Denise just blinked those wide eyes of hers, her voice dripping with hurt:
"I never said that! I said you had a little cold. You must have misheard me. It's all just a misunderstanding."
"Besides, I don't even know you. Why would I want to ruin your happiness? If anything, I hope Ezra finds all the happiness in the world!"
I tried to pull Mrs. Abbott and the other older relatives over to back me up.
But Ezra cut me off, his tone measured and dismissive:
"Shelagh, enough. It was a joke. Denise is our unit's medic. If you keep making a scene, you're embarrassing all of us."
My eyes burned as I looked at his commanding officer's stony face and Ezra's exasperated expression.
In the end, for the sake of his reputation and his career,
I swallowed every last drop of humiliation.
But not this time. Never again.
I shoved Mrs. Abbott aside,
wound my arm back, and slapped Denise across the face with everything I had.
She stumbled and fell to the ground, staring up at me in open-mouthed shock.
Her shriek turned every head in the room.
Just like in my previous life, Ezra came striding over with his commanding officer close behind.
Denise's eyes reddened instantly. She scrambled to her feet and lunged toward Ezra's arms.
But I moved first. I ripped the veil from my head and hurled it to the ground.
"Ezra Mason, if your wedding gift to me is letting your medic spread lies that I'm diseased, then this wedding is off!"
Ezra stared at me, stunned:
"Shelagh, what are you talking about? What lies?"
He turned to Denise with a furrowed brow, though his voice stayed gentle:
"What happened? Walk us through it. How did this misunderstanding start?"
"If you did something wrong, just apologize properly. And if Shelagh's the one who made a mistake, I'll have her apologize to you. Don't worry."
Denise's dewy eyes shimmered, and she parted her lips to speak.
I cut her off with a cold laugh and turned directly to the commanding officer:
"Sir, I don't know how your medical staff are trained, but apparently they're free to mock people at will and tell them they're sick."
"If this was sanctioned by you or by Ezra, then please cancel our marriage application. I refuse to marry a man who doesn't respect me."
I unpinned the corsage from my chest, the one that marked me as the bride, dropped it on the floor, and turned to leave.
"Shelagh!"
Ezra closed the distance in two strides and grabbed my arm. His eyes were tight with panic:
"I had no idea she'd joke around with you like that. She's just... she's a little too friendly, doesn't know where the line is. I'll apologize on her behalf!"
"But you can't just throw around words like 'calling off the wedding.' Do you understand what that means? Both units sent their leadership here today to celebrate with us. If you throw a fit right now, it'll..."
A bitter laugh echoed inside my chest.
Ezra was the youngest captain at the outpost. If everything went smoothly, he was on track for a promotion this year.
A happy marriage and a devoted spouse were points in his favor.
No matter how much he loved Denise, he would never let her destroy his image in front of his superiors.
In my last life, I loved him. I couldn't bear to see him caught in the middle, so I backed down.
But in this life, all that love had curdled into hate.
And hate gave me the freedom to squeeze every pressure point he had, to collect on the debt from my previous life.
I turned back to him, my voice ice:
"Fine. I'll go through with the wedding. But I need to see some sincerity first."
My gaze locked onto Denise, and I let a tremor of wounded pride creep into my tone:
"A wedding is supposed to be a joyous occasion. Instead, she told everyone I was sick on the happiest day of my life. That's not a joke. That's a curse. Even an enemy wouldn't stoop that low."
