The Bride He Betrayed: He Gave Her the Ring, I Gave Him Goodbye

Never wanting to see that hypocritical man again, Clara checked herself out of the hospital that very night and returned to her own home.

There was no saving the design competition now. She drifted through three days in a daze, until an urgent call from Tessa finally broke the silence.

"Clara, was that thing online posted by you?"

She froze. "What thing?"

A moment later, Tessa sent over a slide deck more than a dozen pages long and said furiously, "Adrian is such a disgusting bastard! Why did you never tell me? Next time I see him, I swear I'm going to crack his skull open."

Clara didn't even have time to reply. The moment she opened it, she went completely still.

The deck, more than a dozen pages long, was written as if in her own voice, accusing Adrian of cheating with Sienna. The timeline was clear, the photos were all there, and some of the details were things even she hadn't known.

She had just opened her mouth to say she wasn't the one who posted it, when Adrian kicked the front door open and stormed inside.

He yanked her straight off the bed and demanded furiously, "Clara, have you lost your mind? Posting something like that? Do you have any idea you could ruin Sienna this way?"

Her knees slammed hard against the floor, tearing open the wound in her abdomen. Blood began spilling out at once.

Clara's face turned ashen as she said in a trembling voice, "I wasn't the one who posted any of it."

"Then who else could it have been?"

Adrian looked at her coldly, his eyes full of suspicion.

Clara closed her eyes for a moment, then said with biting mockery, "Maybe someone got sick of you two shameless pieces of trash and decided to do the public a favor."

His face darkened. "I don't care whether you admit it or not. You're going to clear this up right now. Tell everyone it was just a joke and that you deliberately framed Sienna."

"Why should I?"

Adrian answered, "Because you stole her life as the rich young lady of the family. You owe her all of this."

The shameless things the two of them had done somehow became someone else's scheme.

Clara almost wanted to laugh. "Leaving aside the fact that I didn't post any of it, even if I had, I still wouldn't say a word for two trashy people like you. And Adrian, I don't owe anyone a damn thing."

She had expected Adrian to explode, but he only went silent for a moment before leaving her with a single sentence. "You'd better not regret this."

With that, he turned and walked out.

Clara didn't take his warning to heart. Soon enough, she would be leaving this place, and leaving Adrian with it.

Then that night, an explicit video of her suddenly spread across the internet like wildfire.

The woman in the video was completely naked, flushed all over, moving in front of the camera in a way that left nothing to the imagination.

The instant Clara saw the woman's face, all the blood in her body seemed to run cold. She felt as if she'd been struck by lightning.

The woman in the video was her. And the only person who could possibly have had footage like that was Adrian.

Sure enough, the moment the video was released, no one cared about the cheating exposé anymore. Every accusation turned toward her instead.

The comment section filled with filth. Countless people called her cheap and disgusting, slandered her as a homewrecker who seduced other women's men, and some revolting creeps even dug up her personal information and asked how much she charged for a night.

Clara's hands shook as she unlocked her phone, about to call the police, when a message from Sienna popped up.

"Clara, you really are filthy. Eleanor saw your disgusting video, and the shock was too much for her. She's in the hospital being resuscitated right now."

Something had happened to Eleanor Mercer.

Clara's mind went blank. Never in her life had she regretted meeting Adrian more than she did at that moment.

From the time she was little, her adoptive parents had beaten and scolded her. Eleanor had been the only one who protected her, the only one who gave her a piece of candy when she was sad, the only one who bought her gifts when she made progress.

Even after she and Sienna were returned to their rightful identities, even after Clara was taken back by her biological parents, Eleanor still saved every good thing for her.

A grandmother that kind had seen something so vile, and it had put her in the hospital.

Clara's limbs felt weak, but a terror deeper than anything she had ever known drove her to the hospital like a madwoman.

The operating room light was still on, yet Sienna sat off to the side, lazily scrolling through short videos on her phone.

Clara rushed at her and demanded through tears, "It was you, wasn't it? You showed that to Grandma on purpose. Otherwise how could she have seen something like that?"

"So what if I did?" Sienna curled her lips into a smile, her voice dripping with malice. "You're still the real reason this happened."

Clara shook with rage, unable to believe what she was hearing. "She's your grandmother too. Your own grandmother. How could you do this to her?"

Sienna only shrugged, utterly unconcerned. "I'm the one who's actually her biological granddaughter, but that old hag only ever cared about you. She should've died a long time ago. So? How does it feel to be the one who killed your grandma?"

The moment those words left her mouth, Clara raised her hand and slapped her hard across the face.

But in the very next second, a powerful force yanked her away and shoved her violently to the floor.

At some point, Adrian had arrived. He dragged Sienna behind him and shielded her completely.

"Clara! What the hell are you doing?"

Sienna immediately hid herself in his arms. "Adrian, don't be mad. Clara only hit me because she's upset that you always protect me. She just got emotional."

As she spoke, she sniffled softly and shot Clara a look full of contempt.

Her wound had torn open again and again. Clara sat collapsed on the floor, cold sweat beading across her forehead, unable to say a word.

She had never imagined Adrian could be this cruel. He knew perfectly well she still had a wound in her abdomen.

Just then, the doors to the operating room flew open and a doctor hurried out.

"Which one of you is family? The patient's condition is critical. We need a family member to sign the surgical consent form before we can begin."

Sienna was the only one there who could legally sign. Clara immediately turned to look at her.

"Wait."

Adrian caught Sienna's hand before she could move. Then he looked at Clara, his expression tense but controlled. "If you want Sienna to sign, then go make a public statement. Say that you deliberately seduced me, interfered in my relationship with Sienna, and framed her."

He paused, then lowered his voice. "Babe, be good. Once you clear things up, Sienna will sign."