Chapter 1

One week before the wedding, I stood outside a private room at a private club and overheard my fiancé talking with his buddies.

He said he had never liked me. The one he truly liked was his childhood sweetheart, Melissa Stone.

He said he had only pursued me to disgust my ex, and that he was planning to play my sex video at the wedding, then break off the engagement in public and have my reputation destroyed.

He thought I would obediently walk down the red carpet and wait for him to humiliate me.

But he had no idea that the video about to be played at the wedding would be a sex video of him and Melissa Stone.

Jane Winters POV

My name is Jane Winters. I used to be Adrian Cole's simp, and everyone in their circle mocked me for it.

I spent seven years pining after Adrian Cole, but he was cold to me from beginning to end.

Five years ago, I gave up on Adrian Cole and accepted a confession from his archrival, Sebastian Grant.

From then on, Sebastian Grant spoiled me like I was the center of the universe.

He set off fireworks across the entire city just to celebrate my birthday.

He bought a necklace worth over a hundred million just because I had glanced at it one more time.

To get his parents to agree to let him marry me, he even went on a hunger strike for seven days and seven nights.

I became someone everyone in their circle envied.

I thought so too.

Until one week before the wedding, when I went to the private club to pick Sebastian Grant up and take him home.

When I reached the door of the private room, I was just about to push it open when I heard voices drifting through the crack in the door.

"Sebastian, are you seriously planning to play Jane Winters's sex video at the wedding?"

A loud ringing filled my head and I froze completely, and my whole body froze in place as if I had been struck by lightning.

The one speaking was Sebastian Grant's childhood friend, Joe Harris.

Normally, whenever he saw me, he would respectfully call me Ms. Winters.

"Of course. Sebastian got together with Jane Winters just to disgust Adrian Cole, didn't he?"

The one who answered was another childhood friend, Daniel Carter.

The excitement in his tone was practically overflowing.

Everyone was talking with such enthusiasm that none of them noticed there was still someone standing outside the private room.

I stood outside the door, my mind went completely numb and empty, my ears ringing, and forgetting how to react.

"Tell me, when Adrian Cole sees Jane Winters's sex video at the wedding, do you think he'll be so pissed he coughs blood?"

Roars of laughter came through the crack in the door.

"Forget coughing blood. I bet he'll be so mad he dies on the spot!"

Someone let out a whistle.

"It'll be livestreamed across the internet. Where is Adrian Cole supposed to put his face then?"

The group chattered over one another, their voices full of the thrill of watching a spectacle.

Every time we had sex, Sebastian Grant would hold up his phone and aim it at me.

I would shake my head and say no.

Then he would lean over and kiss my forehead. "Be good. It won't get leaked. I just want to watch it when I miss you, okay?"

My heart had softened, and I had agreed.

I never thought that was the real purpose of those videos.

"Who told Adrian Cole and Sebastian to be archrivals? Otherwise, Sebastian wouldn't have deliberately found a few thugs to assault Jane Winters just to screw with him, then play the hero and save the damsel in distress, confess to her, and put up with his disgust while dating her for five years."

My stomach clenched violently, and a sweet, metallic taste surged up into my mouth.

That stormy night five years ago.

Once again, Adrian Cole had left me by the roadside.

A few thugs rushed out of an alley.

They tore my clothes apart, covered my mouth, and dragged me deep into the alley.

I struggled with everything I had, my fingernails breaking against the ground.

I thought I was going to die in that alley.

Sebastian Grant appeared.

He beat those men off, took off his jacket and wrapped it around me, then carried me into his car.

I curled up in his arms, trembling all over.

He lowered his head. "It's okay now. I'm here."

At that moment, I thought Sebastian Grant was the man I would choose for the rest of my life.

I never imagined that he was the one who had orchestrated that assault.

In that moment, I felt as if the hallway were spinning.

The conversation inside the private room continued.

"Sebastian really had foresight. Back then, he could tell Adrian Cole loved her without realizing it, so he snatched Jane Winters up early."

"Exactly. Adrian Cole regretted it later. How many times has he gone to confess to Jane Winters? But our Sebastian is just too charming. He made Jane Winters so devoted she refused to turn back."

"Right? This wedding will be the final blow to Cole. After this, he'll never be able to hold his head up again in the capital!"

They clinked their glasses again.

The sound of glasses striking the table landed in my heart too.

I leaned against the hallway wall, my legs going weak.

Someone laughingly teased Sebastian Grant.

"Sebastian, why aren't you saying anything? You've treated Jane Winters so well these past five years. Don't tell me you actually developed feelings for her?"

"If Sebastian really fell for her, then he'd have shot himself in the foot!"

I held my breath and stared fixedly at him through the crack in the door.

I was waiting for Sebastian Grant to deny all of it.

Sebastian Grant sat in the seat of honor, his long legs crossed. His expression was hidden in the shadows, dark and unreadable.

The private room was quiet for a long while.

At last, the man's low voice sounded, carrying a hint of mockery.

"Like her? She's boring as hell. I'll take the chance to break off the engagement in public at the wedding."

He said it slowly and unhurriedly.

I could hardly believe those words had come from Sebastian Grant.

But that was his voice.

"I've never liked her. The only one in my heart is Melissa."

Melissa Stone, Sebastian Grant's childhood sweetheart, the group's favourite in their inner circle.

Every time I got jealous, Sebastian Grant would say she was just like a little sister and tell me not to overthink it.

"This game has gone on for five years. It's time for it to end. On the wedding day, I'll destroy Jane Winters completely, and Adrian Cole too."

Sebastian Grant's tone was the same coldness and composure I knew so well.

"Isn't that move a little too ruthless? What will happen to Jane Winters afterward? That's her sex video being livestreamed across the internet!"

"What do you know? If Jane Winters's reputation isn't completely ruined, what if Adrian Cole marries her later?"

"Exactly. Once Jane Winters has her reputation destroyed, Adrian Cole's father will never agree to let her marry into the family."

"Sebastian's move is brilliant!"

"I can't wait to watch Jane Winters's little video and Adrian Cole's dead-man face!"

Laughter burst out in the private room again.

So the five years of feelings had been a scam from beginning to end.

The deep affection I believed in was only an act Sebastian Grant put on to get revenge on Adrian Cole.

The grand wedding I believed in was the execution ground Sebastian Grant had meticulously plotted for me.

I loosened my grip on the door handle.

Tears fell onto the carpet without a sound.

I turned and walked toward the elevator.

The moment the elevator doors closed, I bent over and dry-heaved.

My phone lit up. It was a message from Sebastian Grant.

[Darling, when are you coming to pick me up?]

He was saying he was going to destroy me, yet he was still calling me darling.

I wiped away my tears and typed a reply with force.

[I'm not feeling well. Find a designated driver.]

When I walked out the doors of the private club, the rain came crashing down over my head and face.

As if I couldn't feel it at all, I walked into the rain.

On that stormy night five years ago, Sebastian Grant had pulled me back from hell to the world of the living.

On this stormy night, Sebastian Grant had knocked me from the world of the living back into hell.

Rain poured into my eyes, mixing with my tears.

"I'll destroy Jane Winters completely on the wedding day."

Sebastian Grant's words crashed around in my mind again and again.

They grew louder and louder until they rang like a great bell, as if they wanted to shatter my brain.

Sebastian Grant, you really are a damn good actor.

Since you've lied to me for so long,

on the wedding day, I'll give you a grand gift too.

That isn't too much, is it?