My Engagement Party, His Humiliation Show Chapter 07
I pushed the door open and started climbing out. Julian stepped in front of me before my feet could touch the ground, placing himself between me and Bradley.Â
“Whatever you need to say, say it to me. She doesn’t want to talk to you.”Â
“Back off, lapdog.” Bradley spat in Julian’s face.Â
Julian’s fist was already drawn back when his phone went off. He checked the screen and answered.Â
The person on the other end was screaming loud enough for me to hear every word from inside theÂ
vehicle.Â
“What the hell are you doing in Riverdale?! Get your ass back here now. You pick a fight with the Crawfords and you’ll be dealing with the fallout for the next ten years-”Â
Julian’s uncle. Head of the Sterling family.Â
I couldn’t let Julian take the fallout for me. IÂ
jumped out and reached for the phone, ready toÂ
explain. Julian ended the call before I could get aÂ
word in.Â
He wiped Bradley’s spit off his face with the backÂ
of his hand. When he spoke, his voice was flat andÂ
even.Â
“You’re the one who owes her an apology, Bradley.”Â
“Oh, wow. The Sterling heir playing the knight inÂ
shining armor?” Bradley looked him up and down.Â
“This is Riverdale, buddy. Crawford territory. IÂ
heard every word your uncle just said. So take hisÂ
advice and crawl back to Highcreek before thisÂ
gets worse.”Â
Then Bradley turned to me. Any guilt he’d had inÂ
his eyes five minutes ago was gone.Â
“I showed Chloe the medical file, Vivienne. SheÂ
says it’s fake.”Â
“Her family runs medical businesses in Europe.Â
She already had people check. No hospital inÂ
Highcreek has any record of a procedure underÂ
your name for that day.”Â
“I didn’t think you’d sink this low, Vivienne. You’reÂ
pathetic.”Â
“You’d take her word over mine? After I saved yourÂ
life?”Â
“Enough!” He cut me off.Â
“Every word out of your mouth makes me sick. IÂ
don’t have time for this – just apologize to ChloeÂ
already.”Â
“And if Chloe’s not satisfied, neither you nor the Sterling kid is leaving this plaza breathing.”Â
Chloe strutted forward and slapped me across theÂ
face. “Bitch!”Â
“You really thought you could go after me? Do you even know who I am?”Â
“Sorry isn’t going to cut it anymore, Vivienne.”Â
“You want forgiveness? You want to get back to Highcreek alive with your Sterling lapdog? Then get on your knees. Right now.”Â
“Kiss my heels in front of everyone. Or you’ll be leaving here on a stretcher.”Â
The crowd erupted behind her.Â
“Yeah, Chloe!” “That’s how it’s done!”Â
Bradley stood behind her, grinning like he’d alreadyÂ
won. “You heard her. Get on your knees.”Â
He was so sure of himself. In his mind, the Beaumonts had played their only card and lost.Â
He had no idea how wrong he was.Â
The Beaumonts had held power in Highcreek for aÂ
hundred years. A family like that doesn’t just haveÂ
–Â
reach it has roots everywhere. Our influenceÂ
stretched across state lines and international borders.Â
The Crawfords were big fish in a small pond. They had no idea what ocean they’d wandered into.Â
“I’m talking to you – are you deaf?!” When I didn’t move, Bradley stepped in and shoved down on my shoulders.Â
His voice dropped to something ugly. “I said kneel.”Â
The instant his hands hit my shoulders, the secureÂ
phone buzzed in my palm. I knew what thatÂ
meant. I caught Julian’s eye.Â
Julian moved in a fraction of a second. His handÂ
locked around Bradley’s throat.Â
He dragged him across the pavement and shovedÂ
him under the nearest cannon. Bradley thrashedÂ
and screamed.Â
“You’ve got a death wish, Julian?!”Â
“You first.”Â
Julian turned, grabbed Chloe by the hair, and dragged her under the second cannon.Â
Chloe snarled through the pain. “You psycho!Â
What’s the point? Bradley already cut your waterÂ
supply!”Â
The cannons answered for me. All one hundredÂ
thundered back to life. A hundred jets tore throughÂ
the air, and the roar swallowed everything.Â
My father hadn’t just bypassed their grid–he had bought the county’s entire water reserve in the lastÂ
ten minutes.Â
Bradley stared at the wall of water roaring towardÂ
him. He didn’t move. Couldn’t.Â
“That’s impossible – my dad shut off the supply-”Â
The water swallowed his voice. Chloe’s screamingÂ
was the last thing to go.Â
Exactly sixty minutes later, even Chloe had noÂ
voice left. Two ambulances screamed into theÂ
plaza.Â
The paramedics lifted what was left of BradleyÂ
and Chloe off the pavement. I watched them get loaded onto stretchers.Â
In the end, they were the ones carried out on their backs.Â
The whole thing blew up. Authorities showed up not long after the ambulances. But when they pulled the security footage, all it showed was Bradley and his crowd assaulting me.Â
Everyone at the scene that day was detained on assault and disorderly conduct charges. That night, Bradley and Chloe were on the news.Â
Their injuries were too severe. After hours in the ER, neither of them made it.Â
The Crawford family raised hell after Bradley’s death. My father didn’t blink.Â
Within a month, the Beaumonts had absorbedÂ
every piece of the Crawford empire in Riverdale. Three years later, Julian took over the Sterling family.Â
By winter, we were married.

