The Bouquet Meant for Another Bride

The bouquet in my hands had been custom-made in Gallia by a master floral designer Evelyne personally hired.

It was worth a fortune. Several hollowed gold roses were woven among the flowers, and under the sunlight, the intricate craftsmanship and extravagant arrangement shimmered brilliantly.

When Phoebe first heard people mention the mistaken quotation, a flicker of guilt crossed her face. But the moment she noticed the bouquet in my hands, that guilt disappeared completely.

She sneered. "Cassian, I'm never going to marry you. If you hand me that bouquet, I'll count it as you attending our wedding. Besides, you loved me so much. You wouldn't want to embarrass me today, would you?"

I stared at Phoebe blankly, unable to understand how the woman who used to go out of her way to help others had turned into this.

I let out a quiet sigh and was just about to speak when Annie suddenly rushed out from behind me and shoved Julian hard. "You're a bad guy! Why are you trying to steal my sister's bouquet? She went all the way to Gallia to have it specially made by a master designer!"

Annie was too small to do much.

Julian only stumbled slightly before regaining his footing. He looked at her with open disgust.

"Who's this filthy brat? How dare you dirty my tailor-made suit? This thing costs tens of thousands."

Annie was Evelyne's younger sister. To her, that amount of money was barely a day's pocket money, so she tilted her head innocently and asked me, "Cassian, why is he so worried about getting a cheap suit dirty?"

Julian exploded with rage at once. His finger nearly jabbed into Annie's eye as he pointed at her.

I immediately pulled the little girl behind me protectively and said coldly, "Phoebe, I'm not here to crash your wedding."

Phoebe lowered her gaze slightly, the corners of her lips curling into a mocking smile. "Still pretending, Cassian? If you're not here to steal the wedding, why are you standing here in a suit? Don't tell me you're also getting married at The Bellamy Court today?"

I nodded.

The crowd instantly burst into laughter.

"What a joke. People like him really don't know their place. If he actually understood what kind of status The Bellamy Court has, he wouldn't dare try to piggyback off it like this."

"If Julian weren't the Stratford heir, people like us probably can't even step foot in a place like this."

"Exactly. Good thing Julian went to beg Ms. Grey for help. And Cassian actually thought he could secure the contract by selling himself."

Many of the people mocking me were former coworkers I had helped countless times before. But now, they twisted the truth without hesitation, dumping every bit of filth they could onto me.

Phoebe watched me with a half-smile, clearly enjoying the humiliation. Only after the ridicule finally started dying down did she speak again.

"You came from nothing, Cassian. After what happened with all those men and women, your body's already been used up. Other than me, who else would even want you?

"Drop the act already. Hand the bouquet to Julian, and I'll allow you to attend our reception."

As she spoke, she snatched the bouquet from my hands.

Annie had been pampered and adored her entire life. She'd never suffered this kind of treatment before.

Without even thinking, she pulled the unfinished juice bottle from her backpack and splashed the remaining juice all over Phoebe to protect me.

Phoebe was caught completely off guard. Her wedding dress was soaked instantly, and her expression darkened terrifyingly.

But Annie still hadn't realized the danger closing in around her and clapped excitedly. "I beat the bad guy! I beat the bad guy!"

"You spoiled brat," Phoebe said grimly. "You need to be taught a lesson."

She waved her hand, and several tall men immediately surrounded us. In just a few seconds, they grabbed Annie and lifted her off the ground.

I tried to stop them, but Phoebe slapped me hard enough to knock me to the ground.

Seeing Annie about to be dragged away, I shouted desperately, no longer caring about anything else. "She's Evelyne Grey's sister!"

Forced Resignation

Everyone froze.

For a moment, I thought Phoebe was finally going to let Annie go.

Instead, she suddenly burst into laughter. "Evelyne Grey's sister? Don't tell me you're also about to claim you came dressed as a groom because you're marrying Evelyne today?"

I nodded. "Now that you know, let Annie go—argh!"

Before I could finish my words, Phoebe slapped me viciously across the face. Gritting her teeth, she snapped, "Even now, you're still refusing to come to your senses. Looks like I really do need to teach you a lesson."

She raised her hand again, preparing to slap me a second time, but Julian stopped her. "Enough, Phoebe. Today's our wedding day. Don't waste time on trash like him."

Then, his tone shifted. "Actually, this is the perfect opportunity. Make Cassian write a resignation letter so he won't show up at the company later and ruin our mood again."

Although Phoebe had publicly claimed she was the one who salvaged the Lower Hollow project, the company executives all knew the contract had only been signed because I had personally met with the clients.

Naturally, the commission for the deal should have belonged to me. But if I resigned, everything would fall into Phoebe and Julian's hands instead.

Phoebe's eyes lit up immediately at the suggestion. She grabbed me and forced me toward the resignation letter.

When I refused, she pinched Annie's cheek hard and threatened coldly, "Children this young are so fragile. If she ends up with a scar on her face… or maybe loses a limb, will she still be able to live normally?"

I stared at her in disbelief. Phoebe was actually using a child to threaten me over a commission bonus.

Annie was terrified now, crying as she called out my name.

Phoebe snatched the bouquet from my hands and proudly handed it to Julian like she was presenting him with a treasure.

But I barely noticed.

I only looked straight at Phoebe and asked quietly, "If I write the resignation letter, you'll let Annie go. Is that it?"

Phoebe nodded, mockery curling at the corners of her lips. "Believe what you want. You have no other options, don't you?"

"I already warned you. Annie is Evelyne's sister, and I'm about to marry Evelyne. Aren't you afraid she'll come after you for humiliating her husband and her sister like this?"

The entire crowd burst into laughter.

"Cassian has completely lost it. He came here to crash the wedding, realized Phoebe wasn't going with him, then saw that Ms. Grey was also holding a wedding here today and started imagining he was marrying her instead."

"I bet he doesn't even know who Ms. Grey is. She's the richest heiress in Amberhollow. Ruthless, powerful, untouchable. Nobody dares offend her, and this idiot actually dares to impersonate her fiance? He's basically digging his own grave."

"The Lower Hollow project belonged to Ms. Grey's branch company. That's why the commission was so ridiculously high in the first place."

The crowd suddenly understood, and the looks they gave me became even more contemptuous.

My hand trembled as I gripped the pen. Humiliation and fury crashed through me in waves.

Once I finished writing the last word, Phoebe snatched the letter away. After glancing through it with satisfaction, she handed it to Julian.

"Now, will you let Annie go?"

But Phoebe's lips curled into a cruel smile. "Let her go? She splashed juice all over my wedding dress. Doesn't she owe me an apology?"

Annie and I were completely alone with no one to help us. I didn't want to keep getting tangled up with Phoebe, so I apologized immediately.

Phoebe let out a cold laugh. "You think one little 'sorry' is enough?"

I clenched my teeth so hard my jaw hurt and stared at her. "What else do you want?"

Phoebe sneered, then kicked the back of my knee. "If you're apologizing, then act like it. I want you kneeling while you apologize to me."

One knee slammed against the ground, but I still refused to bow my head. In just a little while, I would officially become Mr. Grey. If I humiliated myself here, I would be humiliating Evelyne too.

Phoebe clearly hadn't expected me to be this stubborn. Even after the kick, I still refused to kneel properly. Furious, she reached out to shove me all the way down.

During the struggle, the sleeve around my wrist was yanked upward, revealing more than a dozen luxury watches.

Julian's eyes lit up instantly.

"Well, well," he snapped. "Phoebe, you actually spent money buying Cassian this many luxury watches? Take every single one of them off him right now!"

Dragged Through the Dirt

Phoebe froze.

She knew perfectly well that none of those luxury watches had come from her.

Then, all at once, rage exploded across her face. She lifted her foot and kicked me hard in the chest.

The sharp pain nearly made me black out.

All I could hear was Phoebe's furious voice ringing in my ears. "So it wasn't enough for you to sleep your way around with other women, you even accepted gifts from them too? Cassian, you're absolutely shameless. You disgust me!"

Even as she said those words, her eyes remained greedily fixed on my wrists. Unable to hold herself back any longer, she yanked up the sleeve on my other arm as well.

The moment she saw the collection of limited-edition watches underneath, her eyes lit up completely.

Julian let out a cold laugh. "Phoebe, these watches look exactly like the ones I lost."

I looked up at him. I could hardly believe those words had come out of his mouth.

Every single one of those watches had been specially collected for me by Evelyne after she found out I loved watch collecting. She had sourced them through private channels ordinary people would never have access to.

But Phoebe instantly understood what Julian was implying and immediately shouted, "Cassian, I can't believe you actually broke into my house and stole the watches I bought for Julian!"

As she spoke, she lunged toward my wrists to rip the watches off.

I struggled desperately, but Annie was still in their hands, and there was no way I could overpower several massive bodyguards.

Within moments, I was pinned to the ground. My pristine suit was smeared with dirt, and I looked utterly miserable.

To prove herself to Julian, Phoebe personally started tearing the watches off me one by one.

Most of them had been custom-sized by Evelyne specifically for me. The fit was perfect, and the clasps were intricate enough that Phoebe had no idea how to remove them properly, but she didn't care about hurting me at all.

She simply yanked them off with brute force.

My screams rang out as Phoebe proudly handed one expensive watch after another to Julian like trophies.

From the side, Annie shouted angrily, "I'm telling my sister! She's going to make all of you pay for this!"

But no one took a child's threats seriously.

Soon, both my hands were covered in injuries. Bloody abrasions had formed around both wrists where the watches had been ripped away. The pain was so intense it made me gasp for breath, but I still refused to beg.

"Can you let Annie go now?"

I forced myself upright with difficulty, trying to take Annie and leave. But Julian suddenly stepped in front of me.

He sized me up maliciously before saying, "Phoebe, you suppose Cassian had stolen the other things I lost recently? Why don't we strip him and check whether he hid them under his clothes? After all, if those missing items turn up with him later, it'll be hard to explain, won't it?"

Phoebe nodded immediately.

Ignoring my resistance completely, she grabbed the front of my dress shirt and tore it open. Cold air hit my chest instantly, exposing large patches of what looked like hickeys across my skin.

I instinctively tried to cover myself, but my hands were already torn up and bleeding so badly I could barely lift them.

The crowd stared at me suggestively, tossing around vulgar jokes, and my former coworkers were the loudest of all.

"I knew Cassian was easy from the start. Back at the company, he was always trying to seduce me."

"He's probably been passed around by both men and women his whole life."

The comments flooding over me filled me with humiliation and pain. But for Julian, this still wasn't enough—he wanted me completely destroyed.

Pulling out his phone, he smiled viciously. "Cassian, don't say I never helped you out. I'll livestream this and make you famous."

A cruel light flickered in Julian's eyes as he stared straight at me.

I covered my face, furious and humiliated. If looks could kill, Julian would have died hundreds of times over.

But I was completely alone.

Everyone around me was enjoying the spectacle.

Just as despair swallowed me whole, a cold and commanding female voice suddenly rang out nearby. "How dare you cause trouble at my wedding?"