The next day, at the wedding rehearsal, I sat alone in a corner of the hotel's dazzling ballroom. In my hand was the crumpled officiant's script. My eyes were so dry they felt like the desert.

I didn't sleep at all last night. The joy of coming home had turned into despair and rage.

What kept me awake most of all was yesterday's "bachelor party".

I had to drive Alex around like his personal chauffeur, watching as he and his friends drank themselves senseless. I also had to listen as he bragged right in front of me about how he'd "bagged" my fiancee.

"You guys have no idea how eager that woman is in bed," he'd proclaimed in a drunken stupor. "I'm way better than my loser brother!"

His friends roared with laughter. "Alex, you've got Noah driving you around while you sleep with his woman? You're a legend, man!"

As I listened to their jeers, my knuckles went white around the steering wheel, and my nails dug into my palms.

…

"What are you thinking about, Mr. Officiant?" Alex's voice rang out above me.

He was wearing my custom-made suit, the one I'd spent 30 thousand dollars to make before I left.

I looked up and forced a smile. "Nothing. I just haven't fully come to terms with everything yet."

"What's there to come to terms with?" He sat down beside me and handed me a glass of champagne. "You should be thanking me."

"Thank you for what?"

"For helping you continue the family line," he replied nonchalantly before lowering his voice. "But honestly, Erica's body? Damn. It's your loss, man."

My grip tightened around the champagne flute. "Do you even hear yourself? She's my fiancee. We've been engaged for three years."

"Is that so?" Alex snorted scornfully. "Because I'm the one who knocked her up. Oh, hang on."

He paused on purpose and smirked at me. "I guess it's also your baby. After all, you're going to be the second dad."

The second dad, huh?

The word stabbed me right in the heart, and I nearly crushed the champagne flute.

Just then, Erica walked over. She was wearing a beautiful white dress, the one I'd given her as a gift before I deployed.

She looked at me and said sweetly, "The rehearsal's about to start. Did you find the officiant's script?"

I lifted the wrinkled paper mechanically and replied in a hoarse voice, "Yes."

"That's good." Erica smiled before leaning in close and lowering her voice. "Actually, I think things are pretty good like this. While you were gone, your brother took very good care of me."

My fingers clenched, and the champagne flute shattered in my hand. Shards of glass pierced my palm, drawing blood.

"Hey! You shouldn't be so careless!" Erica exclaimed with fake concern, attracting everyone's attention. "Look at you! How are you going to take care of the children when you can't even hold a glass properly?"

"Noah!" Dad roared from behind me. "What are you doing? The rehearsal's about to start, and you're hanging around here daydreaming? You even got your clothes dirty! You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"I'll go change," I said quietly, wanting nothing more than to get out of this suffocating ballroom.

"There's no time for that!" Dad snapped. "Just leave it. You're just the officiant anyway, not the main stars of the event. Who's going to pay attention to you?"

"Right," I muttered through clenched teeth, my fists balled as I swallowed back all the rage and humiliation I felt.

The rehearsal began. As I stood on the podium, my bloodstained suit drew strange looks from the others in the ballroom.

When the emcee introduced me, he specifically added, "This is the groom's younger brother, and also the child's second dad."

Everyone burst into laughter and started whispering among themselves.

"Hahaha! Second dad? That's hilarious!"

"The groom looks pretty healthy to me. How'd his fiancee end up in his brother's bed?"

"I heard he got injured working out of town, so he can't get it up anymore."

"Oh, well. A guy like him can only let someone else's children call him dad then."

Up on the podium, I read out the officiant's script like a robot, my heart as cold and dead as it could be.

That night, my parents hosted a pre-wedding dinner and invited some of our relatives.

Everyone gathered around the dining table, and the atmosphere was lively. I was the only one who sat in the corner, drinking in silence. After several rounds of booze, the topic inevitably turned to tomorrow's wedding.

"How meaningful it will be for Noah to be the officiant tomorrow!" Aunt Gina, my father's sister, said with a smile, though her eyes kept darting between Erica and me. "Erica's such a wonderful young woman. She spent all this time waiting for you to come back."

Waiting for me?

I looked at Erica, who immediately got startled and lowered her head.

"Yes, Erica really is such a lovely young woman," Mom chimed in.

Out of nowhere, she lowered her voice and said to me, "Noah, we all know you can't get it up anymore. You should be grateful that Alex stepped up to help you with something this important."

The table fell silent, and everyone's gazes fell on me—some sympathetic, some awkward, but most simply hungry for gossip.

"What do you mean by that, Mom?" I put down my cutlery, my voice calmer than I'd expected. "I don't understand what you just said."

"Come now." Mom sighed, as if irritated that I was playing dumb. "You got injured working on that project, remember? The doctor said you can't get it up anymore. Well, since you can't get a woman pregnant now, someone has to step in so that we can have grandchildren."

Due to the nature of my work, I had to keep my special ops missions a secret. My family believed I was just an ordinary engineer.

"Who said I got injured and can't have children anymore?" I questioned, my expression dark.

Dad slammed his hand on the table. "Why are you still playing dumb? Go get his medical report, Alex!"

Alex got up and made a show of trying to smooth things over. "We're family, Dad. This is already a sore spot for Noah. Let's not keep harping on it."

He picked up his wine glass and walked over to me with a victorious smile. "Don't worry, Noah. The children I have with Erica are your children, too. They'll call you Daddy Noah, and when they grow up, they'll also take care of you."

The nerve of them to humiliate like that!

Was a highly decorated special operations officer like me supposed to live with being forced into such an arrangement the moment I got home?

"Oh, right." Remembering something, Alex pulled a debit card from his pocket and slid it toward me. "This is the money you've been sending back to the family. I've been keeping it safe for you. Money's been a little tight for my business lately, so I used some of it. You don't mind, right?"

Taking the debit card, I asked grimly, "How much did you use?"

"Not much," Alex replied nonchalantly. "About a million dollars or so."

A million dollars?

Keeping my anger in check, I pulled out my phone to check the balance in my account. The amount written on the screen, 28.46 dollars, nearly made me see red.

"W-Why is this all that's left…" My voice was shaking.

"Like I said, my business is having cash flow issues, so I borrowed the money for a bit," Alex said indifferently. "You don't even know how to manage your money anyway. It's a waste to just let it sit in a bank account."

"What gives you the right to spend all my savings?" I finally couldn't help raising my voice.

"Noah!" Dad roared. "What kind of attitude is that? Your brother worked so hard to help you manage your money. Instead of thanking him, you're raising your voice at him?"

"That's right!" Mom joined in to reprimand me. "Do you know how much money it takes to run a business? So what if he took a million dollars from you? Your brother has been working hard for the family, but you kick up a fuss the moment you come back? What's wrong with you?"

My fists clenched and unclenched. I wanted to turn around and punch every single one of them.

"Oh, and there's this." Alex handed me a document envelope. "I need your signature for this."

I pulled out the document and saw that it was a property transfer agreement.

I was stupefied. The agreement was for the villa I'd bought before coming home, with the monetary reward I'd just received for completing the mission. It was meant to be the marital home for Erica and me.

But now, I was expected to just hand the property over to Alex?

"I bought this villa. Why should I give it to you?" I questioned.

Thoroughly displeased with my attitude, Dad bellowed, "Why are you causing so much trouble? Your brother is about to get married, so he needs a new home for himself and his wife. Besides, we're family anyway. Why are you being so petty?"

The envelope slipped from my hand and fell to the floor. I stood up, shoved my chair back, and said icily, "I'm done eating."

As I walked away, I heard the people behind me making comments about me.

"He got quite a nasty temper. Why is he being so cocky when he can't even get it up anymore?"

"It's embarrassing, really. Someone has willingly stepped up to help an impotent man like him carry on the family name, but he doesn't even show any gratitude for that."

"If I were Alex, I wouldn't have bothered at all. That's the thanks I'd get for doing him a favor?"

On the day of the wedding, the ballroom was packed with guests, and everyone was buzzing with excitement.

I stood in the corner, while all of the wedding couple's friends and family clustered in small groups. They glanced my way from time to time, their eyes full of pity and mockery.

"What a pitiful man. His own fiancee got knocked up by his brother, and he's still here as the officiant."

"I heard he's impotent. That's why Erica got involved with his brother."

"That explains it. In this day and age, what woman wants to live like a widow even when her husband's still alive?"

The whispers drifted into my ears, and every word cut me like a knife. I clenched my fists, forcing myself not to explode on the spot.

It wasn't time yet.

A man who looked like a reporter approached me. He handed me his business card, saying, "Hello, I'm with the Metropolitan Daily. I hear you're the groom's brother and the bride's former fiance?"

"Yes," I calmly replied.

"Well, that's not something you see every day," the reporter remarked with a chuckle, his eyes gleaming over the scoop. "You don't mind if we livestream the entire event, do you? It's rare to see someone as gracious as you."

"I don't mind at all." My lips curled into a smirk.

A livestream suited me perfectly—the more viewers, the better.

The lights in the ballroom dimmed, and the wedding ceremony began.

As the wedding march played, Erica, six months pregnant, slowly walked down the aisle in a wedding gown. She had a blissful smile on her face.

Alex stood on the platform in a tailored suit, holding his son with a triumphant smile.

"And let us welcome our wedding officiant, Mr. Noah Sherman!" the emcee said.

Applause filled the ballroom as a spotlight fell on me. With measured steps, I walked up to the podium, feeling all the eyes on me. Some were curious, and a few were pitying, but most were reveling in amusement over my sorry situation.

I took a deep breath and stepped up to the microphone. The ballroom fell silent as everyone waited for me to give my speech.

"Thank you all for attending this wedding," I began, my voice calm as I looked across the crowd. "But before we proceed, I'd like everyone to take a look at something rather interesting."

I pressed the remote I had prepared in advance. The giant screen behind us flickered to life, and a video began to play.

Erica and Alex's smiles froze.

Alex shot a look at his buddies in the audience, and a few of them immediately jumped up to drag me down the podium.

At that exact moment, the doors to the ballroom flew open. Several imposing military officers strode in, their presence commanding.