Chapter 10
The massive screen behind the altar flickered to life, displaying not the romantic montage of Elias and Scarlett that guests expected, but something that made the crowd collectively gasp–explicit videos featuring a woman who was unmistakably Scarlett.
The Scarlett on screen bore no resemblance to the demure, traditional woman Elias thought he knew. This version was aggressive, uninhibited, and clearly in control of each encounter. Most disturbing was the parade of different men–none of them Elias–who appeared alongside her in various hotel rooms.
Elias felt as though he’d been punched in the stomach. This couldn’t be the same woman who had insisted on waiting until their wedding night, who claimed to have had only one boyfriend before him. The woman who blushed when he kissed her in public and built her
entire persona around traditional values.
Shocked murmurs rippled through the crowd. Several guests raised phones to capture the unfolding disaster, while others averted their eyes in embarrassment.
Scarlett clutched Elias’s arm, her face contorted with panic. “Elias, baby, this is all fake–someone doctored these videos!” Her voice cracked with desperation. “You know me. I would never do something so disgusting. Someone’s trying to ruin our special day!”
From the front row, Elias’s mother rose to her feet, her expression glacial. “Elias James
Delaney, a woman like this cannot become part of this family. End this embarrassment
now.”
Isaac, Elias’s best man, leaned in close. “Dude… those videos don’t look edited. The lighting, the different locations… that’s high–level production if it’s fake.”
But when Elias looked at Scarlett’s tear–filled eyes, something in him hardened. He’d already chosen her over Charlotte repeatedly. He couldn’t be wrong about her–not after everything he’d sacrificed.
He grabbed Scarlett’s hand and turned to face the crowd.
“Enough!” he shouted, his voice echoing across the beach. “I believe Scarlett. This is clearly sabotage, and I will find whoever is responsible.”
12:46
The Moment I Let Go My Uncle: Escaping the Forbidden Past
7.7%
Chapter 10
He fixed the guests with an icy stare. “Anyone who shares a single frame of these fabricated
videos will find themselves blacklisted from every social and business circle in New York by
tomorrow morning. That’s not a threat–it’s a promise.”
The murmurs immediately died down. Everyone present knew Elias had the connections to
make good on that threat.
Just as the officiant nervously prepared to continue, Elias’s assistant hurried forward,
discreetly passing him a manila folder with “URGENT” stamped across it.
Scarlett noticed and quickly tried to redirect his attention, her fingers digging into his arm. “Elias, please, let’s finish the ceremony first. Everyone’s waiting.”
But it was too late. Elias had already opened the folder and begun scanning its contents, his expression shifting from confusion to disbelief to horror with each turning page.
The documents contained meticulously gathered evidence of Scarlett’s deceptions. The sex
tape allegedly created by Charlotte had actually been Scarlett’s doing. Scarlett had
approached him initially to pay off gambling debts to dangerous people. Each manipulation
was detailed with dates, screenshots, and witness statements.
When he reached the final page, Elias physically staggered backward as though struck.
The color drained from his face as he read the medical reports. Scarlett’s kidney condition–the very reason Charlotte had donated her kidney–had been self–inflicted. She had deliberately ingested antifreeze mixed with juice over several weeks, creating kidney damage that would bind Elias to her through guilt and obligation.
A montage of memories hit Elias like physical blows:
Charlotte’s pale face as she agreed to donate her kidney. His own cruel words: “Everyone else can live or die–I just need you to get better.” The slap he’d delivered when he accused her of stealing. Her silent tears as she gathered the broken pieces of her father’s pendant. The way he’d humiliated her by exposing her private letters. Her voice, soft but determined: “I’m not interested in you anymore, Elias.”
And most damning of all–he had forced her to undergo major surgery without anesthesia for a woman who had orchestrated her own medical crisis.
“My God,” he whispered, his voice breaking. “What have I done?”
12:46 O
The Moment I Let Go My Uncle: Escaping the Forbidden Past
80%
Chapter 10
The wedding collapsed into chaos. After the guests were ushered away by security, Elias systematically destroyed the elaborate decorations, ripping down flower walls and
overturning tables with barely controlled rage. The custom–designed diamond ring he’d spent months selecting was hurled into the ocean with all his strength.
“Elias, please!” Scarlett begged, tears streaming down her perfectly made–up face. “Let me explain! I did it because I love you so much–I was desperate!”
Elias couldn’t even look at her. Every word from her mouth now sounded like poison. All he could see was Charlotte’s face–Charlotte who had never lied to him, who had sacrificed for him again and again, who he had driven away with cruelty and indifference.
When the destruction was complete, he made a phone call to a private medical facility, scheduling an immediate surgery.
Thirty minutes later, Scarlett found herself strapped to an operating table in a private clinic, her pleas for mercy falling on deaf ears.
“No anesthesia,” Elias instructed the surgeon coldly, a terrible symmetry to his decision. “She doesn’t deserve it.”
As Scarlett’s screams filled the operating room, blood soaking through her wedding gown, Elias watched impassively. The kidney that had cost Charlotte so much would be returned–one way or another.
But even as justice was served, Elias knew with crushing certainty that no amount of retribution against Scarlett could undo what he had done to Charlotte. The realization settled over him like a shroud: he had lost the one person who had truly loved him, and he
had no one to blame but himself.
12:46
