Chapter 218: What Did You Just Call Her?

Chapter 218: Chapter 218: What Did You Just Call Her?

"What is the meaning of this?!" Arthur Livingston roared, stepping into the center aisle as his glass of scotch sloshed violently over his hands. His face was purple with rage as he pointed a trembling finger toward Kovacs and Aliya. "Security! Where are the rest of the guards?! Who let this baseline lunatic into my son’s venue?!"

"Did you just call my sister a baseline lunatic, Arthur?"

The voice was neither loud nor rushed, but the absolute, freezing authority behind it made every voice in the Grand Hall die down instantly.

Jake Rivers stood up smoothly from the second row of the alumni section, unbuttoning his charcoal suit jacket. Beside him, Elias—Jake’s chief bodyguard—stepped directly into the main aisle, his broad frame blocking any potential path toward the stage.

Jake walked leisurely out of the row, his expression placid, but his dark eyes carrying a flat, dangerous intensity that made the surrounding air feel stifling.

A heavy, stunned silence blanketed the room before the whispers exploded like wildfire.

"Sister...?" a banking director in the third row muttered, his eyes bulging.

"Wait, is he saying—" a corporate executive leaned over to his wife, his voice trembling slightly. "That girl is Jake Rivers’ sister?!"

Down in the alumni section, Mark’s jaw practically hit his chest. He grabbed Daniel’s arm, staring back and forth between Jake and Aliya in sheer disbelief. "Wait... *Aliya* is Jake’s sister?! Are you kidding me?"

Daniel’s eyes widened as the pieces suddenly clicked together in his head. "Holy hell... that’s why Jake turned down being Alex’s groomsman! Alex didn’t just mess around with some university girl; he destroyed Jake Rivers’ actual sister!"

"Unbelievable," Mark whispered, shaking his head in absolute awe. "If someone did that to my sister, I would’ve put Alex in an ICU months ago. Jake sat at the same table with that scumbag earlier and didn’t even raise his voice. Man, I swear, that terrifying level of composure is what separates Jake from the rest of us. It’s why he’s at the very top."

Near the side pillars, the two freelance journalists almost dropped their recording equipment in pure excitement.

"Did you hear that?!" one reporter hissed, his fingers flying across his phone interface to lock the high-definition recording. "She isn’t just an ex-girlfriend! She’s Jake Rivers’ sister! The head of Golden Investments!"

"This isn’t just a corporate marriage breakup anymore," the second journalist whispered back, his face flushed with adrenaline. "This is an absolute execution. Golden Investments is about to obliterate the Livingston Group. This story is going to break the entire financial network by tonight!"

Up on the altar steps, Anna Brodick felt the world tilt beneath her heels. Her breath caught in her throat as her gaze darted between Jake’s composed, commanding figure and Alex’s trembling frame.

All along, part of her willingness to entertain this merger had been driven by Alex’s inner circle—specifically his close ties to Jake Rivers. She had envisioned the wedding as her definitive entry ticket into the highest tier of the financial elite. Being married to Alex meant having a direct line to Jake, the undisputed powerhouse of the private sector.

*He wasn’t Alex’s friend anymore,* Anna realized, a cold wave of horror washing over her. *They were mortal enemies.*

If she tied herself to Alex today, she wasn’t securing an empire—she was walking straight into a firing line. Aligning with the Livingstons meant permanently cutting off any chance of ever forming a bridge with Jake Rivers or Golden Investments. In the business world, standing on the opposite side of Jake was equivalent to commercial suicide.

Subtle snickers and muffled chuckles suddenly broke out among a group of venture capitalists near the aisle who had watched Mrs. Livingston offer the cheque moments earlier.

"Did Mrs. Livingston just try to bribe Jake Rivers’ sister with fifty grand?" a logistics director whispered behind his palm, struggling to hide a smirk. "The man controls half the financial capital in the country, and she tried to hand his sister pocket change?"

Arthur Livingston froze in mid-stride. His eyes snapped from Aliya to Jake, then back to Kovacs standing guard. The furious purple on Arthur’s face bled into an awkward, sickly pale as the reality of the situation hit him like a physical blow.

"Rivers..." Arthur stuttered, his booming voice completely collapsing into a raspy whisper. He swallowed hard, his eyes darting toward the heavy entrance doors. "I... I was wondering how she managed to bypass venue security without an invitation. If she’s a Rivers... then that explains a lot. No guard in this city would dare lay a hand on a Rivers."

"You’re right, they wouldn’t," Jake said casually, stepping up beside Aliya. He placed a steady, reassuring hand on her shoulder, his touch grounding her. "She isn’t a lunatic, Arthur. She’s the victim of your son’s cowardly choices. And she’s going to finish every single word she came here to say."

Up on the altar, Alex looked like he was about to vomit. The smooth, invincible heir persona he had built was shattered beyond repair in front of the country’s most powerful figures.

"Al... please," Alex choked out, taking a frantic, desperate step down from the stage, his hands raised in a pathetic pleading gesture. "This isn’t the time or place. Whatever... whatever happened between us, we can talk about it privately. Just leave. Please."

"Privately?" Aliya’s voice rang clear through the hall, her eyes locked onto him with pure disdain. "You didn’t care about privacy when you dragged me to a dark backstreet clinic because you were terrified your father would cut off your inheritance."

Shocked gasps erupted from the front rows. Anna Brodick’s mother covered her mouth in sheer horror, while Anna herself slowly turned her head, her jaw tightening as her eyes burned into Alex with terrifying realization.

"You told me you loved me, Alex," Aliya continued, taking a firm step forward while Kovacs stayed half a pace behind her. "You told me we had a future. But the second I became an inconvenience to your corporate merger, you threw me to a butcher. You left me with internal infection, permanent medical damage, and the news that I can never have children of my own."

The revelation hit the hall like a sledgehammer. The hushed murmurs completely dissolved into harsh, disgusted chatter among the high-society guests.

"Good God..." a senior official from the Ministry of Commerce muttered, turning his back slightly toward the altar. "An illegal clinic?"

"Is this true, Alex?!" Anna demanded, her voice sharp and shaking with rage as she stepped away from him on the stage. "Look at me! Is this true?!"

"Anna, no! She’s lying! She’s trying to ruin us because I broke up with her!" Alex stammered out, his voice rising into full-blown panic as he backed away, looking wildly between his father, Anna, and the crowd. "Father, tell them! She’s just a bitter ex! Jake is using her to sabotage the state logistics contract!"

"She doesn’t need to lie, Alex," Jake said softly, stepping forward so that he stood directly between Alex and the room. "I have the medical records from the hospital that treated her after your butcher job. I have the bank transfers you made from your personal account to that backstreet clinic, and I have the street surveillance footage from that alleyway."

Jake reached into his inner suit pocket, pulling out a sleek black thumb drive, and tossed it carelessly onto the wooden altar table right next to the pastor’s Bible.

"Every major news outlet and regulatory board in the capital gets a copy of these files in thirty minutes," Jake added, his voice dropping into a quiet, chilling register. "You wanted to show me how the board actually looks tonight, Alex? Take a good look. You’re completely done."

Arthur Livingston dropped his glass of scotch. It shattered against the marble floor, splashing liquid and ice across his shoes, but he didn’t even notice. His eyes were wide with pure terror as he saw the Ministry officials actively pulling out their phones, stepping back to distance their names from the Livingston family in real time.

Anna Brodick looked down at Alex—at his pale, sweating face, his shifting, guilty eyes, and his trembling hands. Slowly, she reached down, pulled off her diamond engagement ring, and threw it directly at his chest.

Without saying a single word, she grabbed the train of her dress and walked briskly down the side steps toward her parents.

"Anna! Wait! Let me explain!" Alex yelled, lunging forward, but Anna’s father stepped into his path, shoving Alex back onto the stage steps with a look of utter disgust. "Get away from my daughter, you piece of garbage."

Aliya stood in the center aisle, watching Alex collapse back onto the altar steps—a broken, panicked wreck surrounded by the ruined pieces of his grand evening. The heavy, agonizing weight that had rested on her chest for months finally lifted, replaced by a quiet, steady peace.

She turned her back on the stage, looking up at Jake.

"Let’s go home, Jake," Aliya said softly, her voice light and steady. "There’s nothing left for us here."

Jake looked down at his sister, the cold edge in his eyes melting away as he wrapped his arm securely around her shoulders, pulling her close.

"Whenever you’re ready, Al," Jake replied gently.

Catharine stepped up from the alumni row, taking Aliya’s free hand with a firm, supportive smile. Together, flanked by Kovacs and Elias, the three of them turned around and walked calmly down the red carpet toward the exit, leaving the Grand Hall in absolute, irreversible chaos.

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