Chapter 4

Sebastian snatched our marriage certificate from his coat pocket and slammed it onto Julian’s bleeding face.

"We registered this morning. What you are doing is attempted murder." Sebastian cracked his knuckles and landed another brutal punch on Julian’s jaw.

Julian stared at him in utter disbelief. With trembling hands, he picked up the certificate, tearing the protective plastic cover in his haste to read the names.

Tears welled in his eyes. "No... Jade loves me! I don't believe this! She was the one who begged to marry me five years ago! I promised her we’d get married for real after this!"

Sebastian wasn't about to let the broken man off easy. He sneered, "If you have time to be this delusional, why don't you extract the data from your precious robot? See for yourself if Jade was really the one who forced this marriage."

Julian slowly turned his head to look at the deactivated Gemma robot. His face grew incredibly pale. He was terrified of what he might find.

The police officers Sebastian brought stepped forward, presenting their badges. "Julian Vance, you are under arrest for kidnapping and aggravated assault. Come with us."

Lily, who had been huddled on the floor, finally burst into hysterical tears. The five-year-old was sobbing, completely abandoned. She tried to grab Julian’s leg, but the officers pushed her back.

In desperation, she ran to the deactivated robot, shaking her violently. "Mom! Wake up! They're taking Daddy away!"

Sebastian looked at me on the gurney as the paramedics administered emergency fluids. His eyes were burning with rage. He turned to a tech specialist he had brought along. "Extract the memory bank of this unit. Show us the files from five years ago."

The technician quickly connected a device to the port on the robot’s neck. He looked up for confirmation, and Sebastian nodded, walking over to squeeze my hand.

The assistant turned on a portable projector, casting the extracted memories onto the bedroom wall.

The first clip played.

It was Gemma. After a date with Julian, she had gone straight into the arms of another man—a tall, muscular guy who sneered, "Isn't your fiancé's family supposed to be rich? Why are you so needy? Is Julian bad in bed?"

Gemma wrapped her arms around him, frowning. "The Vance family’s latest project failed. They're on the verge of bankruptcy. I'm not marrying Julian to live in poverty. But I also don't want that bitch Jade to have a better life than me."

"I'll convince my parents to force Jade to marry that loser Julian instead."

Julian watched the screen, his jaw slack. He stopped resisting the police, sinking to the floor like a hollow shell as the handcuffs clicked around his wrists.

The second clip was set in the Miller family home.

I shuddered at the memory, but Sebastian held my hand tighter, offering silent comfort.

On screen, Gemma threw a pair of men's underwear onto the floor, weeping dramatically. "If Jade loves Julian, I can step aside. But she shouldn't have stolen my future brother-in-law's underwear!"

Our mother didn't hesitate. She slapped me across the face twice, her eyes filled with disgust. "Is this how your foster parents raised you? You shameless brat! Tomorrow, you will tell Sebastian you're calling off the wedding!"

On screen, my face was bruised, but I still pleaded, "I want to marry Sebastian. I didn't steal anything. I don't even like Julian!"

"Kneel!" our father roared, whipping me with a leather belt. "I didn't give birth to you so you could disrespect us!"

In the end, our mother threatened my foster parents' lives. "If you ruin Gemma’s future, your peasant foster parents can forget about getting their cancer treatments in the city!"

If the previous clips had broken Julian, the next one utterly destroyed him.