MELISSA'S POV
"Already sent," Sienna said with that evil smile. "Congratulations, you two. You're about to become the most hated couple in America."
My heart stopped. The video. She recorded everything. Dominic's proposal, my acceptance, Blake's panic—all of it was about to go public.
"Delete it," I said, my voice shaking. "Sienna, delete that video right now."
"Why would I do that?" Sienna tilted her head, fake innocence dripping from her voice. "This is amazing content. 'Billionaire CEO Proposes to Son's Ex-Fiancée on Wedding Day.' It's going to break the internet."
Dominic's phone started buzzing. Then mine. Then Blake's. All at once, like an explosion.
"It's already started," Sienna laughed. "My contact at the New York Times just posted it. Check your phones. You're trending."
I pulled out my phone with trembling hands. My screen was flooded with notifications. Hundreds of them. Thousands. My social media was blowing up with messages from people I didn't even know.
"OMG is this real??""What kind of sick family is this??""The bride is a home-wrecker!""This is the most messed up thing I've ever seen"
My stomach dropped. They were calling me a home-wrecker. Me. The woman who'd been betrayed.
"This is what you wanted, isn't it?" I turned on Sienna, anger replacing my shock. "This was your plan all along. Get Blake to cheat on me, record everything, and then destroy us all."
"Not all of you," Sienna corrected sweetly. "Just you and Dominic. Blake and I will come out looking like the victims. The poor son whose evil father stole his bride. The best friend who tried to save her friend from making a terrible mistake."
"That's a lie!" I shouted. "You're the one who—"
"Who has proof?" Sienna held up her phone. "I have videos, Melissa. Not just this one. I have videos of Blake crying to me about how trapped he felt in your relationship. Videos of you flirting with Dominic in that hotel room—oh yes, I edited it perfectly. And I have witnesses who will say they saw you and Dominic together weeks ago."
"That's impossible," Dominic said, his voice dangerously calm. "Melissa and I never met before today."
"Doesn't matter," Sienna shrugged. "People will believe what I tell them to believe. By tomorrow morning, everyone will think you two have been having an affair for months. Poor Blake will be the victim who almost married his father's mistress."
My hands clenched into fists. "Why are you doing this? I was your friend. I trusted you!"
"Because you had everything!" Sienna's fake sweetness vanished, replaced by pure venom. "Perfect Melissa with her perfect life. You got the rich boyfriend, the expensive wedding, the fairy tale ending. While I had nothing. So I decided to take it all from you."
"You're insane," I whispered.
"I'm smart," Sienna corrected. "And now you have two choices. You can go through with this ridiculous wedding and become the most hated woman in America. Or you can walk away, let Blake and me be together, and maybe—maybe—I'll release a statement saying it was all a misunderstanding."
"Don't listen to her," Dominic said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "She's bluffing."
"Am I?" Sienna's smile returned. "Check your phone, Dominic. Your board members are already calling for an emergency meeting. Something about 'inappropriate conduct' and 'damage to company reputation.' I wonder what they'll say when they find out their CEO is marrying his son's ex-fiancée."
Dominic's jaw tightened. His phone was ringing non-stop now.
"Answer it," Sienna taunted. "Go ahead. Let them tell you how you're destroying everything your father built."
Blake was staring at his phone, his face pale. "Dad, she's right. The board is furious. Uncle Marcus is already calling for a vote to remove you as CEO."
"Marcus," Dominic said the name like a curse. "Of course."
"Who's Marcus?" I asked.
"My brother," Dominic replied. "Blake's uncle. He's been trying to take over the company for years. This is exactly the kind of scandal he needs."
Understanding hit me like a truck. "This wasn't just about destroying me. It was about destroying your company."
Sienna clapped slowly. "Finally, she gets it. Blake's uncle Marcus hired me two years ago. My job was to get close to Blake, become Melissa's best friend, and wait for the perfect moment to create a scandal big enough to force Dominic out. The wedding was supposed to be simple—Blake dumps Melissa at the altar, creates a minor embarrassment. But then Dominic showed up and proposed to her, and well..." She laughed. "This is so much better than we planned."
"You're working for Marcus," Blake said, finally understanding. He looked sick. "You used me."
"Poor baby," Sienna mocked. "Did you really think I loved you? You're a spoiled, weak little boy who can't even tie his own shoes without daddy's help. You were just a tool."
Blake's face crumbled. For the first time, I almost felt sorry for him.
"So what now?" I asked, my voice steadier than I felt. "You destroy us all and Marcus takes over the company?"
"Exactly," Sienna said. "Unless..."
"Unless what?" Dominic demanded.
"Unless you do exactly what I say." Sienna's eyes glittered with malice. "Dominic, you announce that the proposal was a joke, a misunderstanding caused by emotion. You apologize publicly. You step down from one of your board positions and give it to Marcus. And Melissa..." She looked at me. "You disappear. Leave New York. Change your name. Never contact the Romano family again."
"And if we refuse?" I asked.
"Then I release the rest of my videos," Sienna said. "Including the ones that will send Dominic to prison for insider trading—oh yes, Marcus made sure I got those too. And the ones that will make Blake lose his trust fund. And the ones that will make you, Melissa, look like a gold-digging whore who seduced both father and son."
The room went silent.
Dominic's hand tightened on my shoulder. "We need time to think."
"You have one hour," Sienna said, checking her watch. "I'll be downstairs with the guests, spinning this story my way. Tick tock."
She walked out, leaving the three of us standing in the wreckage of our lives.
Blake sank into a chair, his head in his hands. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't know she was—"
"Save it," I cut him off. My mind was racing, trying to find a way out of this nightmare.
Dominic's phone rang again. He answered it, his face getting darker with every second.
"I understand," he said finally. "I'll handle it." He hung up and looked at me. "That was my lawyer. Marcus has already filed paperwork to call an emergency board vote. If this scandal continues, I'll lose the company by Monday."
"So that's it?" I felt tears burning my eyes. "Sienna wins? She destroys all of us and gets away with it?"
"Not if we fight back," Dominic said.
"How? She has videos, witnesses, everything!"
"She has lies," Dominic corrected. "And lies can be exposed. But it will take time, and it will get ugly. Uglier than you can imagine." He looked at me seriously. "If you walk away now, I understand. You didn't ask for any of this."
I thought about everything I'd lost today. My wedding. My best friend. My fiancé. My dignity.
But I also thought about the rage burning in my chest. The need to make Sienna pay for what she'd done.
"I'm not walking away," I said firmly. "If she wants a war, let's give her one."
Dominic smiled, and it was fierce and proud. "Then we need to move fast. And we need to do something Sienna won't expect."
"What?"
"We actually get married," Dominic said. "Today. Right now. In front of all those guests downstairs. We make it real."
"Are you insane?" Blake jumped up. "That's exactly what she wants!"
"No," I said slowly, understanding dawning. "It's not. She wants us to look guilty and run away. She wants us to act like we did something wrong. But if we get married publicly, if we own this completely..." I looked at Dominic. "We control the narrative."
"Exactly," Dominic said. "And I have one more card to play. One that Sienna doesn't know about."
"What card?" I asked.
Before Dominic could answer, the door burst open.
A woman I'd never seen before walked in—tall, elegant, with silver-blonde hair and cold blue eyes.
"Hello, Dominic," she said. "Miss me?"
Dominic's face went completely white.
"Elena?" he whispered. "That's impossible. You're dead."