At the engagement banquet, my mother placed my favorite sweet and sour ribs in front of my younger sister. Smiling at her with meaning, she said, “You girl, since childhood, you’ve always snatched everything from your sister. But when it comes to marriage, how come you’re willing to fall behind?”
Ophelia Hansen picked up the last rib and, with deliberate provocation, dropped it into my fiancé’s bowl. “Isn’t it true we haven’t married yet? Who’s first and who’s second is still uncertain.”
On the side, several uncles and aunts whispered to my father, saying Kendrick Beckham was originally introduced for Ophelia, that I was shameless, scheming to steal my sister’s boyfriend.
I was about to flare up when the man beside me suddenly pressed my hand down.
——
And in the next instant, the entire table flipped over, soup and dishes splashing everywhere.
The private room froze in silence, every eye turning toward Kendrick, too stunned to utter a word.
Only Ophelia slammed down her chopsticks, glaring in fury. “Kendrick, what do you mean by this?”
Kendrick stayed calm, shielding me behind him.
“Nothing much. I’m just standing up for the one I love. I’ve seen clearly how Cassidy has been treated in this family. I never cared about people like you, but today I came here for her. If you dare bully my fiancée, don’t blame me for being rude.”
The Beckham family was large and powerful, and Kendrick himself was wealthy. They dared to call me shameless, yet none of them had the courage to offend him or the power behind him.
My mother quickly calmed Ophelia, then forced a smile and rushed over.
“We didn’t mean it like that. We’re family, just eating together and joking around. Don’t take it seriously…”
But just as the air began to ease, Ophelia suddenly stood and strode straight toward Kendrick.
She sneered and splashed red wine across Kendrick’s face. With a sharp tug, she tore open his shirt, her red nails tracing the blurred tattoo as her eyes gleamed with scorn.
“Fine words. But being with Cassidy, isn’t it just revenge on me for rejecting you back then? Ten years ago, I didn’t want you. Ten years later, I still don’t! You think finding someone like this can scare me? Dream on!”
With that, Ophelia slung her bag over her shoulder and walked out without a glance back.
When the echo of her heels faded, only Kendrick’s ragged breathing filled the silence. Everyone else sat frozen, too afraid to move.
I didn’t wait any longer. I pulled Kendrick away.
When we reached the parking lot, Kendrick suddenly lifted his head. In the dim light, his eyes were dark and unreadable.
“Cassidy, do you also think I’m with you just to spite Ophelia?”
“How could I?” I answered without hesitation.
Ten years, countless days and nights together, countless moments of sharing hardships. How could I doubt Kendrick’s sincerity because of a few words from Ophelia that provoked me?
Yet when I saw him absentmindedly stroking his wound, my heart still trembled.
Ten years had taught me to grow used to the silent, restrained Kendrick. But I had forgotten, at eighteen, he too had once burned with reckless passion.
Uncle had been right. Kendrick was first introduced to Ophelia by the family. The explanation back then was careful, almost gentle: Kendrick had been withdrawn since childhood, just returned from overseas, and might struggle to adapt, so they wanted to find him a friend to keep him company.
No one knew his true identity. But Ophelia, captivated by his striking face, still chose to step closer.
Back then, she was the proud and dazzling eldest daughter of the Hansen family, the radiant star who outshone everyone.
She was like a blazing flame, wrapping herself around Kendrick, melting that cold, unyielding block of ice.
Their love was wild and inseparable. At the height of it, Kendrick, ignoring his family’s objections, carved her name into his chest with ink that would never fade. They had promised, right after graduation, that they would marry.
Kendrick, brimming with hope, had carefully planned a proposal.
Yet when he sought out Ophelia, he found her laughing brightly, her hand tightly clasped in another man’s.
Refusing to accept it, Kendrick rushed forward, only to be met with a stinging slap across his face from Ophelia.
Her finger jabbed toward him as she sneered.
“Kendrick, it was only a game. You didn’t think I was serious, did you? Look at yourself, other than your face, what else do you have? Check your pockets. Can you even provide for me after marriage? If not, then disappear from my sight!”
With those words, the fragile pride of youth crumbled into dust. And Kendrick’s heart, once sincere, was torn open and scarred.
Kendrick fell gravely ill because of it, murmuring her name even in his dreams.
No one in the Hansen family paid it any mind.
It wasn’t until the Beckham family stormed in with fury to demand answers that everyone realized, this delicate, handsome boy was not only striking in appearance, but carried a formidable background.
He was the only son of the Beckham family. The future heir of the Beckham Group.
The family had feared he would struggle after returning to the US, so they concealed his identity, allowing him to gain experience on his own.
Who could have imagined that the very first test of love would erupt into such chaos?
My parents grew terrified.
Afraid Ophelia would be dragged into the matter, they sent her abroad overnight, while pushing me forward in her place.
I can still recall that day; it was my birthday.
For the very first time, Mom baked me a cake. She looked at me with a smile and said, “Cassidy, you are the elder sister. You must protect your younger sister. Ophelia is still young. Her whole future must not be destroyed in Kendrick’s hands.”
Back then, I had no power, no courage to resist my family’s will.
So, on my birthday, I was tied with a ribbon like a present and delivered to the Beckham family, to Kendrick’s side.
Kendrick despised me. He despised the Hansen family. He despised everything connected to Ophelia.
He called me cheap, hurled vases at me, shouted for me to get out, mocked me as stupid, and said my eyes carried the same hatred as Ophelia’s.
But no matter how cruel he was, I clenched my teeth and stayed by his side.
Then one day, Kendrick saw the engagement photo of Ophelia with another man. He stared at it in silence for a long time, then drowned himself in glass after glass of liquor.
At the height of his drunkenness, he dragged me out and, under the haze of alcohol, took to the streets in a reckless race. As expected, it ended in a car crash.
The second before the car exploded, I dragged Kendrick out, but my own back was torn open, blasted into a bloody mess.
Kendrick trembled as he cradled my blood-soaked body in his arms. That day, he wept for a long time before finally whispering in a hoarse voice, “Cassidy, will you be with me?”
Of course, I agreed, not only because of the faint affection I held in my heart, but also because he was the heir of the Beckham family.
He needed someone to help him forget the past and walk out of heartbreak, and I needed someone to lead me out of the abyss of the Hansen family.
So our relationship began.
After brushing so close to death, Kendrick grew steadier.
Our love was not as wild as his with Ophelia, but calm, steady, and quietly joyful.
He wished to start a business, and I stood beside him. He dreamed of founding a company, and I agreed without hesitation.
As a boyfriend, Kendrick was impeccable; as a business partner, flawless.
Ten years had passed. We had built our own company and had enough wealth to live comfortably for the rest of our lives.
One ordinary afternoon, Kendrick proposed as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Cassidy, let’s get married.”
I agreed.
And thus came today’s farce.
The sound of a lighter broke through my thoughts. Kendrick, who had long since quit smoking, had somehow produced one.
A small flame flickered at his fingertips. In the dim glow, I could not see his expression clearly, only the smoke curling into rings as he exhaled.
Just as I was about to speak, he cupped the back of my head and kissed me deeply. Only when my breath was nearly gone did he finally let me go.
He pressed his forehead against the tip of my nose.
Gently yet firmly, he whispered, “Cassidy, being able to be with you in this life is my greatest blessing. From now on, let’s live well together and ignore that pack of bastards in the Hansen family.”
My heart eased in an instant. I nodded, but before I could reply, the shrill ring of my phone cut through the moment.
Caller ID: Ophelia.
Kendrick frowned, tapped his finger, and blocked the number. The car started, carrying us back to the villa where we lived.
That night, Kendrick was unusually clingy. Even in his sleep, he clutched my hand tightly, unwilling to let go for even a breath.
At dawn, the pillow beside me lay empty. In the quiet room, only the harsh sound of knocking echoed endlessly.
Sleepily, I went to open the door, only to see my mother standing there, her face dark with displeasure.
The moment her eyes landed on me, she snatched my platinum handbag and struck it against my head.
“You little slut! What did you say to Ophelia that made her cry in her room all night? You’ve already stolen Kendrick, isn’t that enough? Why must you drive your sister to death? How can your heart be so cruel! If you don’t apologize to Ophelia today, then from this moment on, I will no longer recognize you as my daughter!”
I had heard words like these far too many times since childhood.
The year I was born, my parents were busy building their empire, leaving me in the countryside. By the time their careers had flourished, Ophelia was already by their side.
To them, she was their daughter.
And I was nothing more than a shadow of an unbearable past they never wished to mention.
In that family, if Ophelia shed tears, it was always my fault.
When Ophelia was tired, it was my fault. Whenever anyone felt dissatisfied, everything, absolutely everything, was blamed on me.
Years ago, I naively believed that if I worked hard enough, I could earn my parents’ love.
So I fought desperately to be first in every exam, to build businesses, to make investments.
Yet all my efforts together could never compare to my younger sister softly calling once, “Mom, Dad.”
Fortunately, I grew up. I found both the strength and the courage to resist.
When my mother once again raised that platinum handbag against my head, I slapped her, forcing her into silence.
“If you don’t leave within five minutes, I’ll see you in court.”
The sting left her frozen, and when she finally came to her senses, she only grew more hysterical.
She yanked my hair and roared, “You’re driving me out? You’re driving me out! I carried you for ten months, gave birth to you, raised you with such pain, and this is how you repay me! You ungrateful little slut. Rather than letting you climb on my head and run wild, I might as well beat you to death right now!”
In her fury, Mom even grabbed the house vase and ornaments and hurled them at me.
Just as a crystal sculpture hurtled toward my face, a tall figure stepped in and shielded me.
“Mrs. Hansen, I already said, Cassidy has long had nothing to do with the family. If you bully my fiancée again, I won’t hesitate to use special means to protect her!”
Looking at Kendrick’s broad back, my nose prickled with tears. All my life, what I had longed for most was simple: when I was beaten and helpless, someone to stand in front of me.
But now, as I looked at Kendrick’s tall figure, my heart filled only with bitterness, because before he came, I had already caught that faint trace of perfume clinging to him, one that belonged only to Ophelia.
Even so, it was Kendrick who had driven this trouble away for me. After my mother left, he crouched down to tend my wounds. When his eyes fell on the bruises and blood, his brows tightened.
“Cassidy, how can you be so foolish? When others bully you, don’t you know how to fight back?”
“Got used to it,” I answered calmly, used to being bullied, mocked, and patching myself together again and again with clumsy lies.
Kendrick’s hand froze, then slowly he pulled me into his arms.
“Don’t be afraid. From now on, I’ll protect you. I won’t let you suffer the slightest grievance again.”
I curved my lips in a distant smile, offering no reply. The answer had long taken root in my heart.
After that fleeting episode, the wedding still pressed forward according to plan.
Until the eve of it, when explicit photos exploded across the internet.
Kendrick and my younger sister Ophelia were inside my car, their shameless indulgence caught on surveillance.
The timestamp read July 19th, 10:35 a.m., only ten minutes before Kendrick had wrapped me in his arms, whispering that he would shield me for a lifetime, never letting me endure a single grievance.
In the blink of an eye, Kendrick and Ophelia were dragged beneath the weight of public scorn.
Reporters blocked the company, crowded around the villa, relentless in their siege.
I scrolled through the endless reports with nothing but weariness in my chest.
It was as though, in the past ten years, I had never known Kendrick at all.
What I clung to had been nothing but a hollow shell.
But at that moment, I had no mind to concern myself with any of it.
All I thought about was how to safeguard my own interests.
The night before I was ready to act, a sudden PR statement, led by Kendrick, was released.
They declared that Ophelia had been Kendrick’s first love from his youth.
The two had been together for over ten years, hidden only for business reasons.
And that I was nothing more than his business partner.
Facing the cameras, Kendrick spoke calmly, “Back then, when Ophelia went abroad to study, we were forced to separate for a time. She cared deeply for her sister and asked me to look after her once she left. It was out of trust and love for Ophelia that I chose Cassidy as my business partner. I hope everyone won’t misunderstand our relationship, nor do anything that would hurt Ophelia.”
He spoke with such sincerity, yet pushed me straight into the heart of the storm.
Overnight, Ophelia’s reputation was restored, and in turn, all the accusations and condemnations crashed down on me.
With just a few vague, incendiary essays twisting the truth, Ophelia made almost everyone believe I was a promiscuous, greedy woman who, while my younger sister studied abroad, seduced her brother-in-law.
My phone nearly exploded with calls. My doorstep was splattered with red paint and littered with dead rats.
In an instant, I was dragged from an envied social elite businesswoman to a shameless homewrecker spat on by all.
Even my parents stepped forward with false testimony; one insisted I had been vicious since childhood, always bullying my sister; the other declared the family had no such shameless daughter and wished to sever ties.
After bearing endless ridicule and curses, I ordered a cup of milk tea and stood before the wide floor-to-ceiling window, watching the unceasing flood of insults surge toward me.
As I was lost in thought, Kendrick knocked on my office door.
His tone was calm, his expression gentle, but in his eyes there lived that same superiority, that same condescension that belonged to Ophelia.
“I didn’t want to do this either, but I couldn’t just stand by and watch them drive Ophelia to death. You’re her sister; you should know her temperament best. A girl spoiled since childhood, who had never suffered the slightest grievance, simply could not bear such online abuse. This time, just consider it something I owed you. When things settle down, I’ll find a way to make it up to you.”
Those same words again. Since childhood, I had heard them from my parents countless times. And now, at last, they had come from Kendrick’s mouth.
I gave a cold laugh and calmly poured the unfinished milk tea in my hand over Kendrick’s face.
“No need. We didn’t have a future.”
I called my lawyer and arranged to meet at my home to discuss countermeasures. But when I opened the door, Ophelia swaggered inside. She pressed her cigarette butt onto my wedding photo, smirking with disdain.
“What, no smile now? Weren’t you grinning so smugly in the wedding photo? Why couldn’t you smile now?”
“Cassidy, you really were stupid, actually thinking that stealing Kendrick would let you step on my head. Had you forgotten? Since we were children, there had never been anything I wanted that I couldn’t get!”
I frowned and interrupted, “Did you really like Kendrick?”
Ophelia shrugged, indifferent. “Like it or not, it didn’t matter. As long as it was something you cared about, I couldn’t help but want to take it and destroy it.”
“I just liked seeing you angry and sad, yet helpless!”
I nodded and opened the door, letting Kendrick, who had been following behind me, walk in.
When she saw Kendrick, Ophelia faltered for a moment. But soon after, she composed herself, her lips curling with indifference.
“You think this will scare me? You really underestimated me. Kendrick is nothing more than a dog that comes when I call. No matter what he says with his mouth, as long as I beckon, he’ll still crawl back!”
Ophelia snorted proudly.
But when I took out the second thing, she froze completely.
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