Chapter 3 - The Panicked Bride
Sophia hyperventilated, her heavy white lace wedding gown rustling loudly as she frantically stepped forward, forcing a desperate, highly artificial smile onto her pale face.
"Ethan, darling!" Sophia gasped loudly, trying to ensure the nearby groomsmen and security heard her. "What is this child talking about? She's just playing a silly game! She probably found some breath mints in the kitchen! You know how the staff's kids like to tell stories!"
Ethan didn't break eye contact with her. He didn't scream. The cinematic realism of his total restraint was infinitely more terrifying than a shout.
"Are they breath mints, Sophia?" Ethan asked coldly, slowly opening his fist to reveal the crushed white powder against his palm. "Or is it the high-dose muscle relaxant your brother sells at his veterinary clinic? The specific kind that, if taken daily, perfectly mimics the symptoms of severe degenerative nerve failure?"
Sophia stumbled backward, practically tripping over the long train of her expensive gown.
"I... I don't know what you're talking about!" Sophia shrieked, her elegant high-society mask completely shattering into a feral, cornered panic. "This is insane! We are getting married in five minutes! You are having a paranoid episode because of your illness!"
"I'm not ill," Ethan stated smoothly, feeling a sudden, massive surge of pure adrenaline completely override his poisoned, aching system. "I am being murdered."
Maya stood bravely by Ethan’s wheelchair, holding the plastic bag of pills tightly, refusing to be intimidated by the screaming woman in white.
"She also threw away the papers from your doctor," Maya added innocently, looking up at Ethan with her large, serious eyes. "The ones that said you were getting better."
The cinematic realization hit Ethan like a freight train. His elite team of doctors hadn't been baffled at all. They had been sending him positive, hopeful progress reports, and Sophia had been actively intercepting his mail, manipulating his doctors, and swapping his medication to keep him entirely trapped in the wheelchair.
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"Why?" Ethan whispered lethally, leaning forward. "The prenuptial agreement guaranteed you ten million dollars. Why was that not enough?"
👉 What massive, greedy secret is Sophia hiding about the wedding day legalities?
