SWNOVELS Chapter 25
Chapter 25
“Turn it off, turn it off!” Clarissa could no longer contain herself, shrieking on stage, nearly fainting. Meanwhile, her bridesmaids stood by indifferently, enjoying the spectacle as if they were watching a comedy act. “You love showing off so much. It’s backfired on you!”
The giant screen went dark. The emcee was sweating profusely, thinking to himself how truly challenging this job was.
“Marc, those photos were photoshopped! The woman in those pictures isn’t me. Someone’s trying to frame me!” Clarissa clung to Marc, her face in panic. Her crown had tilted, her hair had come undone, and her heavily blushed face looked distorted and pale.
Marc could tell if those photos were genuine or not. Although puzzled about how things had turned out this way, he could not help but be concerned about Clarissa’s health. So, he advised her. “It’s okay, don’t get worked up. It’s not good for your health. If you have something to say, we can discuss it after the wedding.”
Clarissa, now realizing the situation, softened in his arms. She clutched her stomach, biting her lip hard, swaying as if she might faint any moment. “Marc, I’m not feeling well.
Can we speed things up?”
She no longer cared about the ceremony. She just wanted the wedding to end without
further incidents.
Feeling the pressure, the emcee rushed the ceremony and asked Clarissa and Marc to exchange rings. But, yet again, there was another interruption.
“Wait a minute!”
The ceremony was disrupted again, but it was not Caleb this time. It was Amanda, the older sister of Caleb. She had picked up the discarded material, read it, and decided to take matters into her own hands.
Unlike her brother Caleb, who was more impulsive, she walked up to the stage in her peach–colored dress with confidence and composure. Amanda confronted Clarissa calmly, “Miss Santos, do you really have stomach cancer?”
This unexpected question landed like a thunderbolt, causing Clarissa to jolt in shock.
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Amanda’s voice, without a microphone, was only heard by those on the stage. The bridesmaids watched in confusion, all turning their attention to their friend Clarissa.
“Clarissa, when did you get stomach cancer? Wasn’t it anorexia?”
it?
“Anorexia?” Marc furrowed his brow and also glanced at Clarissa. “Wasn’t it stomach cancer?”
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The bridesmaids and Marc were clearly on different pages in their understanding of the situation. The emcee, standing awkwardly on stage, was completely confused. He did not know if he should continue the wedding.
Lies could only be concealed for so long, and the truth has a way of coming to light.
As Clarissa’s secrets were on the verge of being exposed, she felt like each twist and turn during the day was stripping away her facade, leaving her almost naked before everyone’s
eyes.
She could not help but wonder who was behind all of this and why they were so determined to ruin her special day.
“Marc..
Clarissa clutched Marc’s arm, her face filled with pleading desperation. “Can we please finish the wedding first? I’ll explain everything later. Please, don’t let me embarrass myself before all these people. I’m begging you.”
With a solemn expression, Marc looked at Clarissa, who had held a special place in his heart for so many years, For some reason, she seemed like a stranger to him at this moment. It was as if his heart had stopped beating.
Watching the video of Marc and Clarissa locking eyes, Pearl suddenly stood up from the couch, startling Hubert.
“What’s wrong? Aren’t you watching anymore? The real drama is yet to unfold. It’s going to get even more exciting.” Hubert teased.
Pearl rushed into the bathroom, slammed the door shut, and began venting her frustration, throwing punches into thin air. She was furious. She could not understand why Marc, a
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man of his stature, would marry such a trashy person like Clarissa. She even doubted his sanity. She could not understand why Marc lacked such discernment. It was evident to everyone how terrible a person Clarissa was, yet she had blinded him and even wanted to marry her.
The bathroom door was knocked, and Pearl shouted angrily, “I’m not watching anymore!”
Hubert opened the door with a serious expression. “Something has happened. We just received news from the scene. Marc’s mom is on the rooftop, threatening to jump.”
“What?” Pearl turned pale with shock. She hurriedly ran outside.
Hubert followed, saying, “Hey, don’t tell me you’re going to go there! We’re in Nanston, and Machodean is a two to three–hour drive away…”
“People’s lives are at stake! We have to get there!” Pearl exclaimed.
The wedding scene had descended into chaos.
The guests were bewildered by the sudden interruptions. The ceremony had inexplicably halted, and then the doors to the banquet hall burst open, letting in a gust of strong wind that carried a flurry of papers with it.
The flying paper hit people in the face, and as they picked it up, they saw a list of “Clarissa’s Top Ten Crimes” in painstaking detail. The accusations seemed endless.
Written above were accusations of her promiscuity, lying, showing off, vanity, hypocrisy, superficiality, pretentiousness, playing innocent, being a home–wrecker, having a malicious heart, and belittling other women even though she herself was a woman.
“Is this all true? And she always acted so elegant and refined? The Santos family’s upbringing must be really lacking!” a guest jeered disdainfully.
Clarissa’s parents, sitting in the audience, had lost all composure. They did not care about propriety anymore and rushed onto the stage. Holding the list of accusations, they confronted their daughter. “Clarissa, what is the meaning of this? How could you?”
Looking at the paper filled with accusations against her, Clarissa trembled with anger and pointed toward the audience.
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“Who is responsible for this? Who wants to harm me? If you have the guts, come forward and explain everything!”
“Explain everything? Are you even capable of that?”
Caleb, who had managed to free himself from the restraints, returned to the stage. He took. the list from Amanda and glared at Clarissa with a cold smile. “Perhaps you should start by explaining this so–called illness of yours. You claimed it was stomach cancer when, in reality, it was anorexia. I even felt sorry for you, thinking you were a terminally ill patient. Did you really think you could marry Marc? Dream on!”
He wanted to throw the documents at Clarissa’s face, but Marc intercepted them halfway.
As Marc flipped through the documents, he saw a clear record of Clarissa’s medical condition, documented in different languages.
The “stomach cancer” diagnosis was also analyzed from various angles, revealing it to be
a forgery.
All he needed to do was send someone to investigate, and uncovering her lies would have been easy. However, he had been kept in the dark until now. He could not believe he had been foolish to this extent.
Marc’s lips curled into a sarcastic smile. It was unclear whether he was laughing at Clarissa or himself.
He raised the documents and looked at Clarissa. “No wonder you never agreed to go to the hospital for an examination. Every word you said was a lie from the moment you returned
to the co
“No, Marc, please listen to my explanation!” Clarissa’s eyes reddened, and tears welled up as she approached him, holding her wedding gown.
But Marc did not step forward to support her as he used to. Instead, he stepped back, and his eyes were filled with coldness and disdain. He seemed to view her as a poisonous creature, something to be avoided at all costs.
Clarissa’s heart sank heavily. It was over.
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At that moment, Thomas rushed onto the stage hurriedly to report. “Mr. Males,
something’s wrong. Your mother is on the rooftop, and she’s saying she wants to jump.”
Marc’s expression changed instantly. He descended from the stage and hurried toward the rooftop.
On the rooftop, Phoenix sat in her wheelchair perilously close to the edge. One wrong move, and she could plummet to her death. Yet, she appeared utterly unafraid, maintaining her dignified and domineering posture.
A crowd had gathered below, and safety nets were set up while a negotiation expert with a megaphone attempted to calm the situation. “Ma’am, please don’t do anything rash. Let’s talk it out. If you have any grievances, we can discuss them.”
Marc, Caleb, and others reached the rooftop and saw Phoenix sitting on the edge. She looked as if she could fall off at any moment. No one dared to speak loudly.
Marc tried to call his mom.
Marc’s voice choked up, and he tried to shout, but his mouth moved silently, producing no
sound.
“Aunt, what are you doing? Can’t you just talk to us? Why scare us like this?” Caleb was in a state of panic, his words jumbled, as he pleaded with Phoenix.
Phoenix sat in her wheelchair, turned to look at Marc, who was approaching, and said, “Marc, do you know why I didn’t want you to marry Clarissa?”
Marc finally found his voice after a long pause. “I know. Because of Lisa Santos.”
Phoenix sneered coldly. “Back then, because of Lisa, your father insisted on divorcing me when you were just ten years old. I struggled for ten years to save my marriage, but in the end, your damn father still left me and went to be with Lisa. And now, my son, you’re about to follow in your father, Edward Hayes’s footsteps, marrying Lisa’s niece. How ridiculous is that?”
Marc struggled to speak, but his words were caught in his throat.
“I’ve always had a strong sense of pride throughout my life, and I’ve had enough of being
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humiliated by Lisa once. I won’t accept becoming family with Clarissa. I know you love her, and I don’t want to put you in a difficult position. I’ll leave on my own terms.”
Phoenix maneuvered her wheelchair forward, but suddenly, the wheelchair would not budge. Perplexed, she looked around and saw several people in black who had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. They had firmly secured the rooftop and immobilized her wheelchair.
Lucas climbed up from below, covered in dirt, and smiled at Phoenix. “Auntie, it was Marc who forced me to do this. Please don’t blame me.”
Marc, with a composed expression, pulled Phoenix back. Just then, a helicopter roared in the sky not far away, hovering as if conducting aerial reconnaissance.
Soon, the rooftop was cleared of all personnel, and the onlookers felt the gust of wind as they watched the helicopter slowly descend.
A slender figure emerged from the pilot’s seat. She was dressed in a simple white shirt and black pants, with a sharp and stylish short haircut. Swiftly and deftly, she removed her flight gear. The bystanders then realized that the pilot of the helicopter was a woman.
Not just any woman, but a beautiful one.
As Marc got a clear look at the woman’s face, he was shaken to his core. Every step Pearl took as she approached felt like a heavy blow to his heart.