At my wedding rehearsal, my fiancé's colleague, Haley Rhodes burst in and tore apart the carefully arranged decor.

"Ryan promised he'd marry me!" she shrieked, storming closer, "Who do you think you are?"

Without warning, she lunged, grabbing hold of the wedding gown, which was worth a fortune. But she only got so far—she was too heavyset to even squeeze it past her head.

I let out a mocking laugh. "Don't tell me you're too big to fit even a plus-size wedding dress?"

That really set her off. With grim determination, she forced herself into the gown. But as soon as she did, the delicate fabric tore, leaving absurdly stretched holes across her back and waist.

"Too bad the dress is ruined now. But who cares?" she sneered triumphantly. "Ryan loves me. He’ll buy me another wedding gown, anyway."

But when the actual wedding began, she got the shock of her life.

The groom walking down the aisle wasn’t Ryan at all. It was their boss — Ryan and Haley's boss.

Well, I never said this was my wedding.

I was the wedding planner, hired to organize the wedding event for Ryan's boss and his bride-to-be.

During the rehearsal, Ryan's boss, joked with me, asking how Ryan and I had been together for seven years without a single proposal in sight.

"We're keeping our ceremony low-key, no banners or fuss," he laughed. "Why don't we double up on the celebration? You and Ryan could take over here in the afternoon, have yourselves a little engagement right here!"

His fiancée chimed in with a smile, "Exactly! We have to head back to the old family estate around noon anyway. So we won't be here until eight in the evening. Go talk to him! Tell him to surprise you with a proposal today!"

I managed a small, self-deprecating smile, unsure how to respond.

Once, I used to wait eagerly, hoping Ryan would pop the question. But now, years of waiting had worn me down, and Ryan seemed no closer to making me his wife than the day we met.

Noticing my dimmed expression, the bride-to-be looped her arm around mine, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Clarice, you're a catch! If Ryan won't propose, then why bother with him? I could introduce you to my brother!"

I just shook my head and got back to setting up the decorations, meticulously arranging each detail.

I had been in love with Ryan for a decade, shadowing his every step for seven long years. Walking away from him? That wasn't a decision I could just make on a whim.

But just as Ryan's boss and his fiancée left to grab a bite, chaos unfolded.

A woman barged into the venue, breathless and flushed, and announced herself as Ryan's fiancée.

I recognized her instantly. She was Haley Rhodes, Ryan's colleague.

I was about to greet her when, out of nowhere, she slapped me hard across the face.

The sting shocked me, leaving me dazed. Before I could process what had just happened, she shoved a camera right in my face.

"Look, everyone!" she yelled. "This shameless woman stole my fiancé and is forcing him into a wedding!"

Her furious shove sent me stumbling backward and sprawling onto the platform behind me.

My head was spinning. What was happening? Could Haley and Ryan's boss have something going on?

Trying to keep things from escalating, I attempted to speak calmly. "Haley, both the bride and groom are very much in love. If there's any misunderstanding, perhaps we could discuss it after the ceremony?"

My words seemed to fuel her anger. She slapped me again, even harder than before.

"Don't act like you don't know!" she spat. "I asked Ryan—he has no idea about any wedding! You're just trying to trap him and force him to marry you with this little ‘surprise'!"

My head was reeling with confusion. How had Ryan become part of this conversation?

At that moment, a flood of women poured into the hall, cameras and phones at the ready, surrounding me in a tight, unyielding circle.

"Exactly! We're all witnesses to Ryan and Haley's love story," one of them sneered. "Where did you even come from, homewrecker? How dare you pull a stunt like this? Don't you have any shame?"

It all clicked in one sickening instant: it wasn't the boss who was cheating—it was Ryan!

In that case, Haley had intended that slap for me after all.

Haley, whom Ryan had introduced as "just a colleague," was in reality, my boyfriend's little side affair.

No wonder he wasn't in any rush to marry me. No wonder he'd been running hot and cold, always finding some excuse to keep me waiting.

I'd been so sure of his love, so convinced of his loyalty, I never saw it coming. And now, here I was, facing down the woman who'd been his secret.

Haley stood before me, hands on her hips, glaring with a fierce determination that bordered on absurdity.

I sighed, keeping my tone measured. "Haley, let's be rational. We're both victims here—the one at fault is Ryan."

The words barely left my mouth before she ripped off her high heel and hurled it at me.

I couldn't duck in time, and the sharp chain on her heel caught my face, leaving raw, bleeding scratches.

Haley's voice turned shrill, like a cat who'd had its tail stepped on, and her words cut even deeper than her heel had.

"Ryan isn't at fault here! He was bewitched by a vixen like you. He was led astray! He's innocent—blinded! Viewers, don't you agree?" she called out to her live audience, who were watching her livestream.

"This bitch has been after Ryan from the start! She even went as far as scheming to trap him into marriage, and now she has the nerve to say she's done nothing wrong! Who does she think she is? Just a mistress—does she really think she’s on my level?”

The girls behind her gripped their cameras tightly and stormed toward me with hostility, their eyes brimming with disdain.

One of her friends stepped forward, sneering. "Exactly! Haley and Ryan grew up together; she got this job because he vouched for her! Who are you to come in and tear apart their years of love? Get real!"

My head was spinning. Ryan and I had been together for seven years. We had never once broken up, since the day we graduated.

He'd only known Haley for three years, and he'd even admitted she'd come to the company through a friend's recommendation, not his. Where was this story of a childhood romance coming from?

Had they all been lied to, or was I the one completely duped?

Before I could make sense of it, Haley leaned into her live feed again, riling up her audience. "Everyone, today I'm setting things straight with this homewrecker, and showing her what happens when you steal someone else's man! Does anyone here know her? Post her information in the chat!"

At her words, a sea of cameras closed in on me, their lenses glaring, recording, poised to spread this humiliation far and wide.

Panic jolted through me, and I instinctively ducked, covering my face. "Haley, you're crossing the line! Filming someone without permission is illegal!"

But she didn't listen. Two of her friends held me down as she pressed the camera right in my face and landed a savage kick in my stomach.

"I'm teaching a shameless mistress a lesson—this is justice! Who's going to stop me? And anyway, Ryan's family's connections could get me out of anything," she sneered. "Even if I get locked up, Ryan would pull strings to get me out. I'd do this a thousand times over!"

Pain exploded across my body as a merciless barrage of fists, kicks, and sticks landed all at once.

Haley handed the camera to someone nearby, then rolled up her sleeves, raised her fist, and slammed it fiercely into my stomach. The other girls grabbed sticks and swung them toward me.

One wooden club landed squarely on the top of my head, and a deafening ring echoed in my ears as warm blood trickled down from my scalp, blurring my vision.

The attack happened so suddenly that it wasn’t until I felt the blood on my face that a surge of fury finally took over.

Why was I the one being betrayed—and yet here I was, getting beat up for it?

At first, I'd pitied Haley, thought we were both played for fools by the same man. But now? She was a woman unhinged, utterly ruthless, and I was done being her target.

With a sudden surge, I ripped my arms free from the girls holding me down and got to my feet, knocking several of them off balance in one swift motion.

I marched forward, each step punctuated by fury, and aimed a solid punch straight at Haley's nose.

As Haley clutched her swollen face in alarm, a high-pitched scream escaped her. Her nose was fake, and my punch had definitely knocked it out of place.

Sure enough, when she lifted her head again, her nose was skewed to one side. Paired with her grimacing expression, the sight was almost comical.

I sneered, "I initially thought we were both victims here, deceived by the same guy. I even considered teaming up to make Ryan pay for his betrayal. But it turns out you're too foolish to think straight and it seems you're out for blood. If that's how you want it, don't expect me to show any mercy."

I knew she was no match for me, as I had trained in Taekwondo.

A few of her supporters stood frozen nearby, some even raising their cameras to capture her disheveled appearance.

I glanced at the screen, watching the comments flood in.

Haley, looking deranged, clawed at her own hair. "Why are you filming me? Drop your phones and beat her to a pulp!"

"Today I’ll show you the price of going after my man!" she yelled, grabbing a stick and rushing at me, tangling me into a brutal fight.

"Why are you all just standing there? Call for backup!" she barked at the girls, some of whom I had already knocked down. In a panic, Haley shouted to the rest, who quickly bolted to get help.

In an instant, a group of men and women waiting outside burst through the door, swarming the room.

As I tried to fight back, a few strong men seized my arms, dragging me across the stage, sending the set pieces and decorations crashing down in every direction.

I struggled, but it was futile. Several hands gripped my hair and sleeves tightly, leaving me completely pinned.

Seeing her stick broken by my kick, Haley hesitated, no longer daring to come closer. Instead, she snatched up a few crystal decorations from the stage.

"You shameless tramp," she sneered, inspecting the crystal in her hand. "You're dressed so plainly. How could you afford these expensive pieces? You must be spending my man’s money!"

She examined it further, then laughed coldly. "No, that can’t be right. Ryan wouldn’t waste that much on a seductress like you. These must all be rented, huh? Trying to fake wealth to fool Ryan into marrying you? Dream on!"

With that, she grabbed an ornate porcelain vase from beside her feet and began smashing it—and everything else on the stage.

In seconds, shards of porcelain, pearls, and crystal glittered across the floor in a chaotic, sparkling mess. Even the pure-gold swan statues on either side of the stage were dented, their heads twisted out of shape beyond recognition.

As she rampaged, she yelled smugly, "This is all rented, right? I'll smash everything! Let's see how you plan to pay for the damages!"

These decorations were, indeed, rented, but by the wedding company—arranged with immense care by her boss for a fee of over one million just for the setup.

I felt a pang of sympathy for her boss’s wife as I rushed forward, desperate to stop Haley. But before I could reach her, she slammed a bottle against my head, and a sudden, eerie calm washed over me.

I wiped at the warm blood trickling down my forehead.

I shot a cool glance at the nearby camcorder that was silently recording everything.

There were no security cameras in this hotel banquet hall. However, I had a habit of recording every moment of the rehearsal, documenting each detail of the bride and groom’s wedding rehearsal day.

So, I let her rage.

Go ahead, destroy everything. It was all my company's property, and every single item she broke would have to be repaid—down to the last cent.

When she caught sight of my smirk, her face contorted in a mixture of rage and disbelief. "Why are you laughing? How dare you laugh!"

I chuckled, pointing toward the carefully boxed wedding gown at the edge of the stage. "I'm laughing because after trashing all that, you still missed the most important thing. As long as the wedding dress is intact, the ceremony can still go on."

Haley gaped, then marched over to the gown. "This gown… You rented this too, didn't you? There's no way you could afford something this exquisite."

She marveled at it, unable to resist its beauty. "It must've cost a fortune. It's gorgeous."

Suddenly, her face darkened, and she glared at me with renewed spite. "Give it up. Ryan's already promised to marry me once he gets promoted at the end of the year! No matter how beautiful your gown is, he's never going to marry you!"

As she spoke, she held the dress up to herself, admiring her reflection in the glass and grinning like a cat who'd gotten the cream. "Perfect! I'll accept this as a wedding gift from you to me and Ryan."

The smugness on her face, the way she hugged the gown to her chest, set her double chin wobbling in satisfaction. "Fine, you've got taste, I'll give you that. I'll spare you since you know how to deliver a proper wedding gift. Let's go, everyone!"

No way I was letting her off that easy after hurting me like that.

Watching her try to retreat after all this, I crossed my arms and let out a cold laugh.