Chapter 5

Emma Hardy POV:

A collective gasp rippled through the crowd. All eyes, wide with disbelief, swiveled from me to Bryce, then to Galilea. The air crackled with shock.

Bryce stood frozen, his head snapped to one side, a dark red mark blooming on his cheek. His eyes, when they finally met mine, burned with a terrifying rage. He took a heavy, shuddering breath, a sound that threatened to tear him apart. It was a struggle, a battle he was losing, to suppress the fury that was building inside him.

He pushed me back again, more forcefully this time. "Emma, enough!" he snarled, his voice a low growl. "You're making a fool of yourself! This isn't the time or place for this. You're embarrassing Galilea."

"We can discuss this later, when you've calmed down," he added, trying to regain some semblance of control. "After the wedding."

The crowd buzzed, a low hum of whispers and speculation. "Did she just say 'wife'?"

"Who is this woman?"

"Is Galilea a homewrecker?"

The questions hung in the air, thick and heavy.

Galilea, seeing the shift in public opinion, dropped to her knees. Her eyes welled up, red-rimmed and brimming with tears. She clutched the hem of her elaborate wedding gown, her lower lip trembling. She looked like a fragile, heartbroken doll.

She fumbled with a remote control, her slender fingers shaking. She pressed a button, and a massive LED screen, previously hidden behind a floral arch, flickered to life. A video began to play.

"Please, Emma," Galilea sobbed, her voice cracking with feigned distress. "Why are you doing this? We used to be friends. Have you completely forgotten our shared past? Why destroy my happiness like this?"

I stared at her, dumbfounded. Friends? Old memories? The sheer audacity choked me. Galilea, always the one to steal, to envy, to undermine. She had coveted everything I had, ever since we were kids. And now this.

I was about to rip into her, to expose her for the conniving snake she was, when the images on the screen... froze me.

My blood ran cold.

It was me.

A video. Of me. Of my most private, most agonizing trauma. The assault. The nightmare I had fought so hard to bury, to forget. The one Bryce had sworn he would protect, the one he promised to keep secret.

The grainy footage showed blurry figures, multiple men, my terror-stricken face, my desperate struggles. The sounds, muffled but distinct, echoed through the speakers: my choked cries, the guttural grunts, the sickening thuds. Every detail, every raw, horrifying moment, was amplified, broadcast for the entire wedding party to see, to judge.

Gasps of horror erupted from the crowd. Some guests covered their mouths, others turned away in disgust. Harsh whispers, like venomous darts, rained down on me. "Disgusting." "Trash." "How could she?"

Galilea, her voice trembling with false pity, continued her cruel performance. "Emma, I know you've had a difficult past," she sniffled, her eyes still red. "But you can't just barge into someone's wedding and try to ruin it because you're jealous. We all know how you really got where you are, using... unsavory methods. And your poor mother... she must be so ashamed." She dabbed at her eyes with a silk handkerchief.

The video continued to play, a grotesque loop of my deepest shame. The whispers grew louder, piercing my ears, my soul.

I stood there, paralyzed, my hands clenched into fists, my nails digging into my palms until they bled. My eyes, wide with horror, locked onto Bryce. He couldn't have. He wouldn't have.

My mind flashed back. Years ago. Trapped. Bound. The suffocating fear. The faces of the men, their cruel laughter. I remembered how he had found me, how he had saved me. How he had held me, promising to keep my secret safe. To be my protector. My confidant. He said he would never let anyone hurt me again.

He had promised.

But now, his eyes darted away, unable to meet my gaze. A flicker of guilt, quickly masked, crossed his face.

"It's just... gossip, Emma," he mumbled, his voice too casual, too dismissive. "Galilea just found out. It' s not a big deal."

Not a big deal? My trauma. My nightmare. He had shared it. Shared it with his mistress. As gossip. As something to be casually discussed, perhaps even laughed about, over dinner.

"We were just... talking," he continued, shrugging, as if he were discussing the weather. "It came up. It was so long ago. Why are you still so hung up on it? It's not like you died. Galilea thought it was an interesting story."

He thought my pain was an interesting story. My trauma, his entertainment. My very soul, a topic for casual conversation with the woman he was marrying.

I felt like I was falling into a bottomless pit. The world spun. My mind screamed. He wasn't just a betrayer. He was a monster. The man I had loved, the man I had saved, had weaponized my deepest wound.

A sudden, earth-shattering crash ripped through the air. The massive screen exploded, showering the crowd with sparks and shards of glass. A brick, still smoking, lay amidst the wreckage.

"Who dares?!" A furious cry, thick with a mother's rage, cut through the stunned silence. "Who dares to spread such vile lies about my daughter?!"