Chapter 5

I didn't take the flowers. Instead, I turned to look at Brandon on the stage.

The officiant was asking, "Brandon, do you take Amber to be your wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part, and do you pledge your faithfulness to her?"

"I don't!" Brandon suddenly gritted his teeth, interrupting the officiant. "I don't love Amber at all! I've always deeply loved my ex-wife…!"

Amber completely erupted. "Brandon, go to hell! Your ex-wife was killed by you…!"

Amber's words instantly sent a wave of shock through the entire venue.

Except for me, almost everyone was utterly stunned.

Amber pointed at Brandon, swearing loudly. "You bastard! You murdered your own wife with your bare hands, and now you come back pretending to be heartbroken?! Who are you trying to fool?!"

"Are you insane?!" Brandon's face flushed with rage. He slapped Amber, knocking her to the ground.

Then he lunged onto Amber, pinning her down, hands around her throat. "You crazy bitch, I'm going to kill you!"

Everyone quickly rushed forward in a frantic effort to pull the two apart.

Amber coughed violently, pointing furiously at Brandon. "Brandon, you're finished! You're absolutely finished!"

Brandon glared at Amber with deadly intensity. "You stupid woman! If I'm finished, do you think you'll be any better off? Has your brain completely rotted away?!"

Amber finally seemed to realize the gravity of her words, and suddenly she looked panicked.

"Call the police, quickly, call the police!" Some guests couldn't take it anymore, shouting, "Someone's going to get killed at this rate!"

A few guests had already pulled out their phones.

"Don't call the police! Please, don't call the police!"

Brandon and Amber frantically yelled, trying to stop everyone from calling the police.

The crowd paused, confused.

Brandon clasped his hands apologetically, forcing a dry laugh. "I'm so sorry, everyone, so sorry. We were just fooling around."

He then kicked Amber.

Amber managed a strained smile. "Yes, yes, we were just playing around. Everyone, please don't call the police."

Many guests were surprised, especially their close friends and family, who looked displeased. "Brandon, what exactly are you two doing?!"

Brandon laughed awkwardly. "Misunderstanding, pure misunderstanding! You all know we're both rather playful. We just wanted to have a unique wedding today, but it completely backfired. So, we won't be having the wedding after all…"

Amber immediately protested angrily. "You think you can just call it off like that?!"

Brandon grabbed her throat, gritting his teeth. "Shut up, you! Do you really want to drag us both down with you?!"

Amber choked out a few sounds. "You might as well strangle me to death! You won't get a good ending either…"

Brandon released her, pointing at Amber with exasperation. "Stupid woman, truly a stupid woman…"

At this point, a guest stepped forward and asked, "Amber, you just said Brandon killed Julia. What exactly happened?"

Several other guests quickly chimed in. "Yes, what really happened to Ms. Julia?"

They were all my former business partners, and good friends too.

"I… I…" Under their questioning, Amber became even more panicked, looking around helplessly, unable to speak.

"Hah! What are you all thinking? She's just talking nonsense," Brandon quickly interjected, trying to smooth things over. "Julia's death was a complete accident. The official investigation concluded it was an accident long ago. What's there to doubt?"

He shoved Amber hard. "Go on, explain yourself!"

Amber understood, nodding and forcing a dry laugh. "Yes, yes, I was just saying all that in anger. Please don't take it seriously."

"What goes around comes around. You two better watch yourselves." The few guests didn't say anything more.