The Bride Wasn’t Her

"The groom, do you take the beautiful bride beside you as your lawful wife, for richer or poorer...""I... do."The woman's voice came muffled through her mask, low and strained.Below the stage, the guests whispered among themselves, all sighing over how deeply devoted Christine, the eldest daughter of the Moore family, was to me."Ms. Moore is truly in love. I heard she suddenly came down with a terrible fever last night, but even wearing a mask today, she still insisted on going through with this wedding. She couldn't bear to disappoint Tony Shane, her childhood sweetheart.""Exactly. A bond built from growing up together is different. The marriage alliance between the Shane and Moore families is shaking up the entire South City business world."Listening to all the praise made me sick to my stomach.Because the floating comments in front of my eyes were scrolling wildly:[Devotion my a*s! Christine Moore is currently cuddled up with Michael Bolt in a hillside villa outside

The moment those words left her mouth, the entire venue exploded into chaos."What?! She actually hired someone to take her place at her own wedding?!""My god, has Christine lost her mind? She's basically grinding the Shane family's reputation into the dirt!"Now that the truth had been exposed in front of everyone, all color drained from Mr. and Mrs. Moore's faces.My mother finally snapped. Pointing at Mrs. Kenton, she unleashed a furious tirade."The Moore family people are really something! Treating my son's marriage like some kind of joke. You've gone too far!"Did you really think the Shane family had no backbone?!"My father's eyes were red with anger as he strode onto the stage and pulled me protectively behind him."This wedding is off," he said coldly to the Moore family. "From this day forward, the Shane family will have nothing more to do with yours."Seeing the alliance about to collapse, Mr. Moore panicked."Tony, Christine was just being immature and reckless.

I had completely run out of patience."Security. Are you deaf?"Throw these two out. And from today onward, every property under the Shane family name is off-limits to Christine and dogs alike."The guards immediately stepped forward and grabbed them by the arms.Christine struggled violently, her face twisted with fury as she screamed at me, "Tony, if you dare treat me like this, you're going to regret it!"That same night, I received a text from an unknown number.[Did you really think this would make Christine come back to you? Bet you didn't expect this: she doesn't care at all. She's happily overseas with me on vacation right now.]I did not even need to guess who sent it. I blocked the number immediately.During the following days, Christine's parents still refused to give up and came looking for me several times, but I had them turned away every single time.A week later, after calculating when Haylee's flight would land, I drove to the airport to pick her up.The mome

On the day of the wedding, I chose a tailored black haute couture suit. Sharp, restrained, composed.According to the spoilers floating across the livestream comments, Michael's so-called 'rich godmother from Kingsport high society' was actually a loan shark with underworld connections. And the story about him signing himself away to save the Moore family was complete nonsense too.This wedding was destined to become a bloodbath.Beside me, Haylee wore a perfectly tailored black evening gown, elegant and composed as she looped her arm through mine and accompanied me into the venue.By the time we arrived, the place was already packed. Camera flashes burst nonstop across the hall.At the end of the red carpet stood Christine in a custom white wedding gown, her smile calm and triumphant, like victory was already in her hands.However, the moment she saw me, that smile froze briefly before she forced herself back into composure.[Hahaha. The original female lead thinks the supporti

Christine's face instantly flushed a dark, ugly red. She glared at me so viciously it was as if she wanted to carve me apart with her eyes alone.I could not have cared less.Leaning close to her ear, I said softly, "Christine, don't forget that your company still owes the Shane family one billion dollars in bridge financing. Payment's due next Monday. Make sure you pay up."With that, I did not bother looking at her expression, which already looked on the verge of shattering. I turned cleanly and took Haylee's hand before walking away.Later, I learned from the floating comments what happened afterward.Christine and Michael somehow forced themselves through the wedding under an atmosphere so tense and awkward it was almost suffocating.The moment the ceremony ended, Christine dragged Michael to meet the so-called famous investor godmother he had bragged about in South City.The result was laughable.This 'godmother' was nothing more than a small-time thug who ran a shady lend