3: 3
The wedding was lavish. Every guest was someone with a name and a face worth knowing.
More than twenty media outlets had been invited to livestream it.
It wasn't hard to imagine what they'd call me the moment I walked out in a dress this cheap and this provocative.
The old me, the one who still wanted to marry Barnaby, would have refused.
I'd have picked up the hem and gone straight to Carina to settle the score.
And of course, Carina would have gotten to him first, a few soft words and some tears, and Barnaby would have handed me something even more humiliating.
There was no point.
I wasn't going to fight it anymore.
I changed into the gold dress. The back hem barely covered my backside, and every step threatened to give the crowd a show.
The two thin straps looked ready to snap under the slightest strain.
Face blank, I walked barefoot onto the wedding's main stage.
Carina stood there in her gown and bridal makeup, her face veiled in gauze, only her upturned red lips showing.
When she saw me, that smile stretched wider.
She tugged Barnaby off the stage. "Joy's coming out. Look, everyone—"
"Ah!"
Carina put on a look of pure shock.
Because up on the stage, besides me, there were now five muscled men, bare-chested but for leather straps, wearing only short shorts.
They circled me.
After a few suggestive moves, one after another they reached out and grabbed at my dress.
Barnaby couldn't stand it. He surged forward to stop it. "Joy! That's enough!"
Carina clutched his waist and dissolved into tears. "Barnaby, why would Joy do this? She won't even let me have one fake wedding? She—"
Carina gasped like she couldn't breathe.
Barnaby quickly pulled her in and rubbed her back, his eyes cutting toward me like knives. "Joy, get down here right now and I'll pretend none of this happened. Otherwise—"
"The fake wedding becomes a real one. Today, I marry Carina!"
I didn't answer.
Because I had no attention to spare.
Those five muscled men were Carina's arrangement, meant to make me a public spectacle, meant to leave me with no face to show anyone ever again.
A thin blade sat hidden in my palm, and I dragged it across them, one by one.
If they wanted to touch me, they'd bleed for it.
Men are made of flesh too. They hurt. They fear.
And once I pushed it to the edge, wild and past caring whether I lived, all five men shrank back, and soon enough they simply ran off the stage.
I hadn't lost face. I'd turned every strike and block into a dance with real power in it.
The guests below hadn't caught the true fight, and they broke into applause.
At the sound of it, Carina's expression turned hideous.
She glared at me, hatred boiling over.
Barnaby, though, was completely drawn to me. Without thinking he let go of Carina, stripped off his suit jacket, came up onstage, and draped it over my shoulders. "Joy, go back to the dressing room and redo the bridal makeup."
"When it's time to exchange rings, you're the one who comes up."
"You're the wife I actually mean to marry. Carina can play at it, but she doesn't get to take your place."
"Sure."
I smiled sweetly, as if I'd never held a single grudge against Barnaby.
He watched me leave the stage, reluctant to let go, and even took a few steps after me.
Carina panicked. She pressed a hand to her chest, ready to fake another attack, but Barnaby had run out of patience for her. "I'm not a doctor. If you really feel unwell, you should go to the hospital."
"Right, and give the gown back to Joy."
...
Shame and fury on her face, Carina stormed into my dressing room.
Before she could speak, I got there first. "Do you know why Barnaby likes me?"
"Because you're a slut!" Carina spat.
"He likes that I'm wild, hard to conquer. And you? He doesn't even have to crook a finger. One look and you're already crawling over."
"Carina, you'll never beat me. Never."
"Slap!"
