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The surveillance footage was sharp and clear.

Marcus's expression — fawning, calculating, eagerly leaning in — was displayed in perfect detail on the big screen.

A collective sharp intake of breath ran through the room at his words.

Then the footage cut to the two of them exchanging contact details, Reid scanning a QR code off Marcus's phone — Marcus had been careful about that, letting Reid make the first technical move.

When the corridor footage ended, I played the second clip: the surveillance from the restaurant where Marcus had called both families together to announce the broken engagement.

The hallway camera had caught everything — Gerald and Patricia's faces as they worked themselves up, every word they'd said.

The Kingsley relatives crowded closer, frowning.

"Old Kingsley — didn't you tell all of us that your daughter-in-law was completely unreasonable? That she was always asking for something new?"

"Turns out she only asked for £38,000. You know what the going rate is around here — £188,000 is considered on the low end. You had a daughter-in-law like that and you didn't appreciate her. This is entirely on you."

"You've made a mockery of the whole Kingsley name. Look what you've put that girl and her parents through."

Gerald and Patricia stood in silence, their faces burning.

Marcus finally understood. He lurched toward the screen.

"Excuse me — staff — where are the staff—"

"Turn this bloody thing off or I'll smash it myself!"

I met his gaze.

"Do you like your wedding gift? Did I choose well?"

"What exactly is there left to argue about?"

Reid pressed his lips together, trying not to laugh. He rested his hand on my shoulder.

"Let him be. He's working very hard right now to figure out how to make himself the victim in all this."

Marcus looked between us, his jaw clenched.

"You set me up. You knew Reid was a man the whole time, didn't you?"

"You planned this. You engineered the whole thing — the broken engagement, today — all of it."

"You did this to me."

He said it like I was the one who'd wronged him.

I genuinely could have laughed.

"I did this to you? If a man can be peeled away from his fiancée by a single offhand comment — what exactly was he worth?"

"But you're right about one thing: of course I knew Reid was a man. I've known him since we were children."

"These past few weeks, watching you bounce around in front of me thinking you'd won something — knowing exactly how this was going to end—"

"I have enjoyed every single second of it."

Marcus lunged at me.

I didn't move.

Owen stepped forward and landed a clean kick that sent Marcus sprawling.

"Keep your hands off my fiancée."

Marcus lay on the floor. The pain hadn't reached him yet.

He looked up at the two of us, then back again.

"You two — together?"

Then something shifted in his expression — the look of a man who thinks he's found his angle.

"Oh, I see it now. You've been sneaking around behind my back this entire time."

"Vera, what makes you think you have any right to stand here and lecture me."

Owen answered him, unhurried.

"I told people I had a fiancée for years. That was my way of keeping to myself."

"I didn't begin pursuing Vera until after you called off the engagement."

"Honestly, I should thank you. Without you, there's no version of the world where Vera and I end up together."

"Since you didn't know what you had — I suppose it falls to me to look after her properly."

A few guests spoke up about Owen's years of quiet devotion.

Others noted the obvious contrast — here, then there.

Marcus's attention snagged on something else entirely.

He rounded on me.

"You fought me tooth and nail over a settlement. Made it into a whole argument every single time."

"But him — he supposedly offered you nothing, and you agreed within the day? Explain that."

Owen smiled and put a hand on Marcus's shoulder.

"Mate. You're embarrassingly easy to fool."

"I was making a joke. An obvious one. You took it as gospel."

"When a man has found the woman he wants to spend his life with — of course he's going to give her everything. The question is only whether it's enough."

I raised my hand into the light.

The diamond ring scattered brilliance across the room.

"Settlement: £880,000. Full gold and diamond jewellery set."

"He insisted."