Chapter 1

The wedding music had been looping for over an hour.

Guests shifted in their seats, their polite smiles turning stiff. Whispers started to ripple through the grand ballroom, quiet at first, then growing louder, more insistent. Everyone was looking at me, standing alone on the stage under the ridiculously expensive floral arch.

My fiancée, Sophia Reed, was absent on our wedding day.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out, hoping it was her. It wasn't. It was another message from a board member asking what the hell was going on.

Moments earlier, Sophia had texted me. On my way, baby! Traffic is a nightmare!

I had to do something. The restlessness in the crowd was turning into a low-grade panic, the kind that could tank a stock price by morning.

I walked over to the technician's booth and grabbed a cable. Connecting my phone to the massive projector screen behind the stage, I forced a smile and spoke into the microphone.

"Sorry for the delay, everyone," I announced, my voice echoing slightly. "Looks like my beautiful bride is having a bit of a dress mishap. To prove it's not me with cold feet, here's the evidence."

I projected my phone screen. Our text chain appeared, showing her last message. A few people chuckled, the tension easing slightly.

Then my phone rang.

It was a video call. From Sophia.

A wave of relief washed over me. I answered it, my thumb swiping across the screen without a second thought. Her face would pop up, she'd apologize to everyone, and the party could continue.

But it wasn't her face that filled the giant screen.

It was a scandalous scene, broadcast in high definition for hundreds of our closest friends, family, and business associates to see.

A man's voice, smug and deep, asked, "Am I better than Ethan Miller?"

Then Sophia' s voice, breathless and high, replied, "Liam, you' re so much better."

A collective gasp sucked the air out of the room. My smile froze.

My brain, the logical, problem-solving machine that had gotten me this far in life, kicked into overdrive. I calmly navigated the phone's interface with my thumb, my movements steady, and activated the screen recording function.

The crowd was in shock, but I silenced them with a raised hand. They needed to see this. They needed to remember this.

The video continued. Sophia was in a revealing silk nightgown, tangled in a passionate embrace with Liam Davis, her childhood friend. They were in a hotel room, the bedsheets a mess behind them.

The guests erupted. Phones came out, dozens of them, all pointed at the screen, filming the spectacle. I had anticipated this. I stepped back from the podium, giving them a clear shot.

Sophia' s family, sitting in the front row, finally snapped out of their stupor. Her cousins tried to rush the stage to shut off the projector. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Reed, stormed towards me.

"Ethan Miller, turn off your phone!" Mr. Reed yelled, his face purple with rage.

I looked at him and managed a small, sad smile. "Mr. Reed, what' s the point?"

I gestured to the sea of phones recording the scene.

"Everyone' s already seen what they shouldn' t. My reputation is ruined. The wedding is a joke. So let them see it all. Let them see I' m the victim. That' s the best way to salvage my image now."

Mr. Reed clutched his chest, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He stumbled.

I reached into my suit pocket, pulled out a small vial of pills, and offered it to him. His emergency heart medication. As his personal assistant for years, I knew his health conditions as well as I knew his business strategies. I knew his manipulative tactics, too.

Despite everything, I was grateful to him. The high salary he paid me supported my entire family back home. It had lifted them out of poverty. For that, I had endured a lot. I had even agreed to marry Sophia, his spoiled, erratic daughter, even though I knew she' d recently had an abortion that wasn't mine.

I was a self-made man from a dirt-poor background. I understood compromise. I understood gratitude.

Sophia' s mother, a woman who had always been kind to me, rushed to my side. Her eyes were filled with tears. She squeezed my hand.

"Ethan, my dear, you' ve been wronged. So wronged."

"Mrs. Reed, let' s get you home," I advised gently. "The gossip is going to be harsh."

I signaled my personal security team, two men I trusted implicitly. They moved smoothly through the chaos and escorted Mr. and Mrs. Reed away from the prying eyes and recording phones.