Chapter 2

“Ethan and Maya haven’t had it easy either.”

“They’ve been together for five years, and now they can finally get married.”

“Today is their wedding. Please don’t go there and ruin it.”

They had not had it easy.

As if I had.

I had been with Ethan for seven years.

During that time, I helped him take care of Lily and treated his parents as though they were my own family.

Ethan once told me his supervisor was deliberately holding him back and had rejected several of his promotion applications.

I swallowed my pride and went to my father for help.

In the end, my father used his business connections to arrange a better position for Ethan.

After Chloe was assigned to a remote northern district, she constantly complained about the difficult conditions and the years she was losing there.

To help her secure a transfer, I even reached out to my mother, whom I had barely spoken to in years.

My mother used her professional connections to help Chloe through the most difficult part of the process.

And this was how they repaid me.

Chloe continued trying to persuade me.

“They’re married now.”

“Natalie, let it go.”

“If this becomes public, everyone will see you as a homewrecker chasing a married man.”

“You’ll only humiliate yourself.”

I said nothing.

I ended the call.

After closing the wedding broadcast, I noticed something strange.

The family group Lily had opened was not the one I had joined.

This was the Carter family’s real private chat.

The group I belonged to had only been created to manage what I saw.

Because Lily could not read and relied on voice messages, they had not bothered to create another group that excluded her.

They had discussed every part of their plan openly.

At seven the previous evening, Ethan’s mother had left a voice message.

“I’ll make Lily take a cold bath tonight.”

“She already feels unwell. If her condition gets worse and she develops a fever, Natalie will come to the hospital.”

“The wedding can go ahead as planned.”

“All we have to do is replace Natalie with Maya.”

My fingers slowly tightened around the tablet.

I continued scrolling through the messages.

The previous Saturday, Ethan had arranged to meet Maya.

To keep me from discovering their date, they had instructed Lily to contact me and ask me to take her to the amusement park.

I spent the entire day with her.

That evening, Ethan told me he had been working late at the office.

Every night before bed, Ethan and Maya called each other.

To make sure I would not contact Ethan during those calls, they had Lily keep me occupied with bedtime stories.

Every time Lily completed one of their tasks, they rewarded her with a fruit candy.

She hid the candies under her pillow.

By then, she had filled two entire glass jars.

Whenever I visited the Carter house, Lily secretly took out a few candies and slipped them into my bag.

I used to believe it was her way of showing affection.

Now I understood that every candy represented another time her family had deceived me.

Perhaps Lily noticed the change in my expression.

She suddenly tapped her forehead as though she had remembered something and snatched the tablet from my hands.

“I forgot.”

“My brother said I’m not supposed to let you see this.”

She reached into her pocket, took out a fruit candy, and placed it in my palm.

“Mom gave me this as a reward.”

“I’m giving it to you.”

Lily watched me nervously.

“Natalie, please don’t tell my brother, okay?”

I looked at her anxious face and gently touched her hair.

“Do you want to go see Mom and Dad?”

Her eyes lit up.

“Yes.”

“I want to see the bride too.”

A second later, she lowered her head again.

Her finger traced circles across the tablet screen.

“But Mom said I can’t go anywhere today.”

“I have to stay in the hospital with you.”

“If I’m good, she’ll take me to the amusement park tomorrow.”

My expression did not change, but my voice turned cold.

“I can take you to the amusement park.”

“And if you want to see the bride, I can take you to her too.”

I also wanted to see the wedding for myself.

I wanted to know what they had done to the ceremony I had planned with my own hands.

Less than twenty-four hours had passed since my final inspection of the venue.

The welcome sign outside the ballroom had already been replaced.

My name was gone.

Maya’s stood in its place.

An engagement portrait of Ethan and me had originally been displayed at the entrance.

Now it had been replaced with a photograph of Ethan and Maya.

This wedding had never been a last-minute decision.

They had prepared everything in advance.

I was the only person who had known nothing.

I took Lily’s hand and walked toward the ballroom.

A staff member checking the guest list stopped us.

“I’m sorry, but your names aren’t on the list.”

“Are you guests of the groom or the bride?”

Lily immediately pointed at Ethan’s photograph.

“My brother.”

“He’s my brother.”

The staff member looked confused.

I reached into my bag and removed the original wedding invitation bearing Ethan’s name and mine, along with our completed marriage application.

“Will these explain why I’m here?”

She appeared to assume they were ordinary wedding documents.

But as soon as she opened the folder, an engagement portrait slipped out.

“I almost forgot.”

“My picture with my fiancé was still inside.”

A passing guest kindly picked it up.

The moment she saw the man in the photograph, her eyes widened.

She looked at the portrait and then at the welcome photograph outside the ballroom.

“This man…”

She pointed at Ethan.

“Isn’t he today’s groom?”