After I Decided to Marry Another Man, My Ex-Fiancé and Brother Regretted

“The marriage has been arranged. We’ll start preparing for the wedding after your birthday party,” my father said over the phone,“But are you sure about this? Didn’t you always say Gilbert was the one you loved most? Have you really decided to let him go?”

A bitter smile tugged at the corner of my lips.

Yes, Gilbert—my fiancé—and my brother Bryant had made that decision for me long before I did, when they both chose Julia over me.

Just a week ago, I was happily engaged to my childhood sweetheart Glibert. Then I caught Gilbert and my stepmom's daughter cheating on bed.

My brother, the one who relied on me for everything, was there too.

"Julia, once I marry her and get the family shares, I’ll divorce her and be with you. Okay?"

Gilbert’s lips trailed down her neck, full of obsession.

"Julia, when I inherit the family business, you’ll be the only one in my life. Will you marry me then?"

Bryant kissed her ankle, eyes filled with longing.

How ironic.

The two people I cherished most—

One craved my family’s wealth.

The other was ready to marry the daughter of our family’s sworn enemy.

If this family no longer belongs to me, then I choose to walk away—

And marry someone else.

“Yes, Dad,” I said calmly, looking up. “I’ve made my decision. Please help me arrange the wedding.”

Three days later, I handed my wedding invitations to Gilbert and Bryant myself.

My gaze was clear, unwavering.

“This time,” I said, “I’m sincerely inviting you to attend my wedding.”

——

“The marriage has been arranged. We will prepare for the wedding after your birthday party.” My father’s voice came from the phone. “But have you really thought it through this time? Don’t you always say that you like Gilbert the most? Have you finally decided to leave him now?”

A bitter smile appeared on the corner of my mouth, “Yes, Dad, I have decided to leave them completely. Just help me arrange the wedding.”

“Got it.”

The moment I hung up the phone, there was a loud sound outside the window.

I walked to the French window and saw the champagne tower in the garden collapsed and colorful salutes exploded in the air.

My boyfriend, Gilbert, was hugging Julia and spinning beside the fountain. Her skirt was covered with cream from my birthday cake.

“Miss Snider…” Elizabeth stood behind me and hesitated.

I retracted my gaze and my voice was so calm that even I was surprised. “Restore the scene to its original state and order a new cake.”

“Okay, Miss Snider. Then Mr. Jacobs and the others…”

“Let them go.”

I turned back to the dressing table.

There was a knock on the door and before I could respond, Julia pushed the door open and rushed in.

“Sister!”

Her eyes were red. “I’m sorry, I really didn’t know that Gilbert would suddenly do this. He just heard that I had never had a decent birthday, so he wanted to borrow your birthday to let me experience it…”

I put down the comb, not wanting to hear any explanation. “Get out.”

“Sister, don’t be angry.” She bit her lower lip and her eyes were immediately filled with tears. “I really didn’t mean to ruin your birthday party. Look, I also specially prepared a birthday gift for you…”

“I said, get out.”

I turned around and looked at her directly. “There are only two of us here. No need to play any sisterly love with me.”

Julia not only did not leave, but took a few steps closer and took out an exquisite velvet box from her pocket. “Sister, look, this is the pair of pearl earrings collected by Dad. I begged him for a long time…”

I stood up impatiently and wanted to leave, but she suddenly grabbed my wrist.

After a piercing scream, a bloodstain appeared on her fair arm.

The door of the dressing room was suddenly pushed open and Gilbert and my brother, Bryant, rushed in.

“Julia!”

Gilbert stepped forward, holding Julia’s bleeding arm distressedly and turned to yell at me, “Elvira! Are you crazy?”

I looked at the three of them coldly. “I didn’t touch her.”

Julia sobbed and said, “My sister asked me to give her a blood transfusion... I’m not unwilling, but I’m a little anemic recently. I thought I’d wait a few days, but I didn’t expect my sister to suddenly do it…”

“Elvira, are you sick?!” Gilbert pushed me away. “Are you deliberately going to deal with Julia!”

I laughed in anger. “I have a heart disease, not a vampire. What do I need her blood for?”

“The postoperative recovery period has passed.” Bryant took out the medicine box with a cold face to bandage Julia. “Are you still using the illness as an excuse to bully people?”

Gilbert looked at me as if he was looking at something disgusting. “Is it not enough to use this broken disease to force me to marry you? You call Julia to bring you tea and water every day, isn’t it disgusting?”

“Apologize to Julia,” my brother ordered.

I said word by word, “I said, if I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it.”

I turned to leave, but my heart didn’t listen to me and it hurt more and more.

I reached for the medicine bottle in my pocket with trembling hands, but Gilbert slapped me away.

The medicine bottle hit the wall and the white pills scattered all over the floor.

“Pretend again!”

Gilbert’s voice was full of disgust. “Every time you can’t win the argument, you pretend to be sick!”

He pushed me too hard and I staggered back a few steps and my high heels missed the steps.

As the world spun, I heard Julia’s artificial screams and Gilbert’s curses.

My back hit the corner of the stairs heavily and I curled up on the ground, my eyes blacked out in pain.

I looked up and saw the three of them standing at the top of the stairs looking down at me.

“Miss Snider!” Elizabeth wanted to come over to help me.

“Don’t worry about her.” My brother stopped Elizabeth. “It’s not the first time to use this kind of self-torture trick.”

Chapter 2

The cold marble floor pressed against my cheek and my knees were burning.

Gilbert stood at the top of the stairs and looked down at me, with a sarcastic arc at the corner of his mouth. “You deserve it.”

“You can’t die from this height.” Bryant said calmly, “Stop acting.”

I tried to prop myself up and my right wrist felt a piercing pain.

Gilbert hugged Julia and turned to leave. As he passed by, his leather shoes crushed a few of my scattered pills.

I suddenly remembered the rainy night three years ago.

Gilbert knelt in front of my bed, holding a diamond ring in his hand, saying that he couldn’t live without me.

At that time, his hands were shaking more than mine at this moment.

And now, he was gently wiping the blood off Julia’s hands and his eyes were more focused than I had ever seen.

The wound on my knee was bleeding, but it was not even one-tenth as painful as the one in my heart.

A strange hand reached out to me.

I looked up and saw a strange man wearing gold-rimmed glasses. He frowned and glanced at my bleeding skirt. “Do you need help?”

I nodded absentmindedly.

When I came to my senses, I was already in the hospital.

My phone vibrated and an update popped up in the Instagram story.

Julia posted a nine-square grid: the first one was a selfie of her and Gilbert face to face. The second one was Bryant putting a coat on her and the third one was my birthday cake smeared on the tip of Gilbert’s nose...

The caption was [Romantic Day.]

I clicked “like”, pulled the corner of my mouth and threw the phone into my bag.

As soon as I got back to the villa, I immediately started to pack my things.

I went straight upstairs and dragged out two suitcases from the storage room.

The first one I opened was Gilbert’s drawer.

The gray scarf I knitted crookedly, he said it was “ugly” last winter, but he wore it every day. I threw it into the garbage bag and the fluff was still stained with his cologne.

The thickest album records our college days. When I turned to the page of the graduation trip, Gilbert carried me on his back and walked by the Dunn Lake. On the back of the photo, he wrote: [I will carry my little girl on my back for the rest of my life.]

But all this was in the past.

I turned on the lighter and the pages curled into ash in the flames.

“Elvira, what are you crazy about?!”

Gilbert’s voice exploded in my ears.

He rushed over to grab the brazier and his red fingertips touched the half-burned album.

“Cleaning up the useless garbage.” I threw in a bunch of keychains, which were cartoon dolls I customized for his birthday last year.

“Our memories are all garbage to you?” His eyes were terribly red, like a wounded beast.

I took out the engagement ring and put it on the coffee table. “Didn’t you say that I forced you to get married? Now you don’t have to force it. Our wedding is canceled.”

When the ring rolled onto the carpet, Bryant finally spoke. “What are you making a fuss about? Can you cancel the wedding just by saying so?”

He bent down and picked up the broken Lego castle on the ground.

That was the birthday gift he spent three months putting together for me. Each spire was designed according to the fairy tales I liked.

“Elvira,” he said in a terrifyingly deep voice, “We haven’t settled accounts with you about Julia yet. Why are you throwing a tantrum now?”

“Do you have to do this? Julia just…”

“Just what?” I took down the group photo on the wall and the glass of the photo frame reflected my red eyes. “Just ruined my birthday?”

“Enough!” Bryant held me down. “When did you become like this? So aggressive, have you forgotten that Julia made medicine for you every day? She took care of you for so many days–”

“I never asked her to take care of me!” I shook off my brother’s hand and said expressionlessly.

Chapter 3

I had a serious heart disease, but I had never forced my stepmother’s daughter, Julia, to take care of me for a day.

She had always been trying to maintain her kind personality. In order to please me, she eagerly came to me, looking like she had been wronged.

So they often blamed me for being harsh.

But what did I do wrong?

When I was ill, Julia replaced my medicine with candy, just because she said she thought the medicine was a psychological effect, which almost made me die of pain at home.

On the day I was supposed to go to the hospital for a check-up, Julia fed me sleeping pills and made me oversleep. I was aggrieved and said that she wanted me to sleep a little longer.

If I lost my temper or said something harsh, she would burst into tears.

She made me look like a bad person who didn’t know the good heart.

Before, I just thought that my brother and boyfriend were deceived and sooner or later they would see the true face of Julia, but now I realized: No, they wouldn’t see it clearly.

Their hearts had been biased.

I threw the last photo album into the brazier and the flames devoured the love letter Gilbert had written to me and the pages curled up into ash.

He stood at the door, his face was ashen, but his voice softened. “Elvira, will you really stop making trouble?”

I didn’t even raise my head and continued to throw his things into the box one by one.

“As long as you are obedient, I won’t be so cruel to you.” He approached and stretched out his hand to hug me. Just like every time we quarreled in the past, he used a gentle embrace to soften my heart.

But this time, I dodged sideways.

“I’m not angry,” I said calmly.

His arm froze in midair and a trace of panic flashed in his eyes.

But in the end, he said nothing, as if he was sure that I would not leave.

The next day, just after walking out of the gate, a black van suddenly braked in front of me.

Before I could react, I was dragged into the car.

“Be honest!"” The masked man choked me fiercely. I had difficulty breathing and my eyes were black.

When I woke up again, I was tied up in an abandoned warehouse.

And Julia on the opposite side was also tied up, crying.

The robber sneered and shouted to the distance, “Two young women. Choose one, who to save?”

I looked up and saw Gilbert and Bryant standing at the door, their faces pale.

“Save Julia!” they said in unison.

There was not even a second of hesitation.

My heart suddenly twisted in pain and cold sweat instantly soaked my back.

It was like this again.

Every time, they chose Julia.

The robber laughed and pulled Julia’s rope open. “One person for one million and the rest is this. When you pay the money in place, I will pay you back!”

And Julia staggered into Gilbert’s arms, crying breathlessly.

“Sister... why do you treat me like this?! Even if you hate me, you can’t find someone to kidnap me! I heard it all. They said they wanted to teach me a lesson because I blocked your way…”

I suddenly opened my eyes wide and wanted to refute, but the robber covered my mouth fiercely and I couldn’t make a sound.

Gilbert hugged Julia and looked at me with cold eyes. “Elvira, you are really crazy, too much!”

Bryant was also extremely disappointed. “When did you become so vicious?!”

They didn’t even give me a chance to explain.

They believed Julia’s words and determined that I planned all this.

They turned and left and the warehouse door was slammed shut.

When the robber’s fist hit me, I curled up and protected my head, but I was still in so much pain that I couldn’t see anything.

“Tsk, so pitiful.” The robber squatted down and patted my face. “Your brother and man don’t even look at you.”

I gritted my teeth and tears mixed with blood slid down.

Why… Why did they always believe Julia?

Chapter 4

Just when I thought I was going to die here, the door of the warehouse was suddenly kicked open!

“Who?!” The robber turned his head suddenly and the next second, a gunshot rang out!

In my blurred vision, a tall man walked in against the light, kicked the robber away, bent down and picked me up.

“Don’t be afraid.” His voice was low and cold.

I trembled and grabbed his collar. “Who are you?”

He looked down at me, his black eyes were deep and the corners of his lips were slightly raised.

“Your future husband.”

Then, I fainted completely.

When I woke up again, I was lying in the high-end VIP ward and the sun was shining outside the window.

There was a bouquet of white roses next to the bed and there was only one line of words on the card: [Take good care of your injuries.]

I stared at it in a daze and my heart still ached.

The smell of disinfectant in the hospital pierced my temples.

I held the wall and walked toward the hall step by step.

Just after turning the corner of the corridor, I ran into three people head-on.

Gilbert held Julia with one hand and Bryant was lowering his head to hand her medicine. The three of them looked like a family of three.

The air froze instantly.

“Elvira?” Gilbert spoke first and his brows immediately tightened.” Why are you here?”

Julia hid behind him and said timidly, “Sister... Could it be that you really arranged the robbers? Otherwise, how could it be so soon…”

Bryant’s eyes turned cold. “Are you really vicious enough to joke about kidnapping?!”

I stood there and suddenly felt ridiculous.

They didn’t ask me if I was seriously injured.

Their first reaction was that I was the one who hurt others.

“Get out of the way.” My voice was hoarse.

Gilbert grabbed my wrist. “What’s with your attitude? Julia was almost–”

I suddenly lifted the sleeve of my hospital gown.

The purple bruises spread from the wrist to the elbow joint and there were still marks of strangulation on the skin that had not subsided.

Bryant’s pupils shrank suddenly. He was a doctor and could tell at a glance that these were marks left by binding and beating.

“This…” Gilbert’s hand loosened.

“Satisfied?” I stared at Gilbert. “Can it be proved now that I didn’t direct and act it myself?”

His Adam’s apple rolled and his face turned pale. “Elvira, I don’t know…”

Bryant suddenly stepped forward and gently touched the wound on my clavicle with his fingers. “The risk of infection is very high. Who treated your wound?”

I shook his hand off. “Does it have anything to do with you?”

The lights in the hall were pale, making their faces look particularly ugly.

Gilbert reached out to help me, but I dodged him.

“Julia was too scared at the time.” Bryant suddenly spoke in a dry voice. “She didn’t mean to frame you…”

Gilbert also hurriedly echoed, “Yes, she was just scared…”

I laughed out loud.

They knew Julia was lying, but they still chose to excuse her.

“Get out of the way,” I repeated, pinching my nails into my palm.

Julia suddenly squatted down, holding her stomach. “Gilbert... my stomach hurts so much…”

Gilbert immediately turned around to help her and Bryant also squatted down to feel her pulse.

I watched them quietly.

I almost died and they didn’t even have a real concern.

Julia just frowned and they immediately surrounded her and asked about her well-being.

After a few days, I stayed in the hospital alone to recuperate and no one came to see me.

After being discharged from the hospital with great difficulty, I went home to get my things.

When I opened the door, the laughter in the house stopped abruptly.

Julia was wearing a suspender skirt and almost her whole body was pressed against Gilbert. When she saw me coming back, she stood up in a panic and her shoulder straps slipped halfway.

Chapter 5

“Elvira…” Gilbert subconsciously took a step back, his eyes flickering. “You are discharged from the hospital? Why didn’t you tell us?”

Bryant put down the wine glass and said stiffly, “We were planning to pick you up.”

I didn’t say anything. My eyes swept over the red wine and snacks on the coffee table - obviously, they had a good time during my hospitalization.

Julia’s eyes were red and her voice trembled. “Sister, I’m sorry... It’s all my fault. I caused you to be misunderstood…”

As she said this, she was about to pull my hand and I turned sideways to avoid her.

Bryant immediately frowned. “Elvira, Julia has apologized. Don’t be unreasonable.”

“Yes,” Gilbert echoed, “Julia has given in to you in all aspects because of your illness over the years. Can’t you be more generous?”

Julia’s tears fell, sobbing and saying, “If sister is still angry, I, I will move out now…”

I didn’t say a word. They had already said everything like acting.

“Okay! Julia, you don’t have to be like this. You’re not wrong.”

Bryant interrupted her and turned to look at me. “Elvira, I know you’re upset because we didn’t disrupt your birthday, so we agreed to make it up to you.”

He took out a cake from the refrigerator and opened the box.

It was a mango crepe.

“Happy birthday, sister, don’t be angry anymore.” Bryant softened his tone and put on the candles.

Gilbert cut a piece and handed it to me. “Your favorite, Julia and I bought it for you.”

Julia picked up a piece with a fork and handed it to my mouth, her eyes wet. “Sister, don’t be angry, have a bite?”

I stared at the mango cake and my stomach churned.

They forgot.

I was allergic to mangoes.

The one who liked to eat mangoes had always been Julia.

Seeing that I didn’t move, Gilbert’s face darkened. “Elvira, we have already bowed our heads like this, why are you still angry?”

I wanted to say something, but at this moment, my phone rang.

My father’s voice came out from the speaker and it was particularly clear in the quiet living room.

“Elvira, go to the store to try on wedding dresses at 3 o’clock tomorrow afternoon.”

Gilbert stood up suddenly. “What wedding dress?!”

Julia covered her mouth and said with tears, “Gilbert, so you and sister, you... are going to get married?”

She forced a smile. “Then I wish, bless you…”

Gilbert immediately hugged her. “Julia, don’t think about it! This is totally untrue!”

Bryant’s face was livid and he pointed at me and scolded, “Elvira! Do you still have any shame? Did you bypass me and force my parents to marry?!”

I ignored them and asked calmly on the phone, “Dad, who am I marrying?”

My father said, “The second young master of the Leonard Group, Kenneth.”

The next second, I handed my wedding invitations to Gilbert and Bryant myself.

My gaze was clear, unwavering, “I’m sincerely inviting you to attend my wedding.”

Hearing my words, Gilbert and Bryant’s expressions froze instantly.