A few days before the wedding, our wedding planner scheduled a full dress rehearsal for me and my fiancé. The moment my fiancé scooped me up into his arms, his younger sister suddenly burst into tears. "Ew, Carter, why are you two being so gross?! Why are you hugging her in front of everyone? Are her legs broken? Can't she walk by herself?" Carter immediately set me down to comfort his sister, then demanded that I walk to the getaway car on my own. It's a strong tradition in my family that the bride's feet shouldn't touch the ground on her wedding day before she gets into the car. My parents argued fiercely on my behalf, but Carter, my boyfriend of three years, actually demanded we postpone the wedding. "Chloe hates it when I do that. If you insist on clinging to this superstitious nonsense, then we'll just push the wedding back!" 1 Both sides of the family stared at Chloe in shock. Isn't a groom carrying his bride the most natural thing in the world? "Why is she so special?! Are her legs broken? Can't she walk?!" Chloe screamed angrily. Whispers broke out among the guests. "It's a tradition that the bride's feet don't touch the ground on her wedding day," my mom said, trying to smooth things over with a tight smile. "Chloe, sweetie, when you get married someday, it'll be the same for you!" "I don't care! I forbid Carter from carrying her out! If she wants to get married, she can walk her own lazy self! Otherwise, I'm never speaking to you again, Carter!" Chloe yelled stubbornly. I stared at Carter in disbelief. His worried gaze was entirely focused on Chloe. Then, the arms holding me suddenly loosened. I was dropped heavily to the ground, nearly twisting my ankle. My carefully chosen designer heels slammed into the damp pavement, and the hem of my pristine white wedding dress was instantly splattered with mud. Much like my mood at that exact moment. "Oh no!" My mom rushed forward, snatching up the hem of my dress. "Why did you drop her? Thank goodness this is just a rehearsal. You absolutely cannot do this on the actual wedding day!" Everyone crowded around, asking if I had sprained my ankle. Carter, however, was busy wrapping his arms around Chloe, coaxing her in a low voice. "It's okay, baby, I won't carry her. I'll make her walk, okay?" "Hmph," Chloe scoffed. "Then promise me you'll never carry her again!" Never carry me again? Are we getting married, or becoming frat brothers? "Okay, okay, whatever you say," my fiancé agreed immediately to her absurd demand. Chloe peered over Carter's shoulder, shooting me a triumphant, provocative smirk. I had heard Carter mention he had a "cute" younger sister, but I never imagined her "cuteness" manifested like this. "Let's just let it go. It's only a rehearsal, and Chloe is still young. Don't hold it against her," my future in-laws chimed in, trying to excuse her behavior. My parents and I exchanged a loaded look. Swallowing my frustration, we continued with the rehearsal. Next came the altar. Under the resentful glare of his sister, the officiant prompted the groom to kiss the bride. Carter glanced at Chloe and said, "Let's just skip this part." Watching him cater entirely to Chloe's every whim, the last shred of hope I had for this relationship shattered. After the rehearsal dinner, Carter and I were escorted by a group of friends to the brand-new house we had just bought together. But to my utter shock, Chloe had beaten us there. She was currently lying barefoot on our brand-new marital bed. My future mother-in-law hurried over to pull her up, whispering, "What are you doing?" Chloe was pulled off the bed, only to huff and aggressively bounce right back onto it. Her bare feet left faint, dusty prints all over the expensive silk duvet cover. "What's the big deal? I can't even lie on my brother's bed now?! I was just testing it out to see if it was comfortable for them!" The relatives standing in the doorway fell dead silent. Even the most clueless person knows that the marital bed is sacred territory for the newlyweds. You don't just jump on it. Especially not when you're a twenty-two-year-old adult. I turned to Carter, demanding an explanation. Instead, he looked at Chloe with sickening fondness. "Chloe is right. My home is her home, and everything in it belongs to her! Your sister-in-law is going to spoil you just as much as I do. She won't be mad. Right, Harper?" 2 That last sentence was directed at me. It was laughable. I had promised him in the past that I'd be a good sister-in-law, but I had no idea his sister lacked any concept of basic boundaries. I didn't answer him. Instead, I yanked back the duvet that was bunched up in the middle of the bed. Where there were supposed to be decorative rose petals, the mattress was covered in empty peanut shells. Worse, lined up perfectly down the dead center of the king-sized mattress was a row of tiny, potted cactus plants, physically dividing the bed in half. The guests gasped, whispering loudly. "Cacti on the bed? What kind of weird tradition is this?" "How are they supposed to sleep? This is clearly meant to keep them apart! The groom's family is completely out of line!" "Carter, care to explain what your family is trying to pull here?" I demanded, staring him down. "Uh..." Carter finally looked a little embarrassed. "Don't yell at my brother!" Chloe shouted, standing on the bed and glaring down at me. "Carter promised me he wouldn't carry you anymore! I put those there so you wouldn't try to crawl all over him in the middle of the night. If you aren't afraid of getting pricked, go ahead and try!" The rage I had been suppressing all day finally boiled over. I let out a sharp, bitter laugh. "Carter, did you authorize this?" "No... Harper, listen to me, I'll take the cacti off..." I ignored him, turning on my heel and walking toward the guest bedroom. Sure enough, the room we had planned to decorate as a nursery was already packed with Chloe's belongings. A pink canopy, pink bedding, and a massive, framed photo of her and Carter hugging playfully on the nightstand. It was sickening. "Harper, it's just a minor thing. Do you really need to throw a tantrum over this?" Carter nagged, trailing closely behind me. "What about this?" I pointed at the guest room. "What is the meaning of this?" The guests had followed us down the hall and were peering inside. "Do you have a problem with it?" Chloe's bratty voice echoed from behind us. "My brother and I agreed a long time ago: wherever he goes, I go. His house will always have a room for me. So, I moved in. Right, Carter?" Carter looked guilty. He had never mentioned a word of this to me. But he quickly rallied to defend her. "Yes, Harper, I did promise Chloe. The guest room is empty anyway, what's the big deal if she stays here? You're her sister-in-law now, stop being so petty!" By the end of his sentence, he seemed to have convinced himself he was in the right. His tone shifted to full-blown accusation. It was a truly unforgettable scene. I nodded slowly, a cold smile forming on my lips. I turned to the videographer we had hired for the rehearsal. "Please make sure you're getting all of this on camera." The cameraman nodded, panning his lens around the room, documenting the entire circus. "Mommy, what's this?" A little boy's innocent voice suddenly grabbed everyone's attention. We all turned to see a seven-year-old nephew walking out of the master bathroom, dangling a bright red thong from his fingers. The adults flushed with secondhand embarrassment. One of my aunts pulled me aside, whispering, "Harper, is that yours?" My face went ghost white. We hadn't even officially moved in yet. I had never slept here. Obviously, it wasn't mine. Could it be? I whipped my head toward Carter. "What are you doing?!" Chloe shrieked, lunging forward and snatching the underwear out of the kid's hand. "Don't touch other people's things!" Realizing everyone was staring at her in horror, she pouted. "What are you all looking at? Haven't you ever seen underwear before? I just changed out of it. I was going to ask my brother to wash it for me." She looked at me, a sickeningly sweet smile spreading across her face. "Whenever my brother is home, he always washes my underwear for me. You wouldn't stop doing that just because you got a wife, would you, Carter?" 3 "No, of course not. Nothing's going to change," Carter promised without missing a beat. "Just leave it there. I'll wash it when I have a second." I stood there, paralyzed. A twenty-five-year-old man washing his twenty-two-year-old sister's thongs. And apparently, it was a regular occurrence. In what universe is this normal? Chloe looked at me, practically glowing with the thrill of victory. "Well, I've seen it all now. What kind of sister-in-law is this? Changing into a thong in her brother's bridal suite and demanding he wash it? Have you no shame?!" Someone in the crowd finally snapped. "Seriously! What sister-in-law moves in with the newlyweds?!" My relatives, unable to hold their tongues any longer, unleashed a barrage of insults. "Exactly! This is beyond crossing the line. She won't let the groom carry the bride, she's trying to ruin the wedding night, and she's hijacking their home. Do you have any decency?" Someone else chimed in brutally, "She doesn't want her brother sleeping with his wife because she clearly wants to sleep with him herself!" Hearing the venomous insults, Chloe burst into dramatic tears and threw herself into Carter's arms. "Carter! You promised you'd still be good to me after you got married! Are you just going to let them bully me?!" Carter wrapped his arms protectively around her, glaring at me. "Harper! Do your relatives have zero class?" I laughed out loud, pointing directly at the balcony. "My relatives have plenty of class. If this were any other family, they would have thrown both of you off that balcony by now!" "Harper!" Carter's voice was laced with a dark warning. "We've been together for three years. We fought so hard to get here. Are you really going to treat my sister like this?" Those three years. They really hadn't been easy. Carter and I had met at our tech firm, supporting each other through grueling promotions and endless overtime. We had finally made it to the finish line. Out of respect for the time we had invested, I decided to give him one last chance. "Carter," I said, looking him dead in the eye. "I am just a normal woman. I want a normal wedding, where we follow every standard tradition, without skipping a single step. And I expect us to have our own private space as a married couple. So, I am asking you to have your sister move her things out of our house." "If you can agree to that, I am willing to try and move past this. If you can't..." I bit my lip, the memories of the last three years flashing through my mind. My eyes burned, but the final, devastating words refused to leave my throat. "Save it," Carter interrupted coldly. "Chloe is my sister. She doesn't like it when I carry you, and she doesn't like it when I kiss you in public. So we accommodate her. Why are you so obsessed with these trivial details?! How does her living here negatively impact us?!" "If you love me, you have to accept everything about me! If you can't handle it, then the wedding is off! We'll postpone it. Come back and apologize to my sister when you've finally figured things out!" I nodded slowly, staring at the two of them clutching each other. Unbidden tears blurred my vision. I thought we were finally getting our happily ever after. I never imagined today would be the day it all ended. "She isn't the one in the way. I'm the one getting in the way of whatever twisted thing you two have going on. I'm out." I turned my back on them and walked out the door. "Harper is absolutely right. Who would want to marry into this freak show? You two just stay together forever!" My relatives spat, following closely behind me. Carter yelled furiously from the living room, "What are you implying?! She's my sister! I won't let you talk about her like that!" His mother tried to grab my arm to stop me, but my aunts shoved her away, shielding me as we exited the house. When we got downstairs, we ran into my parents, who had just returned from walking some guests to their cars. Hearing the outrage from our family, my dad's face turned purple with rage. He was ready to storm upstairs and tear the place apart. I gently shook my head. Let it go. Consider it my final act of grace for the three years I wasted. As soon as I got home, I sent a mass text to all my friends and family, officially canceling the wedding. Unfortunately, making a clean break was apparently just wishful thinking on my part. Carter and I worked for the same tech company, just in different departments. When I showed up for work on Monday, it was inevitable that I would run into him in the lobby. Chloe had both arms wrapped tightly around his neck, pressing herself against him in an intimate goodbye embrace. Anyone walking by would have assumed they were a couple. Seeing me, Chloe dramatically rolled her eyes in disgust. I ignored her and walked straight toward the elevators. Carter immediately chased after me. "Harper! Have you realized you were wrong yet? I love you, but I only have one sister. I have to prioritize her feelings. Our wedding is supposed to be the day after tomorrow. If you go apologize to her right now, we can still fix this!" "She's studying for the civil service exam and needs an iPad for her online courses. You should buy her an iPad Pro as an apology gift. If you do that, I'll put in a good word for you, and I promise she'll forgive you!" He offered this advice as if he were bestowing a grand prize upon me. 4 His staggering sense of entitlement actually made me laugh. "Carter, don't you think your sister's attachment to you is completely unnatural?" I asked, trying to be helpful one last time. "What's unnatural about it?!" Carter glared at me, his brows furrowed in anger. "People with dirty minds see dirt everywhere! My sister and I grew up together. You're an only child; you could never understand a bond like ours!" I shook my head, deciding he was a lost cause, and stepped into the elevator. A half-hour later, my phone rang. It was the local police precinct. "Is this Harper Sterling? You are a suspect in a hit-and-run. We need you to come down to 4th and Elm immediately!" I was stunned. After clarifying with the officer three times, I finally understood: the only car registered in my name had hit a pedestrian. But that car was a wedding gift from my parents. I hadn't even driven it yet. It was supposed to be parked in the underground garage of the house Carter and I had bought. It didn't take a genius to figure out the siblings were involved. A surge of pure fury ignited in my chest. I didn't waste another second. I hailed a cab and rushed to the scene. My brand-new, $60,000 white BMW—the one my parents had just bought me—was sitting pitifully in the middle of the intersection. The front end was completely smashed in; it didn't look like a new car at all. A few yards away, a black sedan was flipped onto its roof. A man and a woman had already been pulled from the wreckage, covered in blood, lying on the asphalt waiting for the ambulances. The moment the crowd saw me approaching the police, they swarmed me, shouting accusations. "Think you can just run people over because you drive a luxury car?!" "Yeah, and then you try to pull a hit-and-run! Have fun in prison!" "Were you the one driving?" The police officer asked, his tone severe. "It was her! I saw a woman behind the wheel!" a bystander yelled. "Wait, I thought the driver had blonde hair and a white jacket?" someone else questioned, looking confused. "What do you know? She could have taken off a wig and changed clothes!" the first person argued back. It clicked instantly. Blonde hair, white jacket. That was the exact outfit Chloe had been wearing in the lobby this morning. Carter had taken the keys to my car without asking and let his sister drive it. I opened my mouth to speak, but Carter suddenly sprinted out of the crowd and grabbed my arm. He looked at the officer and nodded frantically. "It was her! I am so sorry, my girlfriend made a terrible mistake, but I'll make sure she takes full responsibility!" "Wow, what a stand-up guy," someone in the crowd praised him. "Way better than her!" "Right? Female drivers are a menace to society. Long hair, short brains!" a man sneered. My anger spiked to astronomical levels. "I didn't—" Before I could defend myself, Carter dragged me away from the cops, pulling me behind a fire truck. "Harper, please, you have to take the fall for this! You know Chloe hasn't passed her driving test yet. She was driving without a license!" "If they find out it was her, her life is over! She'll have a criminal record and she'll never be able to take the civil service exam! Are you trying to destroy her?!" "If you just confess, it won't be a big deal! We'll just pay a fine, maybe you do a little community service. I promise, if you take the fall for my sister, she'll forgive you for what you did at the rehearsal! As soon as this blows over, we'll get married. My family won't even hold this against you!" He then raised his voice so the bystanders could hear. "Harper, just confess! The courts are lenient if you tell the truth! Go apologize to those people, you're the one who was driving recklessly! If you show some remorse, maybe they won't press charges!" The crowd nodded approvingly, pulling out their phones to record me. Being publicly framed and humiliated in front of nearly a hundred people pushed my rage past the breaking point. But strangely, hitting that absolute peak of anger made my mind go completely, terrifyingly calm. I quietly hit the 'record' button on my phone, keeping it hidden by my side.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "391439", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel