“You think too much.”
He approached her and pressed down on her shoulder. “I just want you to be the most beautiful woman tonight. Don’t overthink it.”
What Brettley said did not bring any comfort to Bethan at all. Instead, she felt even more irritated. For some reason, she felt like Brettley was hiding something from her.
Nonetheless, she knew him well enough to know she would never get it from him if he did not want to tell her. In the end, she sighed and followed Brettley to the car to get her hair styled and makeup.
For some reason, the stylist was extra thoughtful today. It took nearly two hours for Bethan to get her hair and makeup done. When she was finished, Brettley had already contacted Rosalyn and told her about Bethan’s situation.
As he heard sounds coming from his back, he looked back at where Bethan was coming from. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw Bethan.
It had been a long time since he saw Bethan dressed up so beautifully. If he did not have to stall for time so Bethan would forget about Anne, he would not insist on getting Bethan all dolled up…
Anne came into his mind again when he looked at how beautiful Bethan was, and at this thought, his feelings grew tumultuous.
Bethan started to feel worried when she noticed the changes in Brettley’s emotions.
“Brettley.”
She bit her lip and walked over carefully while lifting her evening gown. “Is something wrong? Or do you think I look ugly?”
When she looked into the mirror, she thought she was the most beautiful over the last few years. Thus, she did not understand the reaction she got from Brettley.
“It’s nothing. You look beautiful.”
He tried to contain his real emotion, smiled, and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go. We’re going to be late.”
Bethan pursed her lips and nodded silently while letting Brettley lead her to the car.
It was 8 p.m. at Starhill Hotel. Everyone from the upper class of Banyan City was looking forward to the wedding.
“Do you think Brettley is going to show up?”
“The groom insisted he’ll show up. Who knows if it is real or fake…”
“Brettley always makes a huge scene wherever he goes, but I don’t hear anyone saying Brettley is back. Is Adrian trying to fool us?”
“I don’t care. If Brettley doesn’t show up today, I’m going to do whatever I can to get my money back from Adrian and Brettley!”
Adrian, standing on the stage in a well-fitted suit, trembled. He bit his lip and gave Jacqueline a worried look. “Jacqueline, do you think Brettley and Bethan will show up? If they don’t…”
The man in his fifties looked over at the people he owed money to who had attended his wedding, tears brimming in his eyes.
“Am I finished? I told you that we shouldn’t throw such an extravagant wedding. We have a bad reputation…”
“There’s nothing to panic about.”
Jacqueline, wearing a white wedding dress, looked at the time and said coldly, “Brettley will show up.’
After that, she looked at her phone and sent a message to Willow.
[Send Bethan the photo.]
Willow was still enjoying her moment daydreaming about being rich after collecting Vannessa’s debt. When she read Jacquline’s message, she sneered and sent Bethan the photo where Anne was tied up.
She had prepared the photo in advance. Although Anne was dead, she still used a photo- editing app to include the current time in the photo.
Bethan’s phone beeped when she opened the door to get out of the car. She turned around to get her phone when she heard the notification sound.
It was a message with a photo from an unknown number.
She furrowed her brows and opened the message-
In the photo, Anne’s face looked bruised. She was tied to the chair with a rough, thick hemp rope, and she looked to be in a dark and humid basement. There was rusted iron and moss from the corner of the photo.
There was a message along with the photo.
[Keep quiet about this. If you and Brettley do not attend the wedding now, Anne will die.]
Bethan’s heart nearly leaped out of her chest the moment she saw the photo.
‘Anne… Who kidnapped her?!’ She bit her lip.
Subconsciously, she glanced at Brettley, who was on his phone not too far away from her. Her heart clenched.
Her hunch was right. Anne was in trouble! Brettley was acting weird for the entire time because of this!
Bethan took a deep breath and replied to the message.
[Who are you? Why did you kidnap Anne? Where are you? I’m going there!]
Since the stranger made the request for her and Brettley to attend the wedding, she was sure the people who kidnapped Anne were trying to force Brettley to show up at the wedding.
[If you want Brettley to attend the wedding, you should take me-not Anne!]
Anne did nothing wrong. The only thing she did wrong was having Bethan as her friend, the friend who kept finding herself in trouble!
Soon enough, she got a reply.
[Didn’t you read my message? What I want is for you and Brettley to attend the wedding together. Don’t try any tricks. If you dare to inform the police, say anything to anyone else, or do not follow my instructions, I’ll kill her immediately!]
Bethan’s heart raced when she saw the terrible words. She grabbed her phone tightly and replied, [I’ll attend the wedding immediately. Don’t act rashly!]
No wonder Anne had been quiet and no one could get through to John! She finally understood why Brettley refused to let her go to look for Anne. He tried hard to stall time by asking her to doll up and went to the shop to choose an evening gown for the wedding.
It was because Anne was kidnapped! She believed Brettley did all of those because he knew about the kidnapping all along. He hid it from her because he was afraid she would do something hasty.
With those thoughts in her mind, she bit her lip. ‘I’m pretty sure Brettley has a plan. I should follow his plan and not cause more trouble for him.’
Thus, she suppressed the uneasiness in her heart and pretended nothing happened while walking toward Brettley. “Brettley? We should go in now.”
At that moment, Brettley was talking on the phone with Rosalyn about Bethan’s current condition.
He stiffened when he heard Bethan’s voice and quickly hung up. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah.”
Bethan curled her lips and forced a smile while lifting her evening gown. “The wedding is about to start. We should go in.”
Brettley put away his phone and took a deep breath. “Then, you have to get ready. This wedding is unlike the ones we attended before.”
Bethan nodded and responded, “I know.”
They needed to deal with two dangerous people tonight, which were Adrian and Jacqueline, as well as coming up with a plan to save Anne!
Brettley was slightly relieved to see Bethan was in a better condition. He grabbed her hand and walked into the wedding venue together.
“Brettley Morrison!”
“Brettley Morrison is here!”
“Oh my god! He’s really here. I thought he wasn’t going to show up…”
As soon as they entered the venue, they were surrounded.
“Mr. Morrison, your father said you were the one who instigated him to borrow money from us. Can you please clear the air and tell us if you were the one who borrowed money from us?”
Bethan was so shocked that she could not find any words when the people surrounded her and Brettley.
Before they arrived, Brettley had told her Adrian had secretly used his name to borrow a lot of money when they were not in Banyan City.
Yet, Bethan did not think that nearly 80% of the guests who attended the wedding were people to whom Adrian owed money. Those who lent money to Adrian were almost everyone from the upper class from Banyan City!
The shocked Bethan stared at the scene and grabbed Brettley’s hand tightly.
Brettley looked at the people who surrounded them indifferently and said, “Are all of you here to attend Adrian and Jacqueline’s wedding or here to collect your debt?”
It brought silence to the wedding.
Not long later, a female shouted out from the crowd, “What’s wrong with that? Why can we attend the wedding and also collect our debt at the same time?”
The others quickly adhered to her.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.