Told to Bark, I Married Another; They Regretted Madly

When the wedding party came for the bride, my fianc's ex-girlfriend was standing in front of the wedding car, her whole face a dare.

Want to get in? First kneel down and bark ninety-nine times like a dog. It'll prove that after the wedding you'll obey the groom completely, like a dog.

The whole thing struck me as absurd. Whoever heard of a groom letting his ex haze the bride?

The woman spread her legs.

"Then crawl through, like a dog. Otherwise your heart isn't sincere."

The crowd broke into jeers, urging me to get down on the ground and crawl through.

I clenched my fists and gave my fianc one last chance.

"Bryan Simmons, either you come out here yourself, or I find myself another bride."

My fianc snapped at me, impatient.

"Delilah once promised she'd do all this when she married me. You can't even measure up to her, which just proves you don't love me at all."

I laughed out of sheer anger. A love this twisted, I didn't dare want.

I turned and walked away, and sent my ex a message.

"Five o'clock, the Park Hyatt. Short a groom. You in?"

An ex, well, I happen to have one of those too.

Bryan had rushed me toward the wedding car, and I stumbled along in my gown, lifting the hem, almost tripping.

Then a strange woman stepped in front of the car.

I was still puzzling over it.

Bryan's buddy Christian Vance tipped his nose in the air and made the introduction.

"This is Bryan's ex, Delilah Fox. Just back from studying at Harvard."

"She heard you two were getting married, so she came all this way to vet things for him."

A knot of fury flared up in me.

Bringing his ex to the wedding was one thing, but letting her come haze the bride? It was clearly meant to embarrass me, to grind my dignity into the dirt.

I was about to lose my temper.

Delilah looked at me, taunting.

"What, is Miss Winfield upset now?"

"You can't even stand your fianc having a past? How petty."

I clenched my fists hard, ready to blow up right there.

But my mother was still waiting to attend my wedding, so I swallowed it down.

"However much cash you want in the envelope, I'll give it."

Wedding hazing, after all, usually just came down to handing out a little cash to keep everyone happy.

As long as I could marry Bryan and get the ceremony over with, I could stand this small humiliation for now.

Delilah snorted, as though she'd heard the funniest joke in the world.

She shot me a scornful glance and put on a look of tender devotion.

"Marriage is about a sincere heart, not about money."

"If you want to marry Bryan, you have to prove you love him enough."

Curiosity got the better of me.

"Prove it how?"

"Back when I was with Bryan, I promised him that after we married, I'd be completely faithful to him, like a dog."

"If you can do the same, I'll let you into this car today."

A wave of physical nausea rose in my throat, and I couldn't help sneering.

"You'd rather kneel and be a dog than live like a person, and you're actually proud of it?"

Delilah's face darkened at once, her eyes brimming with venom.

"What are you playing so high and mighty for? Bryan's young, handsome, and the president of his company."

"The people who'd line up to be his dog would stretch all the way to France!"

Her voice shot up several notches.

"Bark ninety-nine times now, and it proves that after the wedding you'll be obedient like a dog, that you'll obey Bryan completely!"

The scene erupted. Christian kept egging me on from the side.

"Olivia Winfield, hurry up. Didn't you always say how much you love Bryan? How can you not even be willing to do this little thing?"

The friends around me were all furious.

I was grinding my teeth so hard they rattled.

But it wasn't over. Delilah suddenly spread her legs, mockery all over her eyes.

"Oh, and barking isn't enough. You have to crawl through here for it to count as sincere."

"Otherwise, forget about marrying Bryan today."

The laughter exploded, and a thick wave of ridicule slammed into me until I could barely breathe.

I stared hard at Bryan.

I knew that without his say-so, no ex would ever dare trample me like this at my own wedding.

But my mother was going in for heart surgery tomorrow, and her greatest wish was to see me married.

That was why I'd rushed to hold the wedding today, to lift her spirits and give the surgery a better chance.

One last chance for Bryan.

"Bryan Simmons, either you come out here right now and leave with me, or I go find myself another groom."

The whole place went silent in an instant, and a flicker of glee shot across Delilah's eyes.

Bryan snapped at me, impatient.

"Olivia Winfield, what's that supposed to mean, you dare threaten me?"

"Delilah was willing to do all this for me. You can't even measure up to her, which just means you don't love me."

"If you don't do it today, the wedding is off!"

Anger turned to a laugh, and the last thread of feeling in my heart vanished for good.

A love this twisted and this groveling, I couldn't afford it, and I wanted no part of it.

"Fine. You won't be my groom, so I'll find another one."

Without hesitation I turned and walked away, pulled out my phone, and sent my ex a message.

"Five o'clock, the Park Hyatt. The wedding's short a groom. You in?"

The reply came fast.

"Okay. I'll be there at five, on the dot."

I let out a long breath. At least someone was willing to play along.

Otherwise I was genuinely afraid the shock would hit my mother and trigger her heart condition right there.

Bryan barked at me.

"Olivia Winfield, you stop right there!"

I didn't slow down, and it drove him to say the ugly thing out loud.

"If you dare walk away, don't ever expect me to speak to you again. We're completely finished!"

My steps paused. I turned and gave a cold little laugh.

"Now you want to stop me? Too late."

"Wedding games at the pickup, fine, I get it. It's supposed to be festive, a bit of fun."

"But making me bark like a dog and crawl between someone's legs, that kind of trampling on my dignity? I will never accept it."

There wasn't a trace of guilt on Bryan's face. Only mockery.

"Olivia Winfield, drop the noble act."

"If this wedding falls apart today and your mother's heart gives out, you'll bear every bit of the consequences yourself!"

My pupils shrank. I stared at Bryan, unable to believe it.

And I finally saw exactly what he was thinking.

So this had been his plan all along, to use my mother's illness to trample me, to keep me under his thumb.

A wave of relief rose in me. Thank God I'd seen his true face in time and pulled myself out early.

Looking at that vicious, selfish face, I smiled faintly.

"Don't worry. My mother's health is none of your concern."

And I turned and walked away.

In the car, my ex messaged again.

"I've already contacted the top cardiac specialist in the country. Heading to your mother now. I'll keep her protected the whole time."

It caught me off guard. This was only pretend, and yet he'd put real thought into it.

I sent back one line.

"Okay. Thank you."

When I reached the Park Hyatt, I'd barely stepped out of the car when I saw my mother standing at the entrance, watching for me, her face full of hope and worry.

The moment she saw me get out alone, her smile froze, and she hurried over and grabbed my hand.

"Olivia, where's Bryan? Why did you come back by yourself?"

My friends all wore pained, stuck expressions.

Looking at my mother's pale, frail face, I didn't know how to begin either.

I could hardly tell her that Bryan and his ex-girlfriend had humiliated me in public, forcing me to bark like a dog and crawl between her legs.

So I just fudged it and let it pass.

"Mom, something came up at Bryan's company that he had to handle. It'll hold him up a little. I came ahead to look after the guests. He'll be here later."

My mother gave my arm a light pinch, scolding gently.

"You silly girl, you should be doing more to help him."

I nodded with a sheepish smile and didn't dare argue.

The guests around us came up to offer congratulations.

"You're truly blessed, ma'am. A son-in-law who runs a big company. Nothing but easy days ahead for you!"

"Exactly, a talented man and a beautiful woman. What a perfect match!"

My mother listened with her brows relaxing, color coming back into her face.

I stood off to the side and didn't dare say a word more.

All I could do was pray silently that my ex would arrive on time.

Then a burst of noise came from the hotel entrance.

"The groom's here!"

I froze. It was only four o'clock. Had my ex arrived early?

I turned to look, and it was Bryan.

My mother's face lit up in an instant, and she hurried over to greet him.

"You're here, Bryan? Olivia told me you'd been held up at the office. I thought you'd be a little late, but here you are already."

Christian Vance climbed out of the car right behind Bryan, stepped up, and planted himself between my mother and Bryan, a thin smile that never reached his eyes.

"Ma'am, don't let Olivia fool you."

"Bryan wasn't held up at all. Olivia threw a tantrum and refused to play the wedding games."

"She even said she wanted to call off the engagement, and just came running over here on her own!"

The whole scene went quiet in a heartbeat, and every guest's eyes swung onto me, startled and prying.

My mother's smile froze on her face. She reached back and grabbed me by the ear, furious and flustered.

"What is wrong with you, child? The wedding games are just for luck and a bit of fun."

"Everyone else can play along. Why can't you? Why make such an ugly scene over it?"

The pain had me begging for mercy, but I didn't dare tell her what their little game actually was.

If I did, she'd only be angrier, only more hurt.

Bryan's parents came off the car with grim faces, and the first thing out of their mouths was blame.

"Olivia, we really misjudged you."

"We only asked you to bark a few times. It's nothing. Do you have to blow it up like this and embarrass Bryan in front of everyone?"

I laughed out of pure anger. In their eyes, trampling on a person's dignity was something not even worth mentioning?

My mother let go of my ear at once and looked at Bryan in disbelief.

"Bryan, you actually told Olivia to bark like a dog?"

Bryan's face went stiff and awkward. Delilah let out a cold snort.

"Bryan is the president. Olivia is just a working girl making three thousand a month."

"Bark a few times and she gets to marry up, to Bryan no less, and jump right over her class. A good deal like that, why on earth wouldn't she take it?"

I stared at Bryan, unable to believe it.

"Bryan, this is really the story you're spinning about me?"

Back when the Simmons family was on the edge of bankruptcy, I put in the core technology I'd spent years perfecting for a forty-nine percent stake.

I ran the business with Bryan day and night, drank myself sick at every dinner, and dragged the Simmons family back from the cliff's edge.

Without me, there'd be no thriving Simmons Group today, and certainly no glorious president's chair for Bryan.

As for the three thousand a month, that came from Bryan. He'd talked it over with me, said the company needed capital to expand.

So all my dividends went straight back into keeping the company running, and I kept only a small base salary for daily expenses.

For the sake of our future, I gave everything, held nothing back.

But it had never once crossed my mind that everything I gave would end up as material for him to run me down in front of others.

Bryan's eyes shifted away, then he lifted his head and turned it all back on me without a shred of shame.

"Olivia, don't think that just because you stuck by me when the company was struggling, you can put on airs and talk back to me at every turn."

"At the company you fight me on everything, you won't fall in line with my decisions."

"So today I'm using the wedding to smooth out that temper of yours, teach you to be obedient. What's wrong with that?"

Then it hit me. No wonder she was so set on humiliating me at the wedding.

He'd resented me for a long time, for holding my ground at the company, for refusing to blindly follow his calls.

When we were discussing the wedding earlier, he'd told me to sign over every share I held to her.

At the time I thought he only wanted to save face.

Only now did I understand. He wanted to use the wedding to strip away every last bargaining chip I had.

To leave me with nothing, reduced to something that clung to him, a dependent he could squeeze at will.

But that share transfer contract had one crucial clause buried in it.

The transfer would only take legal effect once the wedding was carried out successfully.

This wedding, today, I wasn't going through with it.

Everything he'd so carefully schemed for would come to nothing.

Delilah spoke as if granting me a favor.

"The ceremony's about to start. There's no time for ninety-nine."

"Bark three times now, and the wedding goes ahead as planned. The rest, you can bark out slowly on the wedding night."

Roaring laughter broke out all around us.

"Ha, barking on the wedding night, now that's rich."

"She's living off a man anyway. What face has she got left to care about? Just bark already."

I was so furious my eyes felt ready to split. I opened my mouth to tell them to dream on.

But my mother's face drained of color all at once, and her body crumpled softly to the ground.

I gathered my mother in my arms and rushed for the car.

Gasps rippled through the crowd. Bryan panicked too, standing frozen where he was, at a loss.

"I really didn't think it would come to this. I didn't mean it"

But Delilah gave a cold laugh and stepped in front of me, blocking my way.

"Enough, Olivia. Stop the act."

"I looked into it a long time ago. Your mother doesn't have any heart condition."

"First you used your mother's heart condition to guilt Bryan into marrying you. Now, just to get out of barking, you're using your own mother in a performance."

"Faking an old woman's illness to milk sympathy. Do you even count as human?"

Christian jumped in at once.

"Gold diggers really are full of tricks. For that pathetic scrap of pride, she'll even use her own mother. Truly eye-opening!"

I was shaking with rage.

Eyes bloodshot, I stared Bryan down.

"Bryan, get your lackeys out of my way, now!"

"My mother wore herself out with late nights to support this family when she was young. That's how she got her heart condition. It's all right there in her hospital records."

"If you don't believe me, call the hospital and ask, right now!"

But there was nothing but contempt in Bryan's eyes.

"Check what? Delilah wouldn't lie to me."

"Olivia, I'll give you one more chance. Bark once, and this ends right here. I'll marry you."

Using my mother's life to force me to throw away my dignity?

It was driving me out of my mind.

"Marry my ass, Bryan. If anything happens to my mother, I will never let you off!"

It was the first time I had ever been that fierce.

Bryan flinched back half a step, then flushed red with anger.

"Fine, Olivia. Very good. So now you actually dare to snap at me."

He flicked his hand, and the Simmons parents surged forward with the bodyguards, their faces terrifyingly dark.

"You've lost your mind! A cheap gold digger, and you dare raise your voice at Bryan?"

"Hold her down for me. I want to see whether she still refuses to bow her head today!"

Several bodyguards in black moved in at once, trying to pin me down by force.

My chest felt ready to burst.

Back when I helped the Simmons family rise again, the Simmons parents called me their good daughter-in-law with every breath, grateful beyond words.

Now that they had made it, they turned their backs as if they'd never known me.

And to humiliate me, they'd even block me from saving my own mother!

I fought against them with everything I had, drowning in despair, when a steady voice cut through.

"Move aside. I'm a cardiologist. Let me see the patient."

The crowd turned sideways to let him through. A calm, capable-looking doctor came quickly forward and crouched to check my mother's condition.

I knew this was the specialist my ex had arranged.

The doctor finished his examination fast, his face changing in an instant. He pulled out an acupuncture needle, worked it into my mother swiftly, then rose and said in a low, grave voice.

"The patient is critical. I've stabilized her heart rhythm for now, but she has to be taken to the hospital for surgery immediately."

The heart lodged in my throat finally dropped halfway. I turned to the Simmons family still blocking the car and said coldly.

"Get out of my way."

Delilah scoffed.

"Olivia, if you're going to put on a show, at least try harder."

"A heart condition that serious, and a few needles are supposed to bring it under control?"

"Your mother's illness is fake."

I wanted nothing more than to tear this idiot apart.

"This doctor is the top cardiac specialist in the country. His skill is something you get to question?"

The whole place went still, then broke into deafening laughter.

"A gold digger making three thousand a month, and she knows some famous doctor? Probably just some bit-part actor she found online!"

Delilah was laughing so hard she could barely stand.

Bryan looked at me coldly.

"Olivia, you never learn, do you? Lie after lie, act after act."

"I'll give you one last chance. Bark all ninety-nine times, nice and obedient, then crawl through between Delilah's legs."

"Do that, and today gets wiped clean. Otherwise, I'll make sure there's no place for you in Bayport!"

The whole place went still, everyone watching me with mocking eyes.

All of them waiting to see me kneel and take the disgrace, reduced once and for all to everyone's laughingstock.

Then a cool, clear man's voice rang out.

"I'd like to see who dares make my wife bark like a dog."