Chapter 2

My steps faltered, but I didn't turn around.

"As for who the real other woman is, I think you know perfectly well."

Before she could react, I walked fast out of the hospital.

By the time I reached the wedding, half an hour had passed.

Outside the banquet hall, a stooped couple stood arguing with a member of the staff.

"We're the bride's parents. Why can't we go in?"

The staffer picked at her manicure and rolled her eyes.

"How many times do I have to say it? No invitation, no entry. I don't care if you're the king of the world!"

"Look at the shabby state of you two. As if you'd ever know the bride. She's the heiress of the Fox Group. She doesn't just let anyone latch on to her."

"Beggars."

I was about to step forward and argue when a woman dressed like a wealthy socialite walked past.

The staffer immediately smiled, all sweetness, and ushered her inside.

My parents asked, "Why can she go in?"

The staffer said impatiently, "She's the bride's aunt."

"Mr. Gilbert gave specific orders. Any relative of the bride is to be treated with the highest standard of hospitality."

"Beggars like you get thrown out."

My parents wanted to say more, but I stepped up and pulled them aside to the corner.

I explained things in a few quick words, hailed a cab, and sent them back to my place.

Then I walked straight into the wedding.

Onstage, Rufus Gilbert was reciting his vows with tender feeling.

I let out a cold laugh. "A scumbag putting on a devoted act. He really has a talent for it."

The crowd erupted, and countless cameras swung toward me.

Rufus's face darkened. "Pauline Swanson, what nonsense are you spouting?"

I frowned, my eyes full of fury.

"You toyed with my feelings, then set me up to swindle three million out of me. Rufus Gilbert, do you have a heart at all?"

The crowd's gazes shifted to him, curious and contemptuous.

Panic flashed through Rufus's eyes, and he immediately looked toward the couple in the audience.

"She's talking nonsense. The only one I love is Flora. She's just an employee at my company."

He clenched his fist, and his stare at me turned venomous.

"You've been acting out in private, and I was gracious enough not to hold it against you."

"But you couldn't have me, so your love turned to spite, and now you've come to make a scene at my wedding."

"Someone get her out of here, now!"

My love turned to spite?

I laughed until my whole body shook, and before I knew it, my eyes had filled with tears.

Flora suddenly stopped him and, looking pitiful, cried to the cameras.

"Pauline Swanson, you bullied me back then. You're the reason Rufus and I broke up. I never said a word against you."

"But today is my wedding. Can't you just let me go?"

The crowd pointed and whispered, and the noise burst apart inside my head.

When had I ever bullied her?

Flora was the one who broke it off, because she looked down on Rufus for being poor.

I was about to open my mouth to explain when Flora suddenly flung out a stack of photos.

They scattered through the air, and a few landed at my feet.

In the photos, Flora was cowering wretchedly in a corner, someone shoving her head against the wall.

That someone's face was mine.

My hands trembled as I held the photo, and I looked up at Rufus onstage without thinking.

Rufus had his arm gently around Flora, murmuring something with his head bowed.

"Rufus... you believe I bullied her too?"

His movements paused, and something shifted in his eyes.

I tugged at the corner of my mouth into a bleak smile.

Once, someone framed me for leaking company secrets.

I had asked him then, too, whether he believed me.

Back then he held me in his arms and comforted me. "I will always trust you, unconditionally."

To save me, he stayed up night after night for half a month.

But now...

So forever was that short after all.