Chapter 3 The Wedding Would Go On

I spent the entire night reading that diary.

Two years. More than a hundred plane tickets. Every single page carried Noelle's name.

…

By morning, I was standing outside Noelle's apartment.

Blake's leather shoes sat by the entrance, and laughter drifted lightly from the kitchen. The same Blake who had never once cooked for me was now wearing an apron, making soup for Noelle.

Noelle wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. "You should go check on Dawn. She must be really upset being alone right now."

Blake's tone was indifferent, like he was talking about someone completely unimportant. "I dare her to be upset. You're pregnant, and she didn't even bother taking care of you. Now, she expects me to coax her?

"Noelle… I don't think I ever liked Dawn that much. Not in the past, not now. She's never compared to you."

Those words pierced straight through my heart.

Five years together.

I had stayed by his side while he built his company from nothing. I watched him rise step by step until the company finally went public. And in the end, all I got was a casual "I never liked her that much."

I couldn't hold it in anymore. My slap landed hard across Blake's face. "Blake Keller, we're done. I'm giving you two my blessing."

Noelle hurried forward to stop me. "Dawn, you're getting the wrong idea. He just—"

I threw the pregnancy report and diary straight at her face. "That baby belongs to Blake, doesn't it? Do you two have any shame at all?"

Blake bent down and calmly picked everything up, his expression terrifyingly composed. "So what, Dawn? Our wedding's next week. If we break up now, how will you explain it to your family?"

Noelle immediately burst into tears. "I'm sorry, Dawn. I'll end the pregnancy right away."

Blake instantly pulled her into his arms and glared at me coldly. "Don't you dare! Dawn Nichols, you had an abortion before—who knows if you can even still have children. You should be thanking Noelle instead.

"The fact that I'm still willing to go through with the wedding with you is already more than generous enough. You're such a slut—who else other than me would even want you?"

Noelle tried to cover his mouth, but it was already too late. I froze completely as warmth flooded my eyes.

When I was 19, I got pregnant with my ex-boyfriend's child.

The abortion damaged my body badly, and the doctor told me it would be difficult for me to ever get pregnant again.

After I returned to school, rumors spread everywhere. People said I had loose morals. They claimed I had become some rich man's sugar baby and gotten knocked up.

I posted explanation after explanation online, but nobody believed me. I was isolated. Bullied. No matter where I went, people pointed at me behind my back.

There were several times when I nearly died.

But back then, Noelle stayed by my side. Again and again, she pulled me back from the edge.

Later, she introduced Blake to me.

He never believed those rumors. Whenever he heard people talking badly about me, he would rush forward and fight them for my sake.

The day we got together caused an uproar across the entire university. Everyone said Blake had lost his mind. After all, why would the campus heartthrob date a girl with a "stained past"?

But he held my hand tightly and said, "Dawn's the best girl in the world. I wish I could give her everything."

I believed him. But now, the same man who once pulled me out of hell with his own hands was calling me dirty.

I looked into Blake's eyes. Those eyes had once been filled with tenderness. Now, there was nothing left inside them except coldness.

"Blake… back then, you said you didn't believe those rumors. You said you felt sorry for me. What about now?"

Blake said nothing, but his eyes had already given me the answer.

Seeing the utterly shattered look on my face, Noelle finally panicked. "Dawn, don't take it seriously. Blake was just angry and talking nonsense…"

She reached for my hand, but rage exploded inside me as I violently shoved her away.

A cry of pain rang out.

She fell to the floor, clutching her stomach as her face turned deathly pale. "My stomach… it hurts…"

Before I could even react, a violent force slammed into me.

Blake shoved me hard against the table, knocking over a glass cup. The shattered pieces stabbed deep into my palm. Blood instantly poured out, and the pain made my entire body tremble uncontrollably.

Blake scooped Noelle into his arms and roared at me with bloodshot eyes. "If anything happens to Noelle or the baby, I'm coming for you, Dawn! And you can forget about ever having that wedding!"

Without sparing me another glance, he rushed out with Noelle in his arms. I remained kneeling amid the shattered mess, my hands covered in blood.

What Blake still didn't know was that even without him, the wedding would still go on.