Chapter 1

At my wedding, the groom, Tyler, slapped me hard across the face in front of every single guest.

The reason? My cousin, Chloe, had tumbled down the stairs, and he was convinced I pushed her.

"Summer, Chloe has severe depression! Why the hell would you push her?!"

Chloe lay curled in Tyler’s arms, coughing up a theatrical trace of blood.

"Tyler, please don't blame Summer... I was just careless."

Aunt Brenda lunged at me, grabbing my wedding gown and shaking me violently.

"You evil wretch! You were already jealous of Chloe’s career, and now you’re trying to murder her?!"

My dad stormed onto the altar, snatching the microphone straight from the officiant’s hand.

"Summer, get on your knees and apologize to your cousin right now! This wedding is off!"

The entire room gasped.

Whispers erupted as everyone started pointing fingers at me.

They called me vicious. They called me consumed by jealousy.

Yet, I didn't cry. I didn't scream.

I just gave a cold smirk and snapped my fingers at my maid of honor.

A second later, the massive LED screen behind the altar flickered to life.

Playing on it was the crystal-clear, multi-angle security footage from the stairwell ten minutes ago.

On screen, Chloe was caught red-handed biting open a fake blood capsule.

Then, timing it perfectly with Tyler walking into view, she threw herself down the steps with dramatic flair.

From beginning to end, my hands never even brushed the hem of her dress.

I picked up a backup microphone, my voice echoing throughout the entire hall.

"Chloe, they should give you an Oscar for being the most pathetic fraud alive."

Dead silence.

The rage on Tyler’s face instantly froze.

He looked down at Chloe in his arms.

Chloe turned paper white, forgetting even to pretend she was fainting.

"This... this is an AI deepfake!"

Brenda was the first to snap out of it, screeching frantically.

"Summer, you sick bitch! Faking a surveillance video just to save your own skin?!"

I looked at Brenda and laughed out loud.

"Aunt Brenda, that hotel footage has an official security timestamp. Do you think the cops are blind?"

My dad marched over, face dark with fury.

"Enough! Stop airing our dirty laundry in public! Turn that damn screen off!"

I glared at him, my gaze ice cold.

"When she was throwing mud at me, why didn't you care about dirty laundry?"

"Now that the evidence destroys her, you want to talk about family honor?"

"Dad, your favoritism could drown an entire ocean."

Tyler snapped up.

He stared at the screen, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"Chloe, what the hell is this?"

Tears poured from Chloe's eyes as she wrapped her arms around Tyler's leg.

"Tyler, I really do have depression!"

"I was just so terrified of losing you! She’s always targeting me, and I lost my head for a second!"

Her ability to spin lies on the spot truly blew my mind.

I scoffed.

"Afraid of losing him?"

"You weren't afraid when you crawled into his bed and sent him midnight selfies in plunging lace lingerie, were you?"

Tyler’s face flushed an ugly purple.

"Summer, watch your mouth!"

"Chloe only did that so we could discuss her jewelry designs!"

I sneered.

"Since when does discussing jewelry designs require wearing nothing but crotchless lace?"

Brenda immediately shielded Chloe.

"Shut your mouth! You’re just talentless! You couldn't even place in a local design contest!"

"Our Chloe is about to be hired as the Chief Designer at Pinnacle Group!"

"You’re just bitter that she’s better than you and that Tyler loves her more!"

My mom dabbed her tears from the front row.

"Summer, just apologize. Chloe is a top designer now. We can’t afford to make an enemy out of her."

Looking at these brainless hypocrites, a wave of sheer disgust washed over me.

"Chief designer?"

"Aunt Brenda, why don't you ask her the name of that award-winning piece? Ask her if she can sketch even a single line of it."

Chloe’s head jerked up, panic finally flickering in her eyes.

"Stop making things up! I pulled three all-nighters to draw that!"

Tyler stepped up to defend her too.

"Summer, I know you’re bitter about me calling off the wedding."

"But you cannot deny Chloe’s genius!"

I had zero interest in wasting words on this trashy duo.

With a sharp click, the screen switched.

This time, the display was flooded with design sketches, layered revision logs, and raw files stamped with verified creation dates.

Every single one was signed with my name: Summer Vance.

And the final rendered piece was the exact design Chloe had entered into the competition to win the Grand Gold Prize.

The only difference was that she had cropped out my signature and slapped her own onto it.

Looking at the undeniable proof on screen, I felt entirely numb.

Reasoning with people who have zero morals was a complete waste of time.

Chloe stared at the screen, her face as pale as a corpse.

She bit her lip so hard it nearly bled, her whole body shaking violently.

The guests instantly erupted.

"Wait, so she's the thief calling the victim a thief?!"

"Faking a fall down the stairs was bad enough, but stealing her cousin's work?"

"She literally cropped the signature out! That is shamelessly disgusting!"

Hearing the crowd’s whispers, Brenda turned red with humiliation.

She whipped around and shoved her finger right in my face.

"Summer, you spiteful little snake!"

"You hired someone to fabricate fake evidence just to frame Chloe!"

I watched Brenda throw her tantrum coldly.

"Those are digitally certified timestamps from the Copyright Office, complete with government anti-fraud codes."

"Brenda, acting this brain-dead should qualify you for disability benefits."

Trembling with rage, Brenda grabbed Chloe’s hand.

"Chloe, tell everyone the truth!"

"Tell them you slaved night after night over that drawing! It was never hers!"