Anna froze, her expression cracking with barely controlled rage.
“Evelyn, cut it out!” Lucas hissed, his face flushed with shame. “This isn’t entertainment.”
Evelyn regarded him with a look he had never seen from her—calm, sharp, final.
“You’re right,” she replied softly, yet with devastating certainty. “It’s not entertainment anymore.
Because the performance is over, Lucas.”
Then, with elegant precision, she reached beneath the edge of her gown and pulled out a white envelope. She opened it as carefully as she would adjust her veil.
“Before the wedding,” she declared, “I signed a prenuptial agreement. I spoke to an attorney after your mother hinted that ‘everything would belong to everyone.’ And yes, Lucas—I didn’t tell you. Because I knew it was the only sensible thing to do.”
A heavy, breathless silence fell.
Lucas turned ghost-white.
Anna’s eyes widened in horror, wide enough that she couldn’t disguise her panic.
“My apartment remains mine,” Evelyn said calmly. “And it always will.”
A collective exhale rippled across the hall.
Ze legde de microfoon neer, haalde de ring van haar vinger, legde hem netjes naast de ring en eindigde:
« Ik weiger een huwelijk te beginnen met iemand die mij behandelt als een zakelijke deal. Deze bruiloft eindigt nu. »
En voordat iemand kon reageren, pakte Evelyn haar jurk en liep naar de uitgang—vergezeld door spontane applaus, emotionele tranen en gedempte stemmen vol bewondering.
De deuren sloten zich achter haar…
En voor het eerst in tijden trilde haar hart niet—
het was eindelijk vrij.
