CHAPTER 1: CHAPTER 1: A WEDDING FOR THREE

"Oh my God, how can she have the face to release such photos, it’s so shameless!"

"Exactly, it’s disgusting."

Raina was holding her white floor-length wedding dress, wearing a happy smile as she pressed the play button, and what was about to be displayed on the big screen was the story of her and Beau Shelby’s meeting and love over the years.

Unexpectedly, the guests suddenly started to make a commotion.

Raina was a bit stunned and instinctively turned to look at the big screen, only to see it displaying a paternity test—

After testing, the fetus in Miss Raina North’s womb is not related to Mr. Beau Shelby.

Raina was stunned.

Who?

Who was playing a prank!

Except for that night with Beau two months ago, she had never been with any other man, how could the child in her belly not be Beau’s!

Raina hurriedly looked at Beau Shelby, only to see him looking at her with immense disappointment.

"Beau, don’t believe it..." Raina rushed forward, wanting to explain, but just halfway through, a sharp slap landed on her face.

Madam Shelby, burning with rage, shouted with a livid face, "Raina, how dare you try to bring a bastard child into my Shelby Family!"

Raina’s face swelled up immediately, stinging hotly. She disregarded the pain and hastily explained, "No! The child in my belly is Beau’s! This must be someone else’s prank!"

"Still dare to argue!" Madam Shelby took out a pile of photos, viciously threw them at her, and pointed angrily at her nose, "My son nearly lost his life to save you, yet you sneak around with other men, have you no face?"

Screaming in rage, she was about to pounce on Raina and fight.

Raina was pushed back by the beating, instinctively covering her slightly protruding belly with her hands. Seeing the ground covered with photos, she was full of disbelief.

The photos littered everywhere depicted her wrapped in intimate embraces with a man, each one extremely intimate.

Beau Shelby, shocked and weary, looked at Raina, "Raina, did you really get involved with someone else?"

Raina vigorously shook her head, "No..."

As soon as she started to speak, Claire suddenly exclaimed, "Sister, was it on Beau’s birthday that night when you didn’t return..."

Raina immediately said, "That night I was with Beau!"

Claire innocently said, "But everyone was with Beau that night, partying all night, how could you two be together?"

A chill ran up Raina’s spine, her face suddenly turned ghostly pale.

If it wasn’t Beau, then who was the man that night?

Madam Shelby pointed at Raina and scolded, "Ah, so you were indeed messing around behind my son’s back! Poor Beau, he was in a coma for a whole month to save you! Even knowing you are just an imposter dwelling in a magpie’s nest, he still insisted on marrying you, and this is how you repay him!"

"The wedding is canceled! I will never allow a person of such filthy lineage to enter my Shelby Family’s doors!"

Saying this, she brusquely went forward to rip the ring off Raina’s hand but was still not appeased.

"Strip off her wedding dress; she doesn’t deserve to wear this pure white color."

Raina’s eyes filled with tears of humiliation, her strength too small, and with a child in her belly, she couldn’t resist at all.

Soon, her clothes were forcibly removed in public, revealing the thin lining beneath.

A multitude of gazes fell upon her, and Raina instantly felt utterly exposed.

She wanted to call for help, yet no one stepped forward to rescue her.

Her parents, her family, her friends... in the end, she could only look to Beau Shelby for rescue.

She thought Beau would come over to her as he used to.

However, he walked straight to Claire.

"I’m sorry Claire, I’ve gone back on my word, I thought I could suppress my love for you and marry Raina, but I’ve realized I simply can’t do it. Now I want to be honest with myself, Claire, will you marry me?"

Claire’s eyes instantly flashed with immense joy, though on her face she appeared troubled as she glanced at Raina, whose face was ashen, "But sister..."

"Pity is not love, the one I love is you."

"You love her, then what am I?" Raina thought having her clothes torn was the limit, but to her surprise, there was an even bigger humiliation.

"I’m sorry sister, don’t be mad at Beau, I was the one who loved him first, it’s got nothing to do with Beau."

"Claire, you don’t have to explain so much to her." Beau looked distressed as he protected Claire behind him, "Raina, there are some things I haven’t clarified with you, which is why you have always misunderstood. I and Claire have actually known each other for a long time, I was not in good health as a child and lived in the countryside, Claire lived next door, it was me who couldn’t control myself..."

"If it weren’t for Claire pleading repeatedly, do you think I would marry you? Raina, I’d rather die in that car accident saving you than let down Claire..."

"Raina, when the paternity test results came out, do you know what I was thinking? I felt a sudden sense of relief, do you understand that feeling? The huge burden on my heart suddenly dropped..."

"Raina, people can’t be so selfish, you’ve stolen Claire’s parents, her life, and from her, you’ve taken me..."

"Raina, I don’t love you, and I’ve already repaid you with my life, please let me go..."

"Raina, I love Claire..."

...

Beau Shelby’s voice drifted farther away from herself, she looked at Claire who was proudly holding Beau’s arm accepting everyone’s blessings, she saw her once loving parents smiling broadly, giving them their blessings...

The banquet hall doors slowly closed, and she was harshly expelled from those warm sounds of laughter.

No matter how much she pounded and screamed, that door never opened for her.

After who knows how long, Raina’s voice went hoarse from shouting, and finally, someone came out.

Before she could clearly see who it was, a loud slap greeted her face.

Slap—

Gideon North rushed over, delivering a slap to Raina’s face, "Unfilial daughter, look at the disgrace you’ve brought upon our family!" He roared furiously, "Butler, take her to the hospital immediately to abort the child!"

Raina, wrought with despair, was dragged into the hospital.

"Lie down. Prepare the anesthesia!"

Listening to the doctor’s cold and emotionless words, Raina suddenly snapped back to consciousness, "No! Do not harm my child!"

She leapt off the surgery table, knocking aside the nurse about to administer anesthesia, and stumbled out of the operating room.

Moments later, the nurse regained her senses and shouted loudly, "The pregnant woman has escaped!"

Four months later

The cry of a newborn suddenly broke the silence of the delivery room.

"It’s a boy."

"There are two more in the womb, they’re not twins but triplets."

"Not good, the mother has lost consciousness..."

"You continue with the treatment, I’ll take the child out to the family first."

...

Claire accepted the baby from the female doctor, had it not been for the child’s worth of five million, she would have thrown it away long ago.

"The fetus is premature, the mother suffered major trauma and is bleeding profusely; the situation is critical. Miss, you must make a decision immediately whether to save the mother or the children." The female doctor said with a serious expression.

Claire listened to the cries within the ward, her eyes flickered with cold viciousness, her lips curled into a smile, but her voice was icy, "What if I don’t want to save either?"

The female doctor was shocked, "...This isn’t right, these are three lives. If they find out..."

"So what if they find out? She carried multiple babies, died in a car accident, who can be blamed." Claire’s eyes flashed with a vicious glint, "Clean it up, and you’ll benefit."

The obstetrician shivered involuntarily, but thinking of the house she would soon acquire, she steeled her heart and nodded.

The cries within the ward continued, but Claire had long hurriedly left with the child.

Half a month later

Breaking news! Southgate’s prominent Hawthorne family’s head, Elias Hawthorne, is revealed to have fathered a child out of wedlock... The identity of the little prince’s mother remains a mystery...