The Billionaire's Revenge Bride,She Married His Rival

On the day of the engagement party, my fiancé Carter Gilbert went to City Hall and married the real heiress.

Carter's voice dripped with contempt.

"You didn't actually think you were the one I was marrying today, did you?"

Nora Henson clung to his arm, her smile razor-sharp with triumph.

"I'm the one who said you deserved a lesson. Carter only played along for a few days, and you really thought you were going to be Mrs. Gilbert?"

My parents didn't care in the slightest.

"So what if Carter was your boyfriend for five years? You stole twenty years of Nora's life. This is exactly what you deserve!"

In that moment, I finally understood.

Carter and Nora had been together long before this.

The engagement party I'd been counting down to was nothing but a setup, orchestrated by every person in this room to humiliate me.

Laughter and mockery swirled around me.

I didn't say another word.

I just met the sneering gazes of Carter and the Hensons with perfect calm.

And smiled.

"After tonight, I hope none of you have any regrets."

——

Carter scoffed, clearly taking it as the bitterness of a sore loser.

"Amanda, don't blame me. Blame yourself for caring more about work than about us. I'm a man. I have needs."

"Nora is better suited to be my wife than you ever were."

"The apartment in Northside is yours. Consider it a parting gift."

He squeezed my hand, pressing a set of keys into my palm. The implication in his eyes was unmistakable.

I stared at the keys. All I felt was disgust.

"Carter, before you start setting up a love nest, maybe you should've asked whether I'd even want a man who's already been used."

He hadn't expected me to throw his filthy little scheme back in his face.

His expression shifted instantly.

Before he could respond, one of his buddies cut in with a sneer.

"Amanda Henson, don't even try to come between Carter and Nora. He only offered you that apartment out of pity because your own family kicked you out."

"Stop flattering yourself. You're embarrassing to look at."

Carter stood there. Silent. Letting every word land.

For a moment, I couldn't move.

The Carter I used to know would have already thrown punches at anyone who spoke to me that way.

He never would have let me suffer even the smallest slight.

He used to drive over ten miles after being awake for more than twenty hours straight, just to buy me a bowl of my favorite shaved ice.

For my birthday, he held his breath underwater for a full five minutes to set up a surprise, then appeared out of nowhere the moment my face fell.

When I was deployed with Doctors Without Borders and a communications failure cut us off for a month, he lost his mind. He pulled every string he had to get a plane ticket, risking his life to reach me.

On that battlefield where no one knew if tomorrow would come before death did, I said yes to his proposal.

I never imagined that the wedding I'd dreamed of would turn out to be nothing more than a cruel joke.

"Sis, I was only teasing Carter. I never thought he'd actually agree to put on a show with you. But once I saw how determined he was, I realized just how much he loves me."

"Sorry you're so upset about it."

As she spoke, Nora held out a glass of wine. When I didn't take it, she grabbed my hand and forced it around the glass.

The next second.

The glass slipped and shattered on the floor. Shards flew toward Nora.

Carter shoved me aside and rushed straight to her.

The moment he saw blood trickling from a cut on Nora's leg, his face darkened.

"Amanda! If you have a problem, take it up with me!"

"So what Nora said wasn't nice. She's just innocent and kind-hearted. Would it kill you to be the bigger person?"

A sharp ache pierced through my chest.

"The bigger person?"

"Carter Gilbert, you are the last person in this room who gets to ask that of me."

From the moment this all began, Carter's friends hadn't said a word.

Not until I finished that sentence.