Chapter 3

"Help!" I choked, water filling my mouth.

Panic, cold and sharp, seized me.

The terror was overwhelming, a replay of my worst nightmare.

On the terrace above, I heard laughter, cruel and dismissive.

No one moved to help. They thought it was a drunken stumble, a joke.

Despair began to set in, the water pulling me down. I was going to die again, in the same way.

My body felt heavy, my struggles weaker.

Then, strong hands grabbed me, pulling me from the water.

Security guards, alerted by someone, finally.

Mrs. Ainsworth was by my side in an instant, her face a mask of fury.

She didn't need to ask what happened, the implications were clear.

The next day, Chad Harrington III found his world collapsing.

Mrs. Ainsworth, true to her word, unleashed her influence.

An exposé appeared in a prominent newspaper, detailing his family's questionable business dealings, their shaky finances, their desperate social climbing.

Chad was ruined, his reputation shredded.

Brittany stormed into my residence, the Ainsworth townhouse, looking disheveled and furious.

No appointment, no pretense.

"You did this, Ethan!" she screamed, her voice raw.

"You set out to destroy Chad, to ruin him, just to get to me!"

She paced the room like a caged animal, her usual composure gone.

"You think this will make me choose you? You think humiliating him will make me want you?"

I watched her, a strange sense of detachment settling over me.

The near-drowning, the echoes of my past death, had solidified something within me.

"I didn't do anything to Chad, Brittany," I said, my voice devoid of emotion. "His own actions, and perhaps my mother's protective instincts, led to his current predicament."

She ignored my words. "He's devastated! His family is in chaos! All because of you!"

Then, her tone shifted, becoming almost pleading.

"Call her off, Ethan. Call off your mother. Tell her to stop."

She took a shaky breath.

"If you do that... I... I'll marry you."

I stared at her, incredulous.

"What about Chad?" I asked.

"He can be... well, we can figure something out," she said vaguely, waving a dismissive hand. "Maybe a co-groom? Or he can be your best man. The point is, I'll be your wife. Isn't that what you've always wanted?"

The sheer audacity, the delusion, it was breathtaking.

She was offering herself as a prize, a solution to a problem she believed I had created to win her.

A public reckoning. An opportunity.

"Alright, Brittany," I said slowly. "A wedding. In three days."

I named a grand venue, one Mrs. Ainsworth had discreetly booked weeks ago, just in case.

"Be there. We'll settle this."

My mind was working quickly. This was my chance to end her games, publicly and definitively.

I wanted her to witness my new life, to see how thoroughly I had moved on.

Brittany' s eyes lit up with a strange, triumphant gleam.

She thought she had won, that I had finally bent to her will.

"I knew it," she whispered, a smug smile playing on her lips. "I knew you couldn't resist me."

She leaned in, as if to kiss me, but I stepped back.

"Three days, Brittany. Don't be late."

She left, radiating a misplaced confidence.

I immediately called Mrs. Ainsworth, explaining my plan.

She was initially hesitant, but then a slow smile spread across her face.

"A public reckoning, Ethan? I like the sound of that."

The next few days were a blur of preparations, not for a wedding with Brittany, but for the real one.

Mrs. Ainsworth handled the details with her usual efficiency.

Invitations were re-routed, security arranged, and a very specific guest list was confirmed.

The press, smelling a scandal or a dramatic reconciliation, was in a frenzy.

The stage was set.