Chapter 4

The surgery went smoothly.

Not once, all the way until they wheeled me back to my room, did Anne say a single word of worry.

The ceremony at the hotel still wasn't over.

Jackson had a livestream running from the floor, the title splashed across the top.

【Helped a friend tame his bloodsucker boyfriend — now we're taking on the world as real modern alpha men.】

He held up the phone and clapped Anne on the shoulder.

"Babe, say hi."

Anne's brow creased.

"Don't say weird things."

But she still ducked her head, smiled, and gave the camera a little wave.

The comments were flying past underneath.

"Handsome guy, gorgeous girl, perfect match."

"Are you getting married today, streamer? Love the suit."

Jackson swung the phone in a full circle around the room, thrilled with himself.

"Let me give you all a look at my wedding."

I couldn't help it. My fingers moved fast and I fired off a comment.

"So this whole 'alpha man' thing just means climbing up by stealing another man's wife?"

The second it posted, a string of question marks trailed under it.

Jackson saw it. His expression didn't change at all. If anything, the smile in his eyes got wider.

"Some sour little chicken out here spreading lies, knock it off."

He pulled out two marriage certificates.

He flipped them open. In the photo inside, he and Anne beamed at the camera together.

The registration date on them was the day he came back to the country.

My hand jerked. The phone dropped to the floor and cracked.

My stomach turned over. I stumbled off the bed, hung over the sink, and threw up with tears running down my face.

No wonder Anne kept putting me off every time I brought up registering.

She always said we should hold the wedding first, that the only thing people cared about was what showed on the surface.

The two certificates, she said, nobody would give a second thought to.

So it turned out she'd already registered with someone else, long ago.

And now she'd gone and married him too, easy as that.

A few more messages popped up on the cracked screen.

【Stop talking nonsense in Jack's stream.】

【The certificate thing — I'll find time to explain it to you later.】

Then Anne threw over a bill.

【Since you said you'd cover the whole surgery, why haven't I gotten the transfer for this afternoon's payment yet?】

I glanced at it and didn't reply.

Instead I lowered my head and made a call.

"Is everything ready?"

The answer came back fast. Yes.

My mother pushed the door open and gently wiped the sweat beading at my temple, hurting for me.

"Don't grieve over a person like that."

I shook my head. I was already completely calm.

"Never again."

Then I got up and started packing.

My stomach still ached with that dragging, sinking pain, a constant reminder of how absurd this whole day had been.

"Why the rush? Where are you going?"

"Home. To settle the accounts."

It wasn't until the small hours that Anne shoved open the door of our wedding home, drunk.

I was sitting on the sofa, a thick document envelope on the table in front of me.

She didn't notice. Her fingers tapped a few times at her phone screen.

"I sent you the balance list for the wedding."

"Don't forget to transfer me half."

I let out a soft laugh.

"Anne, only now do I realize you really have no shame."

She froze.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The next second, a phone started ringing, sharp and urgent.