He Chose Her Ten Times, I Left Once Chapter 03

The next day, at Sienna’s birthday gala, the walls were covered with photographs of her late mother, framing the three of them as a perfect, untainted family unit.

Sienna wore a monstrosity of tulle and diamonds and tucked her hand naturally through Elliot’s arm.

She looked, for all the world, like the true Sterling heiress and the future Mrs. Whitmore.

The moment I entered, whispers rose behind me.

“Ten years of being the runner-up. Was she ever really in the running, or just a placeholder?”

“In love? Please. Mr. Whitmore only proposed because he felt sorry for her. She’s the one who went on a smear campaign against Sienna yesterday.”

“Mr. Whitmore and Sienna are obviously the real match. Getting picked ten years in a row? That kind of luck doesn’t just happen.”

…

Elliot walked over and handed me a prepared statement.

“Go onstage and read it.”

[I attacked Sienna online yesterday out of jealousy because she was chosen. I maliciously called her the other woman. In truth, she is not the daughter of an affair…]

I stared at the page in disbelief.

Was he asking me to admit that my mother had been the mistress?

That I was the illegitimate one?

I laughed coldly, tore the statement into pieces, and threw them at him.

“Sienna’s mother was the other woman. And so is Sienna.”

A shudder of shock. swept through the room.

Sienna’s face stiffened. Then she gathered her skirt and sank to the floor in front of me as if she had been wronged beyond words.

“Avery, I know you’re still upset about the bride-selection ceremony, but you shouldn’t smear me and my mother like this.”

Her voice trembled.

“It was your mother’s madness that caused the crash that killed mine! You bullied me into silence! I stayed quiet all this time only because I wanted us to be family again…”

As she spoke, she “accidentally” revealed both of her arms.

They were covered in dark, frightening bruises.

The room erupted.

Elliot only glanced at them once before looking back at me, his eyes filled with disappointment.

“So you and your mother have been abusing Sienna and her mother all this time?”

“Your mother killed hers, and then the two of you kept hurting Sienna?”

I shook my head, my mind reeling and denied it at once. “My mother never did anything like that!”

The next second, my father backhanded me into silence.

“How did I raise a daughter like you? Sienna is family!”

The vitriol of the crowd surged, their faces blurring into a mask of righteous fury.

“So her mother was insane and killed someone?”

“Like mother, like daughter. No wonder she bullied Sienna. She’s probably crazy too.”

My legs gave out, and I fell hard to the floor.

Elliot’s expression darkened with embarrassment.

His pride had clearly taken a hit. He turned to Graham and ordered, “Send Vivian to a psychiatric facility. Consider it justice for Sienna.”

My father hesitated, but he did not stop him.

I scrambled up from the floor, shaking with disbelief.

“There is nothing wrong with my mother! Sienna is lying!”

“Enough!” Elliot’s voice rose sharply.

“Stop this pathetic display. Apologize to Sienna. Now.”

He pressed down on my shoulders without holding back, forcing me down in front of everyone.

Pain flared in my joints as if the bones had split open.

“Avery, are you okay?” Sienna fluttered to my side, her touch a mockery.

Then she leaned close to my ear.

“Elliot gave me control over your mother’s kidney donation paperwork. But donors can be so… fickle. Looks like Vivian will have to keep waiting.”

Her voice dropped lower, sweeter, crueler.

“Of course, accidents happen so easily in the psych ward. I wonder if she’ll last the week.”

The threat in her eyes expanded in front of me until it filled my entire world.

I could not hold back anymore.

Like a woman driven past sanity, I grabbed her hair and was about to demand the truth.

Then the medical alert smartwatch linked to my mother’s device began shrieking against my wrist.

Chapter 4

I looked up in shock and met the smug look on Sienna’s face.

“Sienna, lay a finger on her and I’ll end you.”

I no longer cared who was watching. I raised my hand, ready to strike the smugness right off her face.

Sienna immediately lifted both arms to shield herself, trembling as if she were terrified of me.

“Avery, please don’t hit me. Vivian is being cared for perfectly well in her room. Why are you accusing me like this?”

But the violent vibration of the watch on my wrist felt like it was ripping through my soul.

My mother was in danger. I knew it.

When I tried to lunge for her, Elliot moved between us. His eyes were twin pools of cold revulsion.

“Avery, enough. Sienna never blamed your mother for killing hers. How can you turn around and attack her like this?”

My whole body shook so hard I could barely stand. “My mother is in danger.”

“Stop it!” he snapped. “Hasn’t Sienna suffered enough? Look at yourself. Do you even look like a bride anymore?”

Right then, from an angle Elliot could not see, Sienna tilted her screen toward me, flashing a live feed.

In the footage, inside a room at the psychiatric facility, my mother was locked inside a metal restraint enclosure.

Flames were spreading toward her from every side.

The fire crept closer inch by inch. The sheer terror on her face was a blade in my heart.

I shoved Elliot aside like I had gone mad and swung my hand toward Sienna with every ounce of strength I had left.

The next second, Elliot seized my wrist and hurled me down the steps.

“I’m done with your hysterics, Avery. Why do you keep pushing? Apologize to Sienna right now, or you’re not going anywhere.”

I tumbled down several marble steps. Pain exploded through my body as if my organs had been shattered.

Elliot’s expression changed, and he instinctively rushed over to help me, but I shoved his hand away with all the strength I had.

The image of my mother trapped in the fire, begging for help, burned through my mind.

For the first time in my life, I let my pride die.

In front of Sienna, the murderer, I broke down and begged.

“Sienna, my mother and I were wrong. We’re sorry for what we did to you and your mother.”

I looked at Sienna’s pleased face with hatred burning in my eyes, then looked at Elliot.

His expression was complicated.

“Better,” he said. “Get up.”

He reached for me again, but I recoiled from him in disgust.

Then I ran out of the birthday gala without looking back.

Elliot stood there with a deep frown, watching my figure disappear. Something heavy seemed to sink in his chest.

Until Sienna called softly behind him, “Elliot, will you sing happy birthday to me?”

“Yeah,” he answered.

By the time I reached the asylum, the fire had already reached the enclosure where my mother was trapped.

I rushed inside like a madwoman.

The second I tried to unlock the restraint cage, the metal scorched my hands with a sharp hiss.

Then a piece of an oxygen tank ruptured in the corner.

With a deafening boom, a wave of heat surged straight toward me.

That night, Sienna posted a photo of a signed marriage license, and it went viral almost instantly.

#So Avery Sterling Was the Other Woman All Along!#

#What a Joke. Her Mother Spent Years Playing the Victim Against a Mistress, Only for Her Own Daughter to Become One.#

For the first time in ages, Elliot sent me an explanation.

Elliot: [Sienna’s emotional state is fragile. I had no choice but to sign the papers to calm her down. But my bride will still be you.]

Elliot: [The wedding gown has been sent back. Come home and try it on.]

I no longer had the strength to reply.

Darkness swallowed my vision completely.

The next day, at the cathedral, Elliot stood in a perfectly tailored suit, waiting eagerly for his bride to enter.

Thunderous applause filled the room. The chapel doors slowly opened.

But the woman who walked in was Sienna.

The smile died on his lips. He stormed toward her, his eyes red with fury.

“Why are you the bride?”

The next second, his phone rang.

It was a call from the hospital.