After the ceremony, Ethan Grant had someone take Serena Sullivan directly to his villa.
At night, The Grant Family's home was quiet, lacking any wedding atmosphere.
It wasn't until the honking of a car outside broke the building's tranquility.
The sound woke Serena, and she opened her eyes. In the dim light, the wedding room covered in red decorations made her feel disoriented for a moment.
The continuous vibration of her phone pulled her thoughts back. She propped herself up, leaned a pillow against her lower back, and reached for the phone.
Before she could speak, an angry voice came from the other side.
"Serena, you've gone mad!"
Serena listened to her friend Anna Morgan's exasperated voice and chuckled, "What's wrong? Who pissed you off this much?"
"If I hadn't seen the news about you marrying him on my phone, when were you planning to tell us?"
Serena laughed placatingly, "I was afraid you and Finn Chandler would come to crash the wedding!"
Indeed, if they had known earlier that Serena was going to marry Ethan Grant, they would have shown up at the ceremony to take her away.
"You're lucky Finn isn't here."
Then Anna Morgan said angrily, "Serena, four years ago, it was Ethan Grant who caused you to become like this!"
"You're just asking for it!"
Serena pursed her lips, looking at the glaring red decorations on the white wall, her smile faded, "I don't know if I'm asking for it or not! But The Sullivan Corporation can't fall into the hands of Zoe Quinn and her father."
"If she marries Ethan Grant..."
"Zoe Quinn's price is her goal; what's more important, money or your life."
Anna still remembered, four years ago, getting the call and rushing to the hospital, seeing Serena covered in blood, lying weak on the stretcher.
"Money! Without money, how could I hire a nurse!" Serena replied, laughing.
"You! You!"
Anna was too furious to speak.
"Ethan Grant is a bastard. Of all the times to get married, he announced it right after you got back."
"There are so many women in Solaria, yet he chose Zoe Quinn, that two-faced woman. How blind is he!"
"I think there's more to this than meets the eye."
"Make sure to hold on. Don't fall for Ethan Grant again, or he'll leave you shattered."
Listening to Anna's rant, Serena responded with a few "mmhmm's."
"Alright, Anna, don't be mad anymore. Marrying Ethan Grant is really quite good for me."
"Ethan Grant has money, I won't starve. If we divorce, I could still get a lot of money!"
"Exactly, spend that bastard's money to your heart's content!" Anna said through gritted teeth, but even if Serena spent all of Ethan Grant's money, her leg wouldn't heal.
Serena was about to say something when the bedroom door was suddenly pushed open from the outside, startling Serena into dropping her phone on the bed. She looked up to see a man in the bright hallway, wearing a white shirt, leaning half of his body against the door frame. He turned to look inside, his dark eyes deep and unfathomable, leaving Serena momentarily dazed, her memories drifting back to when she first met Ethan Grant.
The bright sunshine cast dappled shadows on the street, and the cicadas chirped incessantly. A carefree youth in a white shirt blocked her path with his bicycle.
"Here, take this!"
He shoved a pink-covered love letter into her hand, grinning at her bewilderment, bold and unrestrained.
"From now on, you're mine!"