I Married the Richest Man Instead

As soon as I finished speaking, the entire venue erupted again.

Those with functioning brains immediately noticed the discrepancy and began whispering amongst themselves.

Grayson's expression darkened. However, he was not suspicious of Maeve. Instead, he turned on me and shouted angrily, "Fine, let other people call her a mistress. But how dare you bring it up? Don't you know exactly why I'm with her in the first place?

"It's not like I never tried to love you. I wanted to hold your hand, but you pulled away and said men and women shouldn't have physical contact.

"I found a great movie I wanted to take you to see, but you coldly told me not to waste time on such pointless things and that I should focus on my studies instead.

"I gave you countless chances. You never valued any of them. You were always lecturing me. Marrying you was like marrying my mother. Suffocating and boring.

"Maeve is different. We can be spontaneous and just go wherever we want. She and I have a true connection of souls. If it weren't for the relationship between our families, why would I ever marry you and neglect her?

"You've benefited so much from this arrangement, yet you dare mistreat the woman I love most. Apologize to her right now!"

It was the same in my past life. He enjoyed the wealth I created for him, living lavishly with Maeve, carefree and unrestrained.

He never once considered that without me holding everything together, the company his father left him would have gone bankrupt long ago. He would never have had the money to live so spontaneously.

Even more than that, I handled everything in his household, from minor matters to his mother's illness.

Without me, where would he have found the time and energy to enjoy his so-called love with Maeve?

After enjoying all of that, not only did he fail to appreciate what I had done, but he even resented me for over a decade. He trampled all over the sincerity I had given him.

Even though I no longer loved him, thinking about it still filled me with grievance.

I took a deep breath and replied coldly, "You're right. I am boring, so let me do you a favor. I didn't accept your family's marriage proposal. From now on, I wish you both a lifetime of happiness together."

I wanted to see if, without me propping them up and after dealing with the mundane realities of life, they could still be as loving as they were now.

Grayson froze at my words. "We've been engaged since childhood. Everyone already considers you part of the Thatcher family. If you don't marry me, who else would want you?"

A flash of disbelief crossed his eyes, along with a hint of some complicated emotion even he had not noticed.

Seeing that Grayson's attention was being diverted, Maeve could not keep up the act any longer. She tugged at his sleeve. "Grayson, she's just talking. She's trying to redirect the conversation. I saw her shopping for wedding supplies just a few days ago."

Grayson relaxed immediately and scoffed with disdain.

"Calla, you women really are full of tricks. You almost had me fooled there. Is now really the time to talk about this nonsense? We haven't even settled the matter of you exposing our bedroom photo!

"You'd better think of how you're going to apologize and make Maeve feel better. Otherwise, I really will cancel the engagement and make sure you never get married for the rest of your life!"

Seeing how shameless he was, Sloane wanted to argue back. I raised my hand to stop her. You could not reason with someone who refuses to see the truth. There was no point wasting words.

I looked at Grayson calmly.

"So, what you're saying is that whoever does something wrong needs to apologize. You think I exposed Maeve's bedroom photo and made her a laughingstock, so you're forcing me to apologize.

"But if I didn't do it, your false accusations would've caused me significant harm. Shouldn't you apologize to me as well then?"

Grayson wavered for a moment, but after glancing at Maeve, his resolve returned. "Naturally. But don't think you can use reverse psychology to make me believe you. Maeve is kind and generous. Besides you, you jealous shrew, I can't think of anyone else who would resent her enough to destroy her with such disgusting methods!"

After getting his affirmative answer, I smiled faintly. He had no idea I had hired someone to investigate the moment it happened.

I unlocked my phone and held up the evidence I had just received for him to see. "Look carefully. The person who uploaded your bedroom photo to the big screen wasn't me. It was Maeve herself."