System Countdown to Betrayal

[System Alert: Critical deviation detected in Decade Vow core mission.]

[Marriage milestone: FAILED.]

[Host termination: 48 hours.]

The warnings pierced my mind just after Richard asked, with cruel gentleness, if I still wanted to try on my wedding dress.

Minutes earlier, he’d been adjusting my veil.

“I was next door keeping Wendy company,” he chuckled.

Then it clicked—that’s how he knew I’d gone to the club last night.

“She was so scared when she heard your voice, she had to sit on my lap the whole time,” he said, each word a blade.