stayed even for a second longer, I wouldn't be able to resist beating him up as well.

"You stop right there, Julian!" Ciara cried out as she ran up to me and grabbed me. "Where do you think you're going? You can't leave, not when Carl is still upset!"

Grace and the rest of Ciara's friends also tried to reason with me.

"Ciara's right, Mr. Spencer. She's going to become your wife tomorrow, and she only agreed to marry you after you proposed three times. You must cherish her!"

"Exactly. It's not like we're still living in the olden days. Who cares about a woman's first time anyway? It's not like Ciara has been fooling around with other men. She was just trying to appease her own brother."

"Carl is just young and immature. You should just cut him some slack. After all, you'll all be part of the same family soon enough."

"Who said I'm young and immature?" Carl snapped. His eyes were bloodshot as he wagged his finger at me and declared, "Do you think you're so great just because you've got money, Julian? I'm the one Ciara loves, right from the very start!"

He grabbed his jacket off the couch and marched out of the house, slamming the door behind him.