Love in Silence

The bell rang, and a flock of white doves flew from the church, spreading their majestic wings against the blue sky.

"Now, please welcome the bride!"

The melody of Wedding March filtered through the air, and the large doors of the hall swung open slowly.

Dressed in a lovely white wedding dress, Ariana Edwards composedly entered the church with a bouquet of fresh flowers in her hands. Her clear eyes were filled with expectation and unease.

But when she looked around the inside of the church, the hope and expectation in her eyes suddenly diminished.

Not only was there not a single guest at the scene, but the groom himself was absent.

Other than the priest who was standing on the stage with the Bible in his hands, only her stepmother, Glenda Edwards, was standing nearby and gazing at her with a smile.

"What happened?" Ariana froze in her tracks. She looked at Glenda with apprehension mounting in her heart.

Glenda ignored Ariana's question and walked to Ariana's side as if nothing was wrong. She took Ariana by the arm and dragged her to the front of the priest.

"Let's begin." Glenda instructed the priest to carry out the wedding process.

The priest nodded and began to read Bible. Then he asked the bride, "Miss Ariana Edwards, do you take the groom, Theodore Anderson, as your husband and vow to stay by his side, in sickness, and in health, till death do you part..."

When she heard the priest state the groom's name, Ariana thought she was experiencing an auditory hallucination.

Her groom-to-be should be Jasper Anderson, the second son of the Andersons.

Theodore was Jasper's elder brother. Three months ago, he was involved in a terrible car accident that rendered him a vegetable. Now he was still lying on the bed!

"You've made a mistake! My boyfriend is Jasper Anderson, and the groom-to-be should be him! How could it be Theodore?" Ariana stumbled back in a panic, stepping on the long hem of her wedding dress behind her. The material pulled, and she staggered and almost fell.

Glenda's sharp eyes glared at her stepdaughter, and she sneered, "There is no mistake. You and Theodore were meant to be the bride and groom of this wedding from the very beginning. Theodore has become a vegetable and only has a few days left to live. An IUI procedure must be implemented using his preserved sperm so that he can have a child before he dies. You are the chosen container for that embryo."

"This is ridiculous! Where's Jasper? He won't allow you to do this!" Ariana demanded, her eyes red. She couldn't accept any of it.

Glenda didn't answer Ariana. Instead, she raised her hand impatiently. The bodyguards lurking in the shadows rushed over immediately, grabbing Ariana and trying to get her to finish the wedding by force.

Ariana tried her best to struggle, flailing and twisting. Her intricate wedding attire untangled as her hair scattered and her dress tore and dirtied. She was like a fierce desperado, trying every way she could to fight her way out.

She hit the bodyguards with her high heels and managed to free herself from their grasp. Then she ran toward the door of the hall as fast as her legs could carry her, desperately trying to escape her pursuers.

The church was a vast building. Ariana gasped for air as she ran without a destination.

The bodyguards were still chasing after her. She could hear their heavy footsteps close behind, but she didn't dare to stop to look. Ariana fled into a white villa beside the church in panic.

She looked for a place to hide, trying to stay quiet and calm her heavy breathing.

When she went upstairs and passed the first room on the corridor, Ariana suddenly stopped.

The door was slightly ajar, and a familiar giggle came from the crack of the door.

Ariana's heart sank in dread. Lifting her dress and holding her breath, she approached the door quietly and peered through the crack into the room.

A man and a woman, both half-naked, were embracing each other on the sofa in an intimate posture. Ariana instantly recognized who they were, and her breath hitched in her throat. The woman on the top of the man was Ariana's stepsister, Brielle Edwards. But the man underneath her was Ariana's current boyfriend, Jasper, whom Ariana had expected to marry and had been desperately looking for.

"Why are you so distracted? Are you still thinking about Ariana at this point?" Brielle complained, grabbing Jasper's collar and making him look up at her.

"I've just tricked her into marrying another man. Why would I still think about her? I'm just afraid that something might go wrong. I won't be sure unless I go there in person," Jasper answered impatiently. He gently pushed Brielle and made a move to stand up.

But Brielle didn't take it seriously. She held firm and lowered her head, kissing Jasper passionately. She pulled away for a breath and said, "My mother's there. Ariana can't run away."

"You're right." Jasper relaxed his body and lay back on the sofa. He smirked, slipped his hand under Brielle's clothes, and said, "Ariana is such a gullible woman. Once the wedding's over, I'll make up another lie to comfort her and let her ruin the operation. Then, after Theodore dies, I'll be the only remaining heir of the Anderson family."

As Jasper's hand moved, Brielle groaned coquettishly. She trembled with pleasure and fell into his arms weakly. She chuckled. "Ariana loves you so much. She's been looking forward to the wedding for months. But it turns out to be a fraud planned by the person she loves. You're such a bad boy."

"Don't you like me bad?" Jasper turned over and pressed Brielle onto the sofa, kissing her eagerly.

The next second, their voices trailed off and were replaced with pleasurable whimpers and moans.

Ariana staggered away from the door, her legs shaky and weak.

It turned out that everything had been a schemed ruse from the very beginning!

All the sweet words and promises Jasper had told her were to use her and cheat her! He even personally planned this wedding and tricked her into marrying someone else!

A painful lump formed in her throat, and hot tears fell from her eyes. The cruel truth made Ariana feel as though it were crushing her chest.

Her pale fingers clenched her dress tightly, the moans from the room still audible in her ears. The sound was like a stab in her heart, and she gnashed her teeth with hatred.

The suffocating feeling and heartache were so overwhelming that she nearly collapsed. She knew she had to get away from here. As if she were in a trance, she walked through the villa. She even forgot how she left that place which made her sick.

Her eyes were red, and her face was tear-stained as she walked to the garden dejectedly. The bodyguards found her and soon surrounded her, preventing her from escaping again.

Not that she had the heart to flee again. Ariana was like a walking body without a soul. The misery had been so intense that she now felt numb. She lowered her head and laughed bitterly at herself. After a moment, she suddenly looked up at the bodyguards with cold, hard eyes and snapped, "You don't have to take me back. I'll go back myself and marry Theodore."

She knew she couldn't escape, but now she didn't want to.

At this moment, the hatred in her heart broke out.

She wanted revenge. She wanted to compete with Jasper for the Anderson family's property, and she wanted to see them all go to hell with her own eyes!