My Engagement Party, His Humiliation Show Chapter 01
I took control of my family’s Riverdale holdings on the same day the town threw its annual Summer Splash. The moment I left the banquet hall, a crowd rushed me, blasting me with heavy-duty water guns.
Leading the charge was Chloe Summers, my fiancé Bradley Crawford’s childhood best friend. My gown was soaked in seconds, the fabric clinging to every inch of me.
I knocked the water gun out of Chloe’s hand. “That’s enough. I don’t care what festival this is—”
Chloe burst into tears before I could finish. “Vivienne, it’s the Summer Splash — getting soaked is the whole point! Why do you always have to make me the bad guy…”
Bradley’s expression went cold the second he saw her tears. He pulled Chloe against his chest and shot a look at the crowd behind him.
A dozen water guns snapped toward me at once and fired. Every stream aimed where it would humiliate me most.
The jets soaked through my gown until the fabric over my chest turned see-through, my bra visible underneath. The crowd pressed closer, and I screamed at them, half-blind from rage and water.
“Bradley! Call them off and I’m calling 911!”
“Calling 911?” Bradley scoffed, then let out a mocking laugh. “Let me make this real simple for you, Vivienne.”
“You’re not in Highcreek anymore. This is my town.”
“No one can touch me here.”
My expression hardened. I reached into my pocket, pulled out my secure phone, and dialed the only number saved in it.
“Get every industrial water cannon in Riverdale to Starlight Plaza. I want this place locked down. Now.”
***
Laughter exploded from every direction before I even finished talking. Bradley snatched the phone from my hand, laughing so hard he could barely breathe.
“Have you completely lost it? You pulled out a fake phone and thought you’d scare us?”
He held up the screen for everyone to see. “Look at this — a four-digit phone number!”
“Has anyone here ever seen a four-digit phone number? Anyone?” The crowd howled.
Bradley was still grinning when he grabbed my chin, his fingers digging in. “Drop the Highcreek heiress act. It doesn’t work here.”
Chloe slipped under Bradley’s arm, and she looked at me like she’d already won. “Exactly, Vivienne. This is Bradley’s town. Your Highcreek name means nothing here.”
“Don’t waste your breath, babe.” He tightened his arm around Chloe and pointed straight at me.
“Apologize to Chloe.” “You’re not leaving until you do.”
Every guy in the circle still had a water gun aimed at me. But they weren’t looking at the guns anymore. They were looking at what the water had done to my gown, and they were leering.
I grabbed my shawl off the pavement and wrapped it around myself. Bradley ripped it away.
His hand clamped around my wrist, and he yanked me down. My knees hit the pavement at Chloe’s feet.
“Did you not hear me? Apologize!”
Chloe moved closer and dug her stiletto into the back of my hand, grinding down hard. Her voice stayed soft, wounded — perfectly innocent.
“I was just trying to include you, Vivienne. It’s the Summer Splash — everyone gets wet. Why do you have to twist everything?”
“You really hurt my feelings. Bradley’s holding back right now, but that’s not going to last. Just say you’re sorry before he really loses his temper…”
The crowd kept growing. Fingers pointed. Whispers broke out.
“Look at those curves. God damn.”
“Built like that? She’s asking for attention.”
“Dressed like that? Straight-up slut.”
Every filthy word made Bradley’s smirk widen.
A wave of nausea hit me. Eight years. I’d turned down every man my family set me up with because I’d chosen him.
Three times his family’s business nearly collapsed, and three times I’d begged my father to bail them out.
He proposed six months ago, right after New Year’s. For the first time, all those years of sacrifices seemed worth it.
Then Chloe came back from Europe — the day after Bradley put that ring on my finger. The second she stepped back into his life, everything shifted.
Taking control of my family’s Riverdale holdings was supposed to be our last chance — Bradley’s and mine. But kneeling here now, I knew we were done.
“Vivienne, if you don’t apologize, I’m going to get upset too…” Chloe’s lip trembled, and tears streamed down her face.
I yanked my hand free, forced down the disgust rising in my throat, and got to my feet. I slapped Chloe hard across the face.
Then I tore a water gun out of the nearest guy’s hands and pointed it straight at Chloe’s chest. A high-pressure stream slammed into her. Her dress went transparent in seconds, and the red bra underneath was fully exposed for the whole plaza to see.
“Don’t you dare hide!” I held the trigger down and didn’t let up.
“It’s the Summer Splash, right? Getting soaked is the whole point! Those were your words, not mine!”
