My Fiancée’s Male Best Friend Ruined the Feast I Carefully Prepared on Our Wedding Day

I had carefully prepared the engagement ceremony, and big names from politics and business were all here, giving the Bell family plenty of face. But as the ceremony was about to begin, the Bells still hadn’t shown up. And now my fiancée, Emily Bell, wanted to destroy the engagement and marry some random male best friend named Evan Brooks. A fraud pretending to be me? Ridiculous! “I’m the Grant family heir!” I said flatly. “You say you’re the heir to the billionaire Grant family?” Evan burst out laughing. “You eat and live off the Bells. This billionaire thing of yours—does it even check out?” “Michael Grant, you think because your last name is Grant, you’re the billionaire’s heir?” The girls around Emily pointed at me and cursed. They surrounded me and took turns mocking me without mercy. “Exactly. You’re a cripple—can you even stand? And you think you’re worthy?” “Guys like him can’t even stand up. Even if he gets married, he’ll still be getting cheated on every day!” “Bro, if I were you, I’d hurry up and curry favor with the Grant family heir. Trade the fiancée for money and a future. Worth it!” Even the people who had been watching for fun jumped in and started flattering Evan. A whole flock of ducks, all quacking at once... So noisy! I looked at Emily. “This engagement was your parents’ idea. Are you sure you don’t want to go through with it?” Emily bit her lip, looking a little torn. Evan shoved her behind him. “What century are you living in? ‘Your parents’ idea’? The law says marriage is about freedom. Are you some old fossil from the countryside trying to go against the law?” “Emily and I are independent, free souls. Our love—no one can stop it, not even if the heavens themselves come down!” Evan spoke with such righteous confidence, but I only looked at Emily. The Bell family had gotten to where they were today by riding on the back of my lifesaving debt. I didn’t believe that Emily, the Bells’ only daughter and future head of the family, didn’t understand what her marriage really meant. “Emily, you tell me.” I ignored Evan. He was just a clown. “I’m not marrying you, Michael Grant. You’re nothing but a country bumpkin. You want to marry me? Keep dreaming!” Emily’s face twisted with disgust. “If my parents didn’t think so highly of you, do you really think you’d even be standing here?” The cruelty on her face was something I had never seen before. Every time we met before, she had been gentle and considerate. To hold this engagement banquet, I hadn’t picked a venue in Harbor City. I had bought this hotel in Sage City outright and renovated it just for this event, spending tens of millions, all so she and her parents could look good. But judging by what Emily was doing now... “Then the engagement is off!” I turned my wheelchair and prepared to leave. The marriage alliance between the Bell and Grant families was my repayment to the Bells. Back then, I had been in a car accident on the road, and Mr. and Mrs. Bell had saved me. So when they brought up the marriage alliance, I agreed without a second thought. Marrying the Bells’ only daughter and pulling the nearly bankrupt Bell family under my protection was more than enough repayment for that lifesaving favor. But now, Emily wanted to cancel the engagement. “Emily, take care.” Without the engagement, my duty to protect her was gone too. Whatever storms came next, I hoped she could face them on her own. I turned my wheelchair and was about to leave. “Take care of your damn self, you bastard!” Evan suddenly lashed out and kicked my wheelchair over. “You one-legged frog pretending to be some big shot. Pathetic and fake.” “You’re coming at me with that act? I’ll teach you what real power looks like!”Evan moved again and shoved my wheelchair aside. With a sharp crash, the crystal box mounted on the side of the chair broke, and the jade jewelry inside fell out. “Evan, you’re asking for it!” I pushed myself up, turned my palm into a fist, and smashed him to the floor with two heavy blows. Evan cried out in pain. The people around him rushed over, dragged him away, and then pressed me to the ground, punching and kicking me... “Stop!” Emily shouted at everyone. “Today is a big day for my family. For my sake, please don’t kill anybody!” Evan stood off to the side, furious. “Emily, am I supposed to get beaten for nothing?” Emily tried to calm him down, then snapped at me, “Michael Grant, apologize to Evan!” I gritted my teeth, pressed a few times beside my nose to stop the bleeding, then struggled to right my wheelchair and sit back down. “Want me to apologize? He doesn’t deserve it!” The jade jewelry in the crystal box had been left to my future granddaughter-in-law by my grandmother. It was far too precious, so I had kept it on me during the engagement banquet out of fear something would happen to it. Now the box was broken, the jade was cracked, and the engagement was off. That alone proved Emily didn’t deserve it! “So what if I broke your box? I’ll get you another one. Michael Grant, you’re just a country bumpkin. What makes you think you can compete with the Grants? Right now. Immediately. Apologize to Evan!” Emily had someone push my wheelchair forward and force my head down. The man used all his strength, and my head buzzed from the pressure. I stubbornly said nothing and slowly lifted my head again. At that moment, the tiny bit of kindness I had owed the Bells was completely gone. I even started thinking about how I should make Evan and the Bell family disappear. Evan picked up the fallen jade necklace, glanced at it, and tossed it carelessly behind him. “What junk. Beer-bottle glass with a cheap jade look. You trying to scam ghosts?” The broken necklace snapped into two pieces, and the beads scattered all over the floor. I picked up one bead that was still mostly intact. “Emily, did you forget?” I didn’t know whether she had really forgotten or was just pretending. Back then, when I took out this jade set and said I wanted to use it as the engagement token, the Bells praised it again and again. A full jade-green set like this was rare these days. After hearing her parents praise it, Emily had said she’d wear a cheongsam on the day of the engagement to match the jade. But later, when she chose this international hotel for the banquet, the European-style decor clashed horribly with a cheongsam. I spent so much effort redesigning the interior that it finally worked. And now, looking at Emily in a white, fully rhinestone-studded backless gown, with my grandmother’s jade and my tailored suit, it all looked so wrong.