System Countdown to Betrayal

[System Alert: Critical deviation detected in Decade Vow core mission.]

[Marriage milestone: FAILED.]

[Host termination: 48 hours.]

The warnings pierced my mind just after Richard asked, with cruel gentleness, if I still wanted to try on my wedding dress.

Minutes earlier, hed been adjusting my veil.

I was next door keeping Wendy company, he chuckled.

Then it clickedthats how he knew Id gone to the club last night.

She was so scared when she heard your voice, she had to sit on my lap the whole time, he said, each word a blade.

I followed his gaze to Wendy, the girl Id sponsored for years, now holding my crystal heels, eyes red with tears.

Moments before, shed crouched at my feet, gushing, If he ever breaks your heart, Ill make him pay.

Richard brushed my bodice, his tenderness now a mockery.

All the joy drained away, leaving only the Systems countdown and the weight of betrayal.

I stared at Richard, my throat tight and burning.

"Say that again."

And he actually did. This time, he sounded even more composed.

"I was with her last night."

"I was planning to keep it under wraps a little longer. But seeing her hold your wedding shoes just now... it hit me. She deserves an explanation too."

I stood frozen, the words trapped in my chest.

Today wasn't just my final fitting.

Today was the absolute deadline for the System to verify the success of my Decade Vow mission.

Ten years ago, I bound my soul to this System. The price was ten years of my lifespan. In exchange, I gave Richard a meteoric rise to power and saved the Prescott family from absolute bankruptcy.

The System only gave me one condition. I had to fulfill my marriage pact with Richard within ten years.

Today was supposed to be the finish line.

Instead, he chose today to shove me off a cliff.

I heard my own voice shaking.

"Why today?"

"Why did it have to be the day I put on my wedding dress?"

Richard remained silent for a heartbeat, but his gaze drifted right past me, landing softly on Wendy.

"Because she's been by my side for a long time. She never asks for anything. She doesn't even dare to ask for a title."

"I refuse to let her suffer in silence anymore."

A bitter, broken laugh escaped my lips.

"And me?"

"What about my last ten years? What was all that for?"

His expression didn't waver. It was as if he had rehearsed these answers a thousand times.

"It's not like I'm backing out of the wedding."

"It's just that Wendy needs some closure, too."

I looked at the man I loved, feeling my heart sink into a bottomless pit.

But I didn't realize he could stoop even lower.

He met my eyes, his tone completely flat.

"When you took that fall down the stairs at the new house last month? That wasn't an accident."

"I took her to see our bridal mansion that day. She spilled some champagne and didn't mop the floors properly. When you went up to check the lighting fixtures later, you slipped."

My blood ran cold. My entire body turned to stone.

I nearly had a miscarriage that day. I spent the entire night clutching my ultrasound scans, too terrified to sleep, sobbing because I thought I had overworked myself with the wedding prep and failed to protect my baby.

Richard had held me tightly that night, kissing my forehead, telling me it was okay, begging me not to blame myself.

He wasn't comforting me.

He knew exactly what happened. He just sat back and watched me tear myself apart.

I raised my hand and slapped him across the face with everything I had.

The sharp smack echoed off the mirrored walls. The entire boutique went dead silent.

Richard's head jerked to the side, but he didn't blow up. Instead, he let out a breath, looking almost relieved.

"Are you done?"

"If you're done, try to calm down. We're skipping the fitting today."

"The wedding can be pushed back."

He turned on his heel to leave.

Inside my head, the System's alarm screamed to life.

[Decade Vow System detects critical mission deviation.]

[Marriage milestone confirmation: FAILED.]

[Host termination countdown: 48 hours.]

I stood glued to the floor, my hands and feet turning to ice.

Right on cue, Wendy rushed forward, her eyes brimming with fresh tears. She grabbed one of the bridal heels and lobbed it at Richard, acting like she was standing up for me.

"You promised me you wouldn't say anything!"

"Why did you have to hurt Audrey today of all days?"

The pointed heel clipped Richard's forehead. His very first reaction wasn't to check his own bleeding skin, but to grab her hands and ask if she had hurt her fingers.

I stood in the distance, letting my tears fall and stain the pure white silk of my gown.

By the time the bridal shop descended into total chaos, Declan arrived.

He was my senior in college and the co-founder of the charitable trust my late mother left behind.

Every single grant application Wendy submitted over the past four years had crossed his desk.

The moment he walked in, his eyes darted to Wendy first. Only after making sure she was okay did he frown and look at me. "Audrey, what exactly are you trying to pull here?"

I stared at him.

"You knew too. Didn't you?"

He dodged the question, his voice taking on that familiar, patronizingly soft tone.

"Wendy just wants a place to belong."

"Don't back her into a corner."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"I'm backing her into a corner?"

"I used my dead mother's money to put her through college. I paid her hospital bills. I paid her rent. I pulled strings to get her internships. And now you're telling me I'm the one ruining her life?"

Declan sighed heavily, giving me the kind of look reserved for a spoiled child throwing a tantrum.

"She comes from a broken home. She grew up with nothing."

"You have the world at your fingertips. She has absolutely nothing."

"Since you're the one who brought her up to this point, you should be the bigger person and show some grace."

Right on cue, Wendy drifted over, her eyes red and puffy.

"Audrey, if you're mad, take it out on me. Please don't blame Richard."

"I was the one who fell for him first. It's all my fault."

Her voice was frail and dripping with guilt. But the silver leaf pendant resting against her collarbone caught the light, and the sight of it made my eyes burn.

That necklace was my mother's heirloom.

Three years ago, Wendy was hospitalized. She cried through the night, terrified of the dark. I personally fastened that necklace around her neck, telling her it would keep her safe.

Looking at it now, I realized my kindness was just a joke.

I reached out, hooked my fingers around the delicate chain, and ripped it off her neck.

She let out a sharp cry of pain, bursting into tears as she scrambled backward.

The next second, Richard stepped in and shoved me hard.

I stumbled in my heavy gown. My waist slammed violently into the edge of the display podium. A sharp, cramping pain shot through my lower abdomen instantly.

He completely ignored me, shielding Wendy behind him as his voice turned to ice.

"That is enough, Audrey."

I looked up at him, suddenly finding the whole situation incredibly absurd.

We had fought before over the past decade.

But he had never laid a hand on me. He had never pushed me away in front of an audience.

And now, to play the knight in shining armor for a girl I practically raised, he didn't even care about the baby growing inside me.

I took a shaky breath, shifting my gaze to Declan.

"That phone call last night. Telling me to go to the club to pick up the girls. You set that up on purpose, didn't you?"

Declan's eyes flickered away.

"You were going to find out eventually."

Then it hit me.

It wasn't just Richard and Wendy.

Even Declan, my trusted friend, was busy paving the way for her.

Richard's phone buzzed. He checked the screen and then shoved it directly in my face.

Someone had already leaked photos from the bridal boutique to a gossip blog.

The angles were perfectly cropped. You could only see Wendy looking innocent, holding the shoes with teary eyes, and me looking like a monster, aggressively ripping the necklace off her throat.

The comments were already flooding in, tearing me apart for bullying a sweet girl.

Richard's face was thunderous.

"Did you hire someone to post this?"

Looking at that photo, a strange, chilling calm washed over me.

"No."

"But isn't she the other woman?"

Richard ground his teeth, his voice dropping low with suppressed rage.

"She never wanted to compete with you."

"Are you really so bitter that you have to destroy her life?"

Declan chimed in, playing the voice of reason.

"Audrey, if this blows up, it's going to ruin Wendy's graduation and drag the foundation's name through the mud."

"You need to go to her commencement ceremony and clear the air publicly."

Richard followed up with a final demand, tossing it out like a generous favor.

"As long as we get past this graduation drama, our wedding goes ahead as planned."

My chest felt hollow, packed with shattered glass.

One betrayed me. One fiercely protected her. One did her dirty work to clean up the mess.

And right now, all three of them were demanding that I be the one to swallow my pride and step back.

Just then, my phone chimed with a private message from Wendy.

[Audrey, Richard was so worried I'd get scared hearing your voice last night. He held me on his lap the entire time.]

[I was shivering so much, so he kissed me. He kissed me for a really long time.]

I stared at those two lines of text. Bile rose in my throat.

The System's voice echoed simultaneously.

[Host's will to survive is plummeting rapidly.]

[Termination countdown halved.]

[Remaining time: 24 hours.]

I slowly raised my head and looked at the two men standing before me.

"Fine."

"I'll go to the ceremony."

Wendy's commencement was held in the grand university auditorium.

When I walked backstage, she was wearing an immaculate white sundress. Her hair was perfectly styled, and her face carried that carefully curated look of innocent vulnerability.

The professors, classmates, and alumni buzzing around her were showering her with praise.

One of the deans patted her shoulder affectionately.

"Wendy, you've really beaten the odds."

Someone nearby immediately chimed in.

"Absolutely. Coming out of an impoverished mountain town and making it to the top of the class in the city. You've really made something of yourself."

An older alumni smiled warmly at her.

"I was just telling the board, you're the greatest success story the foundation has ever produced."

"Exactly. Winning valedictorian is incredibly well-deserved."

"She's going places. I heard she bagged multiple elite internships in her senior year alone."

"That's what you call pulling yourself up by the bootstraps."

I stood in the shadows, listening to the glowing praise, feeling a bitter laugh bubble up in my throat.

None of them knew. Her tuition, her hospital bills, every stepping stone of this supposed 'self-made' success story was paved with the blood, sweat, and charity of my mother and me.

But here she was, the poster child for independent resilience.

The second I stepped into the light, Wendy's eyes brimmed with tears. She rushed toward me.

She paused a few feet away, acting incredibly timid, as if she was terrified I would lash out.

Then, very tentatively, she reached out and pinched the fabric of my sleeve.

"Audrey, you actually came."

"I thought... I thought you'd never forgive me."

Richard materialized behind her and shoved a folded piece of paper into my hand.

"Read this when you get on stage. Stick to the script."

I glanced down at the paper.

Paragraph one: I had to admit that my emotional outburst at the bridal shop was due to pregnancy hormones and pre-wedding jitters, and that I had wrongfully targeted Wendy.

Paragraph two: I had to explicitly state that the cheating rumors online were vicious, fabricated lies.

I read it once. Then, while maintaining dead-eye contact with Richard, I slowly tore the paper into confetti.

His face darkened instantly.

"Audrey, don't do anything stupid."

I ignored him, walking straight past him, and took the microphone directly from the MC's hand.

The auditorium was packed. The harsh stage lights beat down on me, making my eyes sting.

I stood at the podium, staring out at the sea of unfamiliar faces, my voice ringing out crystal clear.

"I only have two things to say."

"First, Wendy is not an innocent, underprivileged student."

"Second, Richard isn't my fianc. He is her husband."

The crowd erupted. A tidal wave of gasps and whispers crashed through the room.

Wendy's reaction was flawless. The tears spilled over her lashes on command.

"Audrey, how could you say that..."

"I never wanted to steal anything from you."

"If you want, I'll even claim your unborn baby as my own! Just please, don't back me into a corner!"

That single sentence acted like gasoline on a fire. The murmurs turned into loud, furious chatter.

She successfully painted herself as the ultimate martyr making a heartbreaking sacrifice, while I became the toxic, unhinged villain using a pregnancy to blackmail a man.

I opened my mouth to respond, but Wendy suddenly reached into her designer clutch and slapped a little red booklet onto the podium right in front of me.

A marriage certificate.

I looked down. My mind went entirely blank.

The names printed on the legal document were Richard Kensington and Wendy.

The date of registration was yesterday.

I snapped my head toward Richard.

A flicker of guilt crossed his face, but he quickly masked it with cold indifference, leaning in to whisper harshly in my ear.

"She's graduating. She's been feeling insecure."

"I just signed the papers yesterday to humor her. It means nothing."

"Once this PR nightmare dies down, I'll quietly file for divorce."

"Our wedding is still on. Stop throwing a tantrum."

Humor her.

So in his world, a legal marriage was just a shiny toy you handed out to keep a girl quiet.

He thought he could secretly marry her, then throw a massive wedding with me, partitioning his vows like party favors for two different women.

But Wendy was still putting on the performance of a lifetime.

Wiping her tears, she sobbed into her own microphone, claiming my four years of sponsorship were never about charity. She told the crowd I had a twisted savior complex, that I was trying to groom her into an obedient pet.

She claimed I was a control freak who turned violently abusive the second she formed a genuine friendship with Richard.

She even swore to God that the photos from the bridal shop were a smear campaign I had personally orchestrated.

The crowd turned ugly. Fast.

"What a fake philanthropist."

"Sponsoring a girl just to steal her man? Sickening."

"She's absolute trash."

Rage blinded me. I raised my hand, fully intending to slap the lies out of her mouth.

But before my hand could connect, someone gripped my wrist from behind, locking it in a vice grip.

I whipped around. Declan was standing there, his face tight with anger.

"Audrey, that's enough."

"This is a graduation ceremony, not a street brawl for you to act like a lunatic."

I stared at him, utterly dumbfounded.

"Declan, you honestly think I'm the one being a lunatic?"

He broke eye contact, but he didn't let go of my wrist. His voice was cold.

"If your conscience was actually clean, things wouldn't have escalated this far."

That single sentence extinguished the last dying ember of warmth in my heart.

And right at that moment, someone in the front row launched a plastic cup of red fruit punch at the stage.

It hit my stomach. The sticky red liquid cascaded down the pristine white of my dress. Then came a second cup. Then a third.

The insults grew deafening. A few radicalized students rushed the stage, shoving me, yanking on my dress, shoving their phone cameras aggressively into my face.

I was violently jostled backward. My foot caught on a cable, and I stumbled hard. A sudden, agonizing tearing sensation ripped through my lower abdomen.

I looked down and watched as the dark, heavy crimson began to bloom rapidly across the wet fabric of my dress.

In that moment, a chilling realization washed over me.

I was losing the baby.

But the mob in the auditorium didn't care. The screaming, the pushing, the flashesnobody stopped.

I clutched my stomach, the physical agony finally overriding the heartbreak. I didn't even have the energy left to say a single word.