He Chose Her Joke, I Chose His Ruin Chapter 01

He Chose Her Joke, I Chose His Ruin Chapter 01

The night before my engagement party, my childhood friend, Celeste Shaw, told me she had a surprise for me—something special for the bride.

She lured me to the hotel’s rooftop glass conservatory, locked the doors from the outside, and switched on every sprinkler.

Frigid December water poured down. Icy water hammered down. The glass walls were crystal clear on all sides.

Down below, guests crowded the terrace, phones in hand, watching me shiver.

Celeste smiled, sweet and vicious. “Doesn’t Elena love playing the untouchable queen? Let’s see what she looks like when she’s begging.”

My fiancé, Adrian Vale, stood among them.

Through the frigid downpour, he looked up at me, voice cool. “Don’t kill her.”

“A girl from some tiny out-of-state town needs to learn what it means to earn a place in the Vale family.”

I smashed the glass and climbed down from the rooftop.

Wiping the blood from my face, I called my lawyer.

“Notify the board: withdraw our investment, freeze their accounts, and suspend all project payments due for Vale Group by tomorrow morning.”

“Also, send tonight’s footage to the police.”

“File charges for false imprisonment, aggravated assault and invasion of privacy against every last one of them”

The moment the icy water hit, I couldn’t breathe.

The conservatory doors were sealed from outside. Glass walls on every side. Blinding spotlights caught every humiliating water droplet clinging to me

The terrace below was packed.

Old-money East Coast guests sipped champagne, gawking at me like a staged spectacle.

Some laughed. Some whistled.

Phones pointed straight at my soaked face.

“Now that’s quite the after-party.”

“Mr. Vale really knows how to toy with people. A little pre-wedding surprise for his fiancée.”

“Surprise? Celeste said it’s a test.”

“Testing if she’s worthy of the Vale name!”

Mockery cut through the rain, straight into my ears.

I gripped the door handle until my knuckles ached.

Locked.

A digital keypad blazed red outside.

Celeste stood beyond the glass in a pristine gown, makeup flawless, looking like a white rose that had never touched dirt.

She twirled a remote at me beneath a white umbrella, grinning. “Elena, don’t look at me like that.”

“Everyone just wants to see how much you love Adrian.”

Her voice carried far enough for the crowd to hear. Laughter rippled through the onlookers.

I wiped water off my eyes, my voice trembling. “Celeste. Open the door.”

She tilted her head, amused. “But the game just started.”

“We made a bet—how long until you break and beg?”

She stepped closer, studying me through the glass. “Didn’t you always brag about being independent? Strong? Talented?”

“Prove it.”

I stared at her innocent face. My heart turned to ice.

Tonight was supposed to be the night before my engagement to Adrian Vale.

The Vale family had booked the entire mountaintop hotel.

On the surface, they ran a Fortune 500 empire. Beneath that, they were the strictest dynasty among the East Coast old-money families.

To safeguard their reputation, the hotel’s security was temporarily transferred to their private detail, letting Celeste slip past all checks with Adrian’s access card.

Tomorrow morning, every major outlet would be here.

Adrian had told me this was the honor I deserved.

He said I’d stood by him through Vale Group’s brutal three years, boardroom exile and his lonely fight for power as an outcast heir.

He said it was time to give me a name.

I’d believed I was happy.

I’d canceled three critical business meetings for this engagement, personally vetting the guest list and auditing all funding figures.

And now, the man who promised me dignity stood at the center of the terrace.

He never climbed upstairs or ordered the doors unlocked.

The overhang kept the rain off him. Adrian stood bathed in warm lamplight in a tailored black suit, watching me shiver behind glass under the frigid spray.

I screamed through the glass. “Adrian!”

“Let me out!”

I thought, at least, he might frown.

Instead, he flicked cigarette ash slowly and deliberately.

“Elena, Celeste is just playful.”

“You’re older. More mature. Don’t stoop to her level.”