During the meeting, Scarlett received a wedding livestream link from her husband's first love, Elowen Frost.
When the meeting ended, Scarlett opened the stream. The timing was perfect. On screen, the bride and groom were exchanging rings. Those wedding bands were a one-of-a-kind pair she had traveled to over a dozen countries to find, sparing no effort in her search.
The groom was Cassian Blackthorne, Scarlett's husband of seven years in a secret marriage. The bride was Elowen, wearing a wedding gown Scarlett had designed with her own hands. And the ring bearer was her own son, Ryan Blackthorne, dressed in a custom suit she had stayed up nights sewing herself.
Every detail of this wedding, every part of the ceremony, had been planned by Scarlett's own hand.
She sat frozen like a statue of ice, her gaze locked onto the phone screen.
Years ago, when she and Cassian had entered into a marriage alliance between their families, the Blackthorne family had been facing a severe financial crisis.
To avoid affecting the company's stock price, the two had chosen a secret marriage and never held a proper wedding. The Blackthorne family had relied entirely on the connections and capital Scarlett brought with her to escape the crisis and turn a profit.
In the seven years since their marriage, the two had been polite but distant, though their relationship had gradually warmed.
Once, Scarlett had been watching a wedding on television, lost in thought, when Cassian wrapped his arms around her from behind and murmured gently in her ear, "Scarlett, let's have a wedding too, all right?"
Scarlett had suppressed the flutter of joy in her chest, her face flushing as she answered softly, "All right."
She had spent half a year preparing with eager anticipation, pouring all her love into this wedding. But in the end, the dream wedding she had devoted her heart and soul to had become a grand carnival her husband threw for his first love.
All her effort and devotion had become nothing more than a complete and utter joke.
Scarlett didn't know how she made it home.
She sat on the cold sofa, staring blankly at the wedding photo on the wall that she and Cassian had taken not long ago, until the sky grew bright.
The front door opened, and Cassian walked in with Ryan.
Seeing Scarlett on the sofa, Cassian looked somewhat surprised. "Why are you up so early?"
"I didn't sleep all night." Scarlett slowly raised her eyes, a self-mocking curve lifting the corner of her mouth. "Don't you have anything you want to say to me?"
Cassian's handsome face carried a faint trace of exhaustion. His suit jacket was draped over his arm, and the top button of his collar was undone. On his pale, slender neck was a glaring red mark.
"You know?" His tone was casual, as if he were discussing some trivial matter. "We can hold our wedding later, but Elowen doesn't have much time left."
Scarlett wanted to laugh, but her eyes stung instead. "Just because she has ALS? The doctors said she only has two years to live, so you took the wedding that belonged to me and gave it to her as charity?"
Their seven-year-old son, Ryan, had stayed up all night and was rubbing his eyes drowsily. He muttered in displeasure, "Mom, Aunt Elowen is really pitiful. She's never been married and she doesn't have a baby. Dad just wanted to fulfill her dying wish! We should care about sick people. Isn't that what you taught me?"
Those words stabbed into Scarlett's heart like a blade.
Back when Cassian had been desperate for an heir, Scarlett had endured countless ovulation injections and blood draws, and had even walked through death's door to give birth to Ryan. Yet this son, who looked exactly like Cassian, now stood confidently on the other woman's side, accusing her of not being generous enough.
"Ryan, go upstairs and rest," Cassian said in a low voice.
Ryan yawned and ran upstairs without looking back, unwilling to spare his mother even a glance.
Once the child was gone, Scarlett said coldly, "You sent Ryan away because you're afraid I'll lose my temper and ruin the magnanimous image you've built in his mind?"
"Some things aren't appropriate to say in front of a child." Cassian pinched the bridge of his nose, his patience exhausted. "Scarlett, stop being unreasonable."
"Unreasonable?" Scarlett laughed softly, her eyes filled with ice. "When I take back what belongs to me, it's unreasonable, but when Elowen takes everything from me, it's perfectly justified?"
What meaning was there left in a marriage like this?
"Cassian, let's get divorced." Scarlett looked at him, her tone strangely calm.
This was the final decision she had made after enduring countless hardships over the past 6 months.
Ever since Elowen had been diagnosed with ALS half a year ago, Cassian, who had always been steady and composed, had completely changed. He had beaten a business partner at a dinner for Elowen's sake, fired a senior manager at the company for her, and even canceled a multimillion-dollar international project just to keep her company when she was in a bad mood.
All the favoritism and indulgence Scarlett had never received, Cassian had given to another woman.
Cassian's expression darkened instantly. "You're threatening me with divorce? Trying to force me to stop taking care of Elowen?"
Scarlett stood up wearily, preparing to go upstairs.
"Scarlett!" Cassian called out to her, his voice cold and hard as ice. "Think it through. If we divorce, I get custody of our son, and you leave the marriage with nothing."
"Fine." Scarlett stood in the middle of the staircase, looking down at him, her gaze devoid of any lingering attachment.
Cassian froze for a moment, clearly not expecting her to agree so readily.
"Think it through before you answer. Don't act rashly." Cassian tugged at his tie, a trace of disgust flashing in his eyes. "If you file for divorce, will the Wycliffe family agree?"
Scarlett's fingers tightened around the banister.
The Wycliffe family was the family that had adopted her. When she was seven, the Vale family had gone bankrupt and her parents had disappeared. The Wycliffe family had taken her in and used the adoption to promote their charitable image, solidifying Wycliffe Group's reputation in one stroke.
"I've already had someone start preparing the wedding again." Cassian, thinking she was afraid, softened his tone slightly. "Elowen doesn't have much time left. There's no need for you to be so hostile toward someone who's sick."
The so-called do-over was nothing more than guilt-driven compensation.
Scarlett didn't argue. She simply said coolly, "I'll have my lawyer draw up the divorce papers as soon as possible. Remember to sign it."
Aksara