The Bride Wasn’t Her

The moment those words left her mouth, the entire venue exploded into chaos.

"What?! She actually hired someone to take her place at her own wedding?!"

"My god, has Christine lost her mind? She's basically grinding the Shane family's reputation into the dirt!"

Now that the truth had been exposed in front of everyone, all color drained from Mr. and Mrs. Moore's faces.

My mother finally snapped. Pointing at Mrs. Kenton, she unleashed a furious tirade.

"The Moore family people are really something! Treating my son's marriage like some kind of joke. You've gone too far!

"Did you really think the Shane family had no backbone?!"

My father's eyes were red with anger as he strode onto the stage and pulled me protectively behind him.

"This wedding is off," he said coldly to the Moore family. "From this day forward, the Shane family will have nothing more to do with yours."

Seeing the alliance about to collapse, Mr. Moore panicked.

"Tony, Christine was just being immature and reckless. I'll call her right now and make her come back to apologize to you."

I let out a cold laugh.

"Sure. I'll give her one more chance. If you can get through to her right now, I'll pretend none of this ever happened."

Haylee tightened her grip on my hand. Leaning close to her ear, I whispered softly, "Don't worry. Christine isn't coming back."

Like a drowning man clutching at his last lifeline, Mr. Moore frantically pulled out his phone and began calling Christine.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Every single call ended with the same cold automated voice:

"Sorry, the number you dialed is currently powered off."

I sighed dramatically.

"Looks like Ms. Moore has no intention of returning."

I turned toward the guards.

"Security. Remove the unrelated parties."

Father and Mrs. Moore were dragged out by security while reporters swarmed around them, cameras flashing wildly in their faces.

My father grabbed my hand but asked no questions.

"Tony, no matter what decision you make, your mother and I will support you."

"We already kicked that fake young master out of the family. We'll never let him work with outsiders to bully you again."

My mother gave my shoulder a firm pat, and warmth spread quietly through my chest.

Comments drifted across the livestream:

[In the original story, Tony was completely blinded by love and insisted on marrying Christine. He fell out with his family because of her, and in the end the Shane family went bankrupt because of Christine and the fake young master. His parents became depressed and jumped off a building together. Seeing this scene now honestly makes me want to cry.]

I lowered my head to hide the emotions in my eyes.

Thankfully, it was not too late this time. I had not become some pathetic love-struck fool.

Since they chose to be ruthless, they could not blame me for returning the favor.

As soon as the wedding ceremony ended, I immediately called my special assistant.

"Terminate every partnership with the Moore family.

"And pull back every cent we invested. Leave them nothing."

The news that I had switched brides at the wedding and married Haylee instead did not spread immediately.

The Moore family suppressed the story to stabilize their stock price.

The moment the ceremony ended, Haylee and I rushed to register our marriage officially. Right after we got the certificate, she told me she needed to leave the country for a few days.

Meanwhile, completely unaware of everything happening, Christine spent two carefree days fooling around with Michael at a villa in the suburbs before finally sensing that something was wrong.

Normally, by now, I would already have caused a huge scene and pressured her to come back.

However, this time, there had been no reaction at all.

Christine absentmindedly scrolled through her phone, so distracted she didn't even hear Michael calling her name.

"No. Tony is definitely just playing hard to get."

She let out a cold laugh and tossed her phone aside.

Michael tested the waters carefully.

"Christine... is Tony really angry this time? Maybe you should go back and comfort him. It's not worth offending the Shane family because of me..."

"Comfort him? Is he worthy of that?"

Christine pinched Michael's chin, her face full of arrogance.

"He's hopelessly in love with me. We've been together for twenty years. He can't live without me.

"I bet within three days, he'll come crawling back with money in hand, begging me to marry him. Honestly, I've spoiled him too much."

At that moment, more livestream comments floated across the screen:

[I'm dying laughing. Has the original female lead lost her brain stem or something? She still doesn't know the Shane family already pulled their investment. The Moore family is about to collapse.]

[Oh my god, girl, your company is on the brink of collapse and you're still sitting here feeling smug.]