All Chapters of Mysterious Messages Exposed My Groom's Betrayal: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

Alexander Mercer stood up and took confident strides straight toward the altar.The entire cathedral instantly erupted into a frenzy of gasps and whispers. Victor Bates froze in his tracks, spinning around to glare at Alexander and me."Veronica, haven't you thrown enough of a scene?" His brow twisted into a tight knot, his voice dripping with annoyance. "Sallie just slit her wrists and is in the emergency room! Her life is on the line, and you choose today of all days to throw a tantrum?"[Classic line! Slit her wrists yet still had enough strength to dial his number. What a miracle!]Reading the bright gold text drifting past my vision, I let out an icy laugh. "I'm not throwing a scene. I'm granting your wish."I handed the microphone to Alexander and turned my cold gaze back onto Victor. "The exit is to your left. Don't let the double doors hit you on your way out."Victor turned livid with rage. He rushed back to the altar and clamped his hand around my wrist."Stop acting l

I unplugged the backup flash drive. Just as I was about to leave, Victor's assistant pushed open the door and walked in.Seeing the demolished front door and me standing in the foyer, Chris stumbled back two steps in shock. "M-Ms. Norris... what are you doing here?""This is my penthouse. Why can't I be here?" I said flatly.He swallowed hard, avoiding my eyes. "Mr. Bates asked me to... pick up a few changes of clothes for Miss Kemp."I pointed toward the master bedroom. "Go ahead and get them. And while you're at it, tell Victor I'm putting this place on the market tomorrow morning. Tell him to clear Sallie's garbage, along with himself, off my property."His eyes went wide. For a long while, he couldn't utter a sound. Grabbing my handbag, I walked out of that suffocating penthouse without looking back.Standing downstairs in the cold night air, I dialed Alexander's number. "Mr. Mercer, I've got the core technical architecture."Alexander's deep, velvety chuckle vibrated throug

As soon as the words left my mouth, the entire ballroom fell silent. Every pair of eyes darted back and forth between Sallie and me.Victor's arms, wrapped around Sallie, locked rigid. He looked down, staring at the pale woman in his arms."What... are you blabbering about?" Victor's voice was dry and raspy, as if he had swallowed a handful of sand."Blabbering?" I sneered, tapping an audio file on my phone and connecting it directly to the ballroom's Bluetooth sound system.A second later, a recorded conversation between Sallie and a man echoed through the speakers."Brother, just go to prison in peace. That idiot bought the whole story. He thinks you took the fall to save his life, so now he bends over backward for me. As long as I play the depressed damsel for a few days, the Bates family's fortune will be ours."Sallie's voice vibrated with crystalline clarity into every corner of the hall. Snapping out of his stupor like a man waking up from a nightmare, Victor shoved her ou

Victor gritted his teeth, but in the end, he slunk out of the office like a beaten stray dog.In the elevator mirror, he stared at his own disheveled reflection. Images of Sallie throwing a hysterical tantrum downstairs earlier flashed through his mind.At that moment, he suddenly recalled the quiet profile of me staying up late into the night writing code for him, and a sharp ache seized his heart....The liquidation of the Bates Group came even faster than expected.In just a week, all assets owned by Victor were frozen, and even the bridal penthouse he had so meticulously furnished was foreclosed and put up for court auction.That afternoon, I was in Alexander's office reviewing the blueprints for the Southside Waterfront project.His assistant knocked and hurried inside. "Sallie Kemp is causing a scene at the detention center. She's threatening suicide, demanding to see Victor Bates."I raised an eyebrow."Did Victor go?""He did. Word is the two of them got into a screa

The wedding was scheduled three months later in Bali.There were no toxic extended relatives or guilt-tripping friends—only genuine blessings and a shower of floating flower petals.During the months of preparations, I occasionally caught snippets about Victor in the news and local gossip.Some said they saw him under the highway overpasses fighting homeless men over cardboard boxes; others said he spent his days digging through dumpsters searching for a chipped amulet; some claimed he had gone insane, babbling to anyone on the street."Veronica, I bought you a new ring. Please don't leave me."My heart didn't stir with a ripple of emotion. I didn't even bother granting him a shred of schadenfreude.The day before flying out to Bali, I returned to our old rented apartment to sort through some remaining belongings. In a cardboard box up in the attic, I dug out the handwritten Startup Logbook I had taken with me that night.The pages had already begun to yellow, packed densely wit