Suddenly, she knelt before me. Hitting her head on a stone, she sobbed, “I already know how sorry I am, Clara. Please don't curse me anymore. I have already gone through a lot. If you curse me to be divorced again, I would rather die than apologize to you.”

"What are you doing?" I gasped, recoiling in horror.

"Clara! Forgive me, please!" she shrieked, her voice echoing off the buildings.

"What the hell is going on here?"

The roar came from behind me. I turned to see Julian sprinting toward us, his face a mask of pure, unadulterated fury. He didn't even look at me as he shoved past, nearly knocking me off my heels to get to the sobbing woman on the floor.

"Elena! My God, are you okay?" He gathered her into his arms, checking her forehead, which was now scraped and bleeding.

"I knew you were cold, Clara, but I didn't think you were pathetic enough to assault your friend in broad daylight," he hissed.

"I didn't ask her to do that. She threw herself down. I didn't ask her to do that pathetic act before me." I spat.

Just then, a couple of phone cameras shifted in our direction as a few passersby happened to be capturing the whole event.

“Isn't that the billionaire, Julian Morgan, and his loving fiancée, Clara, whom he proposed to in a live telecast?”

A voice echoed from them and followed the other, “Who is that girl crying and begging Julian's fiancé? Must have offended her anyway to end up like this.”

“She must have tried to seduce Mr. Morgan and ended up begging Miss Clara like that. What a slut!”

Elena shrieked, listening to the passersby’s judgment. Julian and I had long been public and people adored us watching together. In their eyes, Elena was still a third party, trying to steal my man.

However, just as the cameras flashed towards Elena and people began slandering her, Julian pulled her in his arms, his grip tight and affectionate as he declared, “Elena is my girlfriend. We are soon to be getting married. Whoever offends her is offending me. So, I demand everyone to mind their language.”

Julian's words fell like a bomb, stunning everyone, including me. We had been together for three years, and he didn't even care about my reputation before making his relationship with Elena official.

It was just as he had protected me three years ago against the media. His words still echo in my head ‘I like her. Please don't disturb our peace.’

The love, the adoration, the protectiveness was still the same in his eyes; only one person was replaced.

However, what hurt me the most was how quickly he declared his wedding to Elena. Even after being together with me for three years, he had always avoided the topic of the wedding. He said it was just a formality. Why bother?

But, within three months of being with Elena, he agreed to get married to her.

It seems like he didn't have a problem with getting married; he only had problems with getting married to me.

It was a hard slap on my face, who once thought that since Julian’s actions were so firm and confident, my place in his heart was irreplaceable.

Even Elena, who was earlier begging me, looked up at me and said, “See, Clara. He is ready to marry me. Perhaps you two were never meant to be together. You were just keeping him for me.”

She pointed at the blood stained on the stone and said, “Whatever I owed you, I have repaid you today. I don't care if you resent me or hate me. From now on, you and I are even.”

Elena and Julian were long gone while I continued staring at the blood Elena pointed at. She and I became friends just like that.

After my mother’s death, my father brought another woman to our home, who mistreated me to the point of leaving me scars and wounds.

Elena was the first girl in the school who noticed the abusive environment around me and alerted social services. That's how I escaped my father and stepmother’s cruelty.

After that day, we were inseparable. When I got a scholarship abroad, I worked part-time jobs and called her to live with me just to afford her daily expenses.

The first salary I received from my permanent job, I sent it to Elena's parents to clear the debt they were in because of Elena's extravagant living style.

I never disregarded her for spending too much. I, in fact, helped her financially to maintain her expenses.

Even when Julian proposed to me, I was hesitant. It was she who pushed me to accept his proposal, telling me how gentle a man he was.

When she was getting married, I declined my first vacation with Julian and chose her wedding over our quality time despite knowing how hard he manages time for us to spend some time.

Julian often got mad at me for giving importance to my friend over him and even joked that if he could murder one person, it would be Elena, just to get a competitor out.

His words hit differently when I realised how soon she turned to my competitor from his.

They were once the two most important people in my life, and now they were the two people who had hurt me the most.

But they forgot– to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

I grabbed my phone and dialed a number I hadn't dialed for years.

Three days later, Julian burst into my office.

The heavy oak doors slammed against the wall with a violence that made my assistant gasp.

He didn't look like the poised billionaire the media adored. His tie was loose, his hair was a mess, and his face was flushed with a dangerous heat.

"Clara! Have you lost your mind?" he roared, slamming a folder onto my desk. "Did you actually go to Elena’s parents? Her father called her this morning—he disowned her! He called her a 'shameful thief' and told her never to show her face again. She’s been locked in the bathroom for hours, sobbing that she wants to end it all. Are you happy now?"

I didn't even look up from my laptop. I calmly highlighted a row on my spreadsheet before speaking. "Actions have consequences, Julian. If she didn't want her parents to know she was a homewrecker, she shouldn't have moved into my bed the moment I stepped onto a plane."

A pang of bitterness flickered in my chest. I had spent tens of thousands of dollars clearing her father’s debts over the years. I had sent her mother to the best specialists when she fell ill.

Hearing what their daughter did to me, they sounded more apologetic and guilty than these two people, who should have been the most.

Julian took a sharp breath, forced himself to sit, and tried to adopt a tone of "negotiation."

"Clara, look. I’m giving you one last chance to fix this. Call her parents. Tell them it was a misunderstanding. Apologize to Elena for the scene at the plaza, or else forget about my law firm’s support of your mother's trust.”

I finally looked up, a slow, pitying smile spreading across my lips. "Apologize? Julian, you’ve spent too much time surrounded by 'delicate' women who cater to your ego. You’ve forgotten who you’re talking to."

His eyes narrowed. "Don't be a fool. You barely managed to keep your mother's trust from your father's hand. Don't let your petty jealousy burn it to the ground."

"It's not jealousy," I whispered. "It's an audit."

I watched him walk out, his back rigid with the arrogance of a man who thought he held all the cards.

True to his word, by the next morning, my father's lawyer sent two legal notices on my mother's trust, reopening the old case.

But I didn't flinch. Ten years ago, I escaped a violent home with fifty dollars and a scholarship. Today, I have a small law firm of my own. I didn't need Julian to fight my case; I could do that on my own.

If I could win the lawsuit against my Dad one time, I could do it once more. Julian was a fool to think I would give in just because he stopped supporting my lawsuit.

One month later, an ivory-pressed envelope arrived at my new apartment.

‘Clara, Julian, and I are getting married at the St. Regis next month. You are the only sister I’ve ever had, and despite everything, I need your blessing. I know I’ve failed you, but please... for the sake of our childhood, just this once?’

I didn't reply. I simply handed the invitation to my assistant and asked, "Prepare a wedding gift for my friend and ex-fiance. It's a special day. I want it to be memorable for them.”

The day of the wedding was a typical New York spring afternoon. I walked into the ballroom of the St. Regis, wearing a structured, blood-red silk gown that stood out like a flame.

Elena was standing at the altar, looking like a porcelain doll in a Vera Wang lace gown. Julian stood beside her, looking triumphant—until he saw me. The room went silent. Everyone knew the history.

They knew Julian had once announced he would spend the rest of his life with me, yet he was standing before me, wrapping his hands around a woman’s waist who was nothing more than dirt compared to me.

Julian stepped forward, shielding Elena as if I were carrying a weapon.

"Clara," he warned, his voice low. "Don't."

Elena’s eyes filled with tears, her lower lip trembling. "Clara... you came. Does this mean you...?"

I smiled, and it was the most genuine smile I’d worn in months. "I told you I wouldn't miss the most important moment of your life, Elena. I’m here to give you exactly what you asked for."

I gestured toward the massive LED screens behind the altar, which were meant to show a montage of their "whirlwind romance."

Suddenly, the screens flickered and went dark. The ballroom held its breath. When the light returned, it wasn't a vlog of their love. It was something that left everyone's eyes wide open in horror.