Just when I thought I had the upper hand again,
a breezy little voice cut in.
“Sera, why are you making such a fuss? Chloe was only joking.”
I looked up. It was my future mother-in-law, Maya Smith.
“Aunt Maya, I didn't mean to.”
As if she'd suffered some terrible wrong, Chloe threw herself into Maya's arms.
“Sera, it's a happy day. It was just a joke. Let it go.”
“After today, you and Dick will be family. There's no need to split hairs over something this small.”
I looked up at Maya's smiling face.
And suddenly I understood why Dick had turned out the way he had.
Like mother, like son.
“Aunt Maya, you're calling this a joke?”
She glanced at the video on the screen.
“A coincidence, that's all. Chloe just wanted to come out and welcome you.”
“And the videographer, too. Instead of filming the beautiful bride, why was he glued to Chloe the whole time?”
She took my hand “Sera, all these people are watching, all these people are waiting. The lucky hour is almost gone. It'd be bad luck otherwise.”
So she knew that missing the lucky hour brought bad luck.
Then having Chloe steal my wedding and ruin my fortune for the rest of my life, that was lucky?
I pulled my hand free.
“Whether it was a coincidence, she knows, I know, and so do you.”
The smile froze on Maya's face.
She hadn't expected me to deny her the courtesy.
“Adela, put up the rest of it.”
In an instant, the big screen filled with their text messages.
“Seraphina Winters, don't get too pleased with yourself. The only reason you get to marry my dear Dick is to bring me a blessing.”
Before today, she had needled me more than once.
Claiming this wedding wasn't Dick giving our years of love a happy ending.
It was a setup the Delgados had arranged so she could live a few more healthy years.
“You, you didn't, I didn't.”
When she saw those messages, Chloe panicked.
“Chloe, don't be afraid. I have a way. This is the master I found. On the wedding day……”
Even though I'd deliberately blurred the profile picture,
the Delgado relatives still recognized her.
The one who had walked Chloe through stealing the wedding, step by step, turned out to be my future mother-in-law, Maya Smith.
“Mom, you told Chloe to do this?”
Dick's demand only confirmed the suspicion against Maya.
“Dick, shut your mouth.”
Even with her face gone as sour as it could go,
Maya still smiled sweetly as she said to me,
“Sera, we're about to be one family. Are you really going to split hairs over something this small?”
“Small? You think this is small?”
“If it's so small, why did you go to such lengths to find a master?”
“The master said it himself. You paid the highest price and asked for the cruelest method. You wanted me dead.”
Maya dropped the act entirely.
She looked at Dick.
“Dick, Chloe's health keeps getting worse. The master said this would ease her suffering.”
“For Chloe's sake, I had no choice.”
What a fine "no choice," thinking she could wipe away what she'd done just like that.
“Chloe didn't succeed anyway, so no harm's done to you. This ends here.”
Maya had, in effect, issued her final order.
Dick's eyes darted away from mine.
“Seraphina, this is a misunderstanding. You didn't lose anything. Why don't we just let it go.”
Hearing him ask me to swallow it and give in yet again,
I gave a faint smile.
Dick, I hadn't misjudged you after all.
No matter how much I suffered, you'd always choose Chloe first.
“No. I won't let this go.”
Maya froze for a second.
“What do you want to do? Don't tell me you don't want this marriage anymore?”
She assumed that after five years at Dick's side,
I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't marry him.
A pity. She'd miscalculated.
Adela helped me out of the wedding gown.
“Marry? You think this wedding is still happening?”
“Call it off, Dick.”
“And this? Her and I aren't finished.”
