Chapter 4

Madeline reached out to take my hand. "That's enough. I brought your groom's suit. Go and get changed."

I pulled my hand away. "Where's Oliver?"

"He wasn't feeling well."

"Too exhausted from last night, eh? Did he wear himself out?"

Bianca suddenly shoved me. "Watch your mouth. It's your wedding day. How can you smear your own woman like that?"

My lower back slammed into the sharp corner of the gift table, and the pain made me double over.

My mother rushed over. "How dare you lay a hand on him?"

Madeline's aunt and cousin immediately stepped in front of her, blocking her. "Your son is determined to humiliate our whole family!"

Bianca pointed a finger directly at my face. "Either you cooperate and go through with the wedding, or you get down on your knees right now and apologize to every guest from our family."

Madeline steadied me. "Mom, don't make things difficult for him."

"You're still defending him?" Bianca demanded furiously.

"He's my husband."

I let out a cold laugh and reminded her, "We haven't even registered our marriage. There's nothing between us."

Madeline only tightened her grip on my arm. "Flynn, stop this. I admit I was wrong last night. Once the wedding is over, I'll make it up to you."

"Do you still think I'm negotiating with you?"

Madeline looked at me, genuine confusion appearing in her eyes. "Are you really going to destroy seven years of our relationship over one little mistake I made?"

At that moment, the emcee's booming voice rang out from inside the banquet hall. "Now, may the bride prepare as the groom makes his entrance."

The guests broke into applause.

Madeline composed herself and waved her hand. Someone shoved me hard from behind, sending me into the hall.

Dressed entirely in black, with a white funeral flower pinned to my chest, I looked like a man arriving at a funeral, walking into the wedding I had spent five years looking forward to.

Oliver stood to the side of the stage in his best-man suit, still wearing that plain band ring.

The moment he saw me, he immediately put on a wounded expression. "Flynn, you're finally here. I was just in a bad mood last night, so I had a few drinks with Madeline. Please don't misunderstand. There's really nothing between us…"

As he spoke, he handed me the bouquet.

The emcee invited the groom to receive his bride. Madeline smiled and waited for me to walk toward her as though nothing had ever happened.

With that, I walked up to her, held out my hand, turned around to grab Oliver by the collar, and yanked him forward.

With a startled cry, Oliver stumbled straight into Madeline's arms.

The entire hall erupted in an uproar.

I took out my phone, walked over to the control console, and played the surveillance footage from our marital home.

The moment the footage appeared on the giant screen, the banquet hall fell silent.

First, Oliver entered the house, and Madeline followed shortly afterward.

The two of them kissed in the living room. Oliver's suit jacket landed on the sofa, and as they continued embracing, they made their way toward the master bedroom.

The footage ended there.

I faced the entire room. "Today's wedding is canceled. The bride cheated on me with my best man in the marital home we bought together."

Oliver suddenly laughed. "You didn't capture their faces."

Then, he pointed at the blurry side profiles on the screen. "It's fake! Don't believe him, everyone! That video doesn't even show their faces! Flynn studied advertising design in college. He knows editing better than anyone. He obviously used AI to fabricate this because he wanted an excuse to call off the wedding!"

Vincent Killian, Madeline's superior, also stood up. "Flynn, you can't just convict someone of something like this based on a video that doesn't show the whole thing."

Madeline's aunt slammed her hand against the table and stood. "Exactly. You can't even make out their faces. For all we know, the man in that video could be you, Flynn!"

Madeline's cousin stood up and pointed at me. "Exactly! What is wrong with the groom? How can he fabricate a fake video to smear his wife?! He hasn't tricked her into marriage, has he?"

One accusation after another came crashing down on me.

Madeline walked up to me and held out her hand. "Delete the original video, and I can let your accusation that I cheated go."

Bianca took the microphone. "You all heard that, right? The Clarkes deliberately smeared my daughter and tried to call off the wedding. We won't be returning a single cent of the $380,000 wedding gift. The Clarke family will also have to cover the cost of the banquet and wedding arrangements. Also, he will have to issue a public apology!"

I looked at Bianca and the guests filling the hall. Countless threads stretched from their heads, crisscrossing until they formed a filthy web.

Madeline's aunt, who had just accused me, was connected by a thread to the hotel's male manager.

Madeline's cousin, who had just cursed at me, had a thread connecting her to her husband's best friend.

Even Bianca, who had been loudly defending her daughter's innocence, had a thread above her head leading straight to someone at the main table.

I snatched the microphone from the emcee. "If none of you believe the surveillance footage, then let's verify it another way."

Bianca sneered. "What else can you make up?"

I raised my hand and pointed straight toward the main table. "Let's start with your affair with Mr. Killian."