”Well, well…” Jake started, his lips stretched into a taunting smirk. “You couldn't get the palace princess, so you went for the dirty palace maid instead.”

Alex tensed as he watched his evil uncle and nephew walk out of the shadows, his body immediately going rigid, his mask of indifference now in place.

So this is your replacement for Melissa…even for you…” Jake eyed Lauren. “…this is too low,” He clicked his tongue.

Dan stepped forward in front of them, a deadly glare pointed at the two bullies.

“You should take your leave now,” Dan demanded.

“What will you do?” Jake smirked.

Dan narrowed his eyes at him, before he pulled out a metallic black object, just enough for the man to see it.

Something like fear flashed on Jake's face, but he quickly concealed it, smiling. “No need to get all macho on me. I'm only here to congratulate my cousin on his new marriage.”

Dan stepped back a bit, but still stood defensively, ready to attack if Jake tried anything threatening.

“Did you really think you could get your hands on Melissa, with how you look?” This time, it was Alex's uncle who spoke, his eyes eyeing the wheelchair Alex sat on.

“You really thought Melissa would leave the capable men in her life, queueing, just to get her attention for a…common man like you?” He scoffed as he continued. “You must really be so full of yourself, you imagined a beautiful life with the most eligible bachelorette. How pathetic!”

Jake's eyes lit up as he enjoyed how his father humiliated Alex. But Alex only watched them quietly, his face void of any emotion.

But Lauren couldn't stand by and watch as the two men talked down on Alex.

“For someone who keeps talking cheap about Alex, your presence and attitude betrays you. You keep saying how worthless you think he is, but you seem to feed on the amount of attention you're desperate to get from him.” Lauren stepped forward.

“You're not only a bitter person. You're envious of what Alex has come to achieve even with his inability to walk like the rest of us,” she said as she smiled softly. “Even with your two feet still working perfectly, you've not been able to get past daddy's shadows.”

“That's what I call pathetic,” she finished.

Jake and his father immediately stiffened at Lauren's words, their eyes glaring hard at her, a deep scowl on their faces. It felt like they had been hit with a punch right on their face by someone as common as a maid. It was a bruise to their ego, and everyone in the room knew it.

Lauren took pride in their anger. She knew she had struck them right where it hurt.

She would rather not come in between families. Not only that, but she wanted to just go through this marriage unscathed, and help her mother recover. But seeing Jake insult Alex like that just reminded her of her and her half sister, Melissa.

Just because they had everything they could get their hands on didn't mean they could trample on weaker people whenever they felt like.

She hated people like Melissa, and right now, as she stared at the two people in front of her, all she wanted to do was break them into pieces. See them fall to their feet as they get a taste of their medicine.

But then a thought suddenly crossed her mind. She had always been the quiet one. On any other day, she wouldn't even pay attention to their fight or even quickly step up like Alex was her problem.

Alex was nobody to her. He was still partially a stranger. She didn't care about him, so why did she believe it was her responsibility to defend him?

Is it because of the help she expected from him, feeling grateful in advance, or was it something else entirely?

Jake and his father quickly came out of their reverie, recovering from Lauren's taunt. “Oh darling! You must have been really hurt from our talks. We didn't mean to make you feel small, we just assumed Alex had more standard than this,” Jake smiled fully.

“You see, Alex has always had a reputation for going for the highest bid. He's always wanted things that were higher and things that were more valuable than him,” he said as he shook his head. “So seeing you here, with this cheap attire, just took us off guard…we didn't mean to hurt you.”

Lauren's fist clenched in disgust. She wanted to destroy these people. She had never hated anyone as much as she hated Melissa and her mother, but right now, she was beginning to think somebody was slowly taking over their position.

She quickly masked her annoyance. “For someone who calls my husband worthless, you seem really invested in our relationship. You should certainly get a life,” she said, her voice as calm as the sea.

“Husband?” Jake scoffed. “You call this half man a husband!” He laughed.

“You must be actually deluded to think of someone like this as a husband. A man who can't repair your kitchen taps or even fulfil your wildest desire in bed. I bet you're only with him because of his money, you must have thought you won the jackpot,” Jake laughed loudly like a maniac.

“A man is not worth only by his physical strength, but you wouldn't know that because of how shallow minded your brain is,” she spat back.

“You're feisty now, but I bet that fire will die out before this month ends. You'll get to see who Alex truly is, how incapable of love he really is,” Jake smirked. “He couldn't get a woman to marry him based on love, so he had to throw his money in your face, so you could accept him.”

Before Lauren could say something back, Alex interrupted her.

“Get out, you've said enough.” Alex said calmly, but they were unable to deny the fire that burned in his eyes.

“Be warned, little princess. Alex might look like the kind of man you could trust, but only us knows what he is truly capable of. He'll destroy you, and everything he had offered you to sell yourself so cheap to him, he'll make you regret it. Alex will be your worst nightmare even in the daytime,” Jake said, his voice severe.

Lauren watched as the two men finally turned around to leave, their retreating form burning a hole in her head.

Was Jake trying to just scare her, or were his words really true? She hadn't heard anything bad about Alex from the time she did her research on him. In fact, she hadn't heard or seen any tangible information about the man.

It was like he was a ghost. For someone with such a high influence, he was almost too clean.

It was like he was invisible.

Could she trust him?

Should she still go in with this marriage?

Alex hadn't decided whether he wanted to help her or not, so there was still time.

She turned back to look at him, and when her face registered the look on his face, she couldn't help the shudder that went through her body.

She's definitely teetering into a dangerous game, and she wasn't sure if she would come out alive?