Chapter 3

She expected Lucas to be overjoyed and drop everything to find her immediately. But unfortunately, Lucas just stared at the address for a long time and ultimately didn't go.

Megan was furious. Around this time, she learned from my parents that on the very day she ran away, Lucas and I had gotten engaged.

She thought Lucas loved her so much-he'd endured her ninety-nine tests, so his failure to come find her must be because the Anderson family elders had interfered.

She'd always been spoiled and couldn't handle the slightest grievance, so she immediately called the Anderson family to confront them.

Her words were extremely vicious. "You feudal remnants with your arranged marriages-because your own marriages are unhappy, you want to torment me! I'm telling you, Lucas will only marry me!"

"If you have the guts, try making him marry Jenna Morgan. He'd rather die than agree!"

Emma happened to answer the call. Hearing Megan's words, she went straight into the emergency room.

Emma was nearly ninety with poor health. This attack of rage sent her into critical condition. She gripped Lucas's hand, saying her only wish was to see Lucas married.

After all, Lucas was born to her beloved youngest son and had been her precious darling since childhood.

"Lucas, just marry Jenna. I must see you marry Jenna before I die."

That night, Lucas smoked half a pack of cigarettes and made many unanswered calls.

The next morning, he came to me again.

"Jenna, let's get married."

Lucas's offer was generous-not only Anderson Corp shares but also hundreds of millions in bride price.

He said, "We've been getting along well lately. I believe you have feelings for me too. Perhaps we can try being like a normal married couple."

"Megan and I did have something in the past, but I'll let it go. I'll work hard to be a good husband. Will you marry me?"

Lucas looked somewhat anxious.

What reason did I have to refuse? This should have been mine all along.

The Anderson family began preparing for the wedding.

Megan still didn't know what was happening back home.

She was still in Paris waiting for her prince to break through convention, defy all the elders, and appear before her bathed in light.

She didn't know her white knight was already trying on wedding dresses with me, and still sent me provocative messages.

"Jenna, I've already given everything back to you. Did you get Lucas and our parents' love?"

"Don't think that just because you're their biological daughter, you'll have everything. I'm going to show you that you'll never compare to me, even when I keep handing you opportunities on a silver platter."

I didn't respond. I just calmly looked at the smiling bride in the mirror and took a beautiful photo.

Megan froze for a long moment, then her phone erupted with countless abusive messages.

I didn't reply to a single one. I calmly blocked and deleted her.

Megan's specialty was the art of strategic retreat.

On her first day back home, she said she wanted to return the Morgan family heiress identity to me and cut her wrist with a small knife in front of everyone. My parents panicked and spent an entire week caring for her, not speaking a word to me.

The servants, seeing my parents didn't care about me, fed me cold leftovers for a week.

When she returned from the hospital, she pretended to want to give me her room and all the expensive things my parents had bought her over the years. My parents were heartbroken and labeled me as competitive and aggressive.

"Jenna, you are our biological daughter, but what has Megan done wrong? She's already so understanding. Can't you stop targeting her?"

Between us, she was always the winner, always making concessions. Every time she retreated, the distance between me and my parents grew wider.

She was using this method to assert her dominance over me, to show me that my parents would only ever love her, and that her fiancé was the same.

But this time, she wouldn't win.

After all, not everyone would indulge her infinitely like the parents who raised her for over twenty years.

She'd used me to test Lucas hundreds of times. Even when we wore identical dresses, even when Lucas was drugged and locked in a room with me, he firmly chose her side.

Then she'd squeal with joy and throw herself into Lucas's arms, making him pick her up and spin her around.

Every time that happened, I'd stand awkwardly to the side, completely reduced to a prop highlighting her charm.

Countless instances of indulgence made Megan forget that the most fragile thing in this world is the human heart.

I calmly prepared for the wedding with Lucas.

Emma's condition forced us to rush the wedding, but none of the grandeur was spared.

The Anderson family hosted a lavish banquet that day. Every relative, friend, and business partner of note was there.

The scene I had been waiting for finally unfolded.

Even Emma, not yet fully recovered, had left the hospital to preside over our ceremony, sitting warmly in the front row.

Below, a sea of elite guests watched the couple on stage. A round of enthusiastic applause faded.

The officiant raised the microphone. "Mr. Anderson, do you take Miss Morgan to be your wife?"

"I-"

Just as Lucas took the mic, the doors burst open.

There stood Megan, in a full wedding gown, making her grand, disastrous entrance.

"Lucas Anderson, don't you dare! I don't consent!"