Ten years ago, he cast her out, convinced of her betrayal. Today, she returned to his wedding in rags, handing him a USB drive before collapsing. As the truth flashed across the screen, the groom canceled the wedding instantly.
Part 1: The Coronation
Aspen burned with the crimson and gold of peak autumn, a fitting backdrop for the “Wedding of the Century” at the Valen Estate. White O’Hara roses blanketed the grounds, their scent suffocatingly sweet under the glow of a thousand crystal candles. Inside the bridal suite, Lara Montgomery admired her reflection, her smile practiced for the tabloids rather than a lover. She wasn’t a blushing bride; she was a general surveying a conquered kingdom.
“Make no mistakes,” her mother Sonia warned, securing a diamond tiara. “Today, we officially join the financial elite.” Lara smirked, cold and flawless. “Relax, Mother. Henry is mine; that ghost from ten years ago is long dead.” Sonia clutched her exotic skin bag tight. “Erasing that scholarship girl wasn’t cheap, but look at us now. Today is your coronation.”
Part 2: The Tunnel
In the groom’s quarters, Henry Vance stood by the window, a gray custom suit unable to mask the crushing weight on his shoulders. The tech titan was known for being cold and relentless, but the truth was he had emotionally died a decade ago in Boston. He wasn’t marrying Lara for love, but from the sheer exhaustion of solitude; she was beautiful and demanded nothing of a heart he’d left in pieces.
“I feel like I’m walking into a grave,” Henry confessed to Rafe, his best man. “I can’t get her out of my head.” Rafe sighed, checking his watch; he knew Henry meant Camille, the girl whose name was forbidden. “It’s been ten years, Henry,” Rafe said. “She betrayed you at that hotel. Focus on the present.” The chapel bells rang, signaling the end of the waiting.
Part 3: The Intruder
The ceremony began on the emerald lawn, silence holding the crowd captive until a metallic crash shattered the peace at the main gates. “Let me go! I have to tell him!” a voice screamed—broken, raspy, yet unmistakably familiar to Henry’s frozen heart. Security wrestled with a figure in tattered brown rags, her feet bloody and bare against the manicured grass.
“Get that trash out of here!” Lara hissed, her face twisting in disgust. “If she’s hungry, throw her scraps from the kitchen!” Henry recoiled at her cruelty. “Stop!” he roared, signaling Rafe. “Don’t hurt her.” Rafe reached the woman, his face draining of color as she pressed a dirty USB drive into his hand before collapsing. “Show him… the truth.”
Part 4: The Evidence
Rafe sprinted to the AV booth, and moments later, a single video file from ten years ago projected across the garden screens. The crowd gasped as a younger Sonia and Lara appeared, handing cash to a man to stage the photos that had ruined Henry’s life. “He’ll believe the little charity case cheated,” Sonia sneered on screen, while Lara laughed, “And I’ll be there to console him.”
The garden fell deathly silent. Henry turned on Lara with eyes like burning coal. “You stole a decade of my life.” He knelt beside the frail woman on the grass, wrapping her in his jacket as she whispered, “I never betrayed you… I just wanted you to know before I died.” Henry lifted Camille into his arms, barking orders to his lawyers to destroy the Montgomerys, and walked away from the altar, carrying the only truth that mattered.
