New Year’s Eve

On New Year’s Eve, my fiancée’s ex posted a photo online showing her with wine spilled on her dress, along with the caption: “Her trembling was the prize of the night.” My hands shook as I called Elara. After a long silence, she answered, breathless. “Sean… I was drugged. Aiden helped me. But I’m still clean for you.” I tried to believe it was just a terrible accident. Three months later, at our wedding, Elara threw a positive pregnancy test at my feet. “It only happened once,” she said, “but you can still be this child’s father.” I laughed coldly. “Get rid of it, or get out of my life.” As I walked away, I took out my phone. “I accept the marriage proposal to Gudenrath Corp.”

[1] The Gudenrath family moved with ruthless efficiency. Two hours later, Seraphina Gudenrath and I were officially married, her dowry a portfolio worth two hundred million dollars. She signed the papers and immediately flew to an international conference. I stood there, holding our marriage certificate, feeling dazed. Five years of my life, all for a betrayal so complete it felt like a dream. My phone buzzed relentlessly in my pocket. I sighed and finally answered. “Sean, aren’t you always the most understanding person? I’m having a baby. Shouldn’t you be happy?” “I swear to you, you will be the only father this child has.” Elara’s voice was urgent, but there was no trace of apology in it. “Right. I understand,” I replied, my voice flat. “Is there anything else?” There was a moment of silence on her end, and I could faintly hear the sound of a man’s suppressed sobs in the background. She must have realized my calm was unnatural. Her tone softened. “Why don’t you come home first?” “Aiden is emotionally unstable right now. He just keeps crying. I can’t just leave him.” “There’s no need,” I cut her off. Her voice instantly turned to ice. “Sean Croft! What is your problem?” “Aiden was kind enough to help me, and you publicly humiliated him! Isn’t that enough for you? What more do you want?” My heart clenched, a sharp, stabbing pain. I suppressed the turmoil rising in my chest and said, word by word, “Elara, we’re over.” The air seemed to freeze. Her breath hitched, and then she exploded. “Are you insane?” “I got pregnant, that’s all! It’s not like I’m refusing to marry you! Why are you being so aggressive?” I let out a self-deprecating laugh but didn’t answer. Her patience ran out. “Fine! Be that way!” she spat. “Don’t come crying back to me later!” The line went dead.

[2] I didn’t go home. I drove to the old Morris estate. Even though Elara had been unfaithful, her parents had always been kind to me. It was only right to end things with them face-to-face. But as I pushed open the grand doors, the scene inside plunged me into an icy abyss. Elara was sitting with her parents, Aiden’s arm linked with hers. She carefully ladled soup for him, even bringing the spoon to his lips with a tenderness in her eyes I hadn’t seen in years. Her mother watched them with a pleased smile. “Look at you two,” she teased her husband. “About to be parents and still acting like newlyweds.” A perfect, happy family of four. I had once dreamed of a moment like that. In the past, when I would put food on her plate, she would smile sweetly and say, “Thank you, darling,” only to discard anything I had touched the moment I looked away. She was the cherished only daughter of the Morris family, an untouchable flower on a high peak. She even flinched away from my kisses. And now, she was pregnant with Aiden’s child, doting on him like a loving wife. Elara caught sight of me from the corner of her eye and sneered. “I knew it. Impossible to shake him off.” Her father cleared his throat, trying to smooth things over. “You’re here. Come, sit and eat. Elara’s pregnant. Don’t upset her.” I stared at them, numb. “No, thank you.” Aiden spoke to the maid with an air of familiarity. “Sean, you should have called ahead. The staff didn’t set an extra place for you.” His hair was perfectly styled, his clothes expensive. He looked nothing like the down-on-his-luck intern from three months ago. Clearly, life at the Morris estate suited him. I ignored him and handed the gift I’d brought to the butler. “Stop right there!” Elara slammed her hand on the table, her face dark with rage. “Didn’t you hear Aiden speaking to you? Don’t you even have the decency to say thank you? You have no manners at all!” I turned slowly, a cold smile spreading across my face. “Thank him for what?” “Thank him for knocking up my fiancée and making me a cuckold? Or should I flip this table and scream at him in front of your parents for being a shameless homewrecker?” Elara’s face flushed, and she covered her mouth, gagging. Aiden patted her back, his voice choked with emotion. “Elara, are you okay?” He turned to me, fat tears rolling down his cheeks. “Sean, it’s all my fault. Please don’t upset her anymore.” “I’m only staying here because I’m worried about the baby. I’ll leave as soon as it’s born, I swear! I won’t get in your way!” He then placed a hand on Elara’s stomach and began to sob. “Baby, I’m so sorry. Daddy loves you, and he doesn’t want to abandon you, but Daddy did a bad thing. Our family was never meant to be.” “As long as you and Mommy are happy, I’ll do anything.” With that, he collapsed, crying, into Elara’s arms. Her mother had seen enough. She threw down her chopsticks and pointed a trembling finger at me. “How dare you! It’s just a child! How can you be so petty? You are not fit to be a son-in-law to this family!” Any last shred of guilt Elara might have felt evaporated. She glared at me with pure hatred. “You ungrateful bastard!” I let out a cold laugh and turned to leave. My indifference seemed to enrage her further. With a wild scream, she grabbed the nearest bowl and hurled it at my head. A searing pain exploded in the back of my skull. Warm liquid trickled through my hair. My vision went black, and I collapsed.

[3] My head was ringing, the sharp pain spreading like a tidal wave. I forced myself to my feet. Aiden rushed over, his voice dripping with false concern. “Sean, are you okay? My sister is pregnant, she’s so weak. How could you pretend to faint like that?” “Get away from me,” I said coldly, not even bothering to raise a hand to him. But he suddenly let out an exaggerated gasp and stumbled backward, crashing heavily into the coffee table. “Ah! Sean, I was just trying to help you…” he whimpered, his lower lip trembling as his eyes welled up. Elara panicked, rushing to his side. She turned on me, her eyes blazing. “Sean, are you insane? How dare you touch him!” Her parents looked on with disgust, as if I were something vile. “He fell on his own!” I choked out, the words catching in my throat. Elara’s eyes were merciless. She slapped me hard across the face. “Still lying! Get to the family chapel and kneel. Don’t even think about coming out until you’ve begged for forgiveness nine hundred times!” Before I could protest, two security guards stormed in, roughly bound my hands and feet, and dragged me away. I thrashed on the floor, screaming, “Let me go!” Her only reply was a cold command: “Reflect on what you’ve done!” The heavy doors slammed shut, plunging me into silence. I struggled desperately, the rough rope cutting into my wrists, my skin scraping raw against the stone floor. Finally, exhausted, I slumped onto the icy ground, a bitter sting in my nose. Through the door, I could hear their voices clearly. “Elara, isn’t this a little too harsh? He’s still your fiancé, after all.” “You’re too kind, Aiden. After how he treated you, you’re still defending him.” Elara’s voice was sharp with disdain. “If I don’t teach him a lesson and curb that temper of his, how is he supposed to take care of our child?” Aiden hesitated. “Sister, are you doing this because you don’t like him? Then why are you still marrying him?” Sudden silence. I held my breath, my heart pounding, desperate to hear her answer. If she hated me this much, why wouldn’t she let me go? After a moment, Elara let out a small laugh, her voice turning frigid. “It’s for the Croft family resources, of course. They’ve been very useful over the years.” “Marrying him is the only way to get full control of Croft Industries. Why else would I tie myself to such a useless piece of trash?” The truth was a razor-sharp knife, plunging straight into my heart. My blood ran cold. So that was it. She had never loved me. She only ever wanted my family’s name and power. In a daze, I remembered the car crash five years ago, when I had been severely injured while saving her. She had knelt by my hospital bed and sworn she would never marry anyone else. Even when the doctors told us I could no longer have children, she had just cried and said, “It doesn’t matter. Without children, I can love only you with my whole heart.” How pathetic. I had actually believed her clumsy lies. I had pulled every string I could, used every Croft connection to pave her way to success. And all along, she had been playing me for a fool. There is no greater sorrow than a dead heart. A despair colder than the stone floor settled over me, and I drifted into a fitful sleep. The chapel doors didn’t open until the next day. I was curled in a ball, my lips blue from the cold. Elara frowned at my pathetic state. “Useless waste. You kneel for one night and you look like this. How pathetic.” I slowly looked up, a grim smile on my face. “Sorry to disappoint you.” She looked away in disgust. “Aiden wants seafood congee. Go make it for him. And remember, no ginger. He doesn’t like it.” My nails dug into my palms, but I felt nothing. I forced the words through my teeth. “And what if I don’t?”

[4] A dangerous glint appeared in Elara’s eyes. She suddenly kicked me hard in the chest. “Do you really think you’re the young master here? If it weren’t for Aiden, you would never have a child in your life! You should be on your knees thanking him, and you have the nerve to refuse to cook him a meal?” The feeling of bone cracking sent a wave of blackness over my vision. I coughed, spitting up a mouthful of blood. I wiped my mouth and slowly pushed myself up. “Elara, we’re done.” “You have no right to order me around.” A cold draft swept through the chapel. She stared at me for a second, then scoffed. “Are you trying to play hard to get? Don’t you find that disgusting?” Aiden appeared at her side, draping a coat over her shoulders. “Elara,” he whispered, “don’t get upset with him on my account. It’s not good for the baby. I just won’t eat. A lowly person like me doesn’t deserve to have Sean cook for him anyway.” He was wearing my silk pajamas, his chest covered in love bites. His eyes were full of triumphant provocation. But I no longer cared. “Move. You’re in my way,” I said, my voice distant. Elara suddenly grabbed my wrist, her nails digging into my skin and drawing blood. “You’re not going anywhere without my permission!” she shrieked. I yanked my arm free. “Ah!” The momentum sent her staggering backward, and she collapsed onto the floor. “You animal!” Her parents came running at the sound. Her mother cradled her pale-faced daughter while her father swung a fist at my face. I couldn’t dodge in time and took the full force of the blow. The taste of rust filled my mouth. Aiden wrapped his arms around Elara, his voice trembling. “It’s all my fault. If I weren’t here, you two wouldn’t be fighting.” He looked at me, his eyes brimming with tears. “Sean, if you’re angry, take it out on me. Please, just don’t hurt Elara and the baby…” Elara clutched her stomach, her eyes bloodshot. “Sean! Aiden went through so much to get me pregnant with this child! If anything happens to my baby, I’ll kill you!” Her father flew into an even greater rage. He grabbed me by the neck and slammed me onto the altar. The candlesticks toppled over, hot wax splashing across my back and instantly raising a swath of angry red welts. I arched my back, gagging, but only managed to spit up more blood. The marriage certificate slipped from my jacket pocket, its bright red cover a startling contrast against the grey stone floor. When she saw the names on it, Elara’s face changed, her arrogance vanishing. “You… to spite me, you actually married someone else?” she stammered in disbelief. I struggled to my feet, using the wall for support, and met her eyes again. “I gave you a choice.” In the dead silence of the room, Elara screamed, “That’s impossible! This has to be a fake! Who else would marry a defective man like you?” Just as the words left her mouth, a cool, clear female voice cut through the air. “I would.” Everyone turned. There, standing silhouetted against the light, was Seraphina Gudenrath, dressed in a stunning red gown.