Marriage Named Hatred Chapter 01
Celestine Vasquez, Annelise Vasquez’s older sister, was killed in a car crash on the eve of her wedding.
At the funeral, Annelise didn’t shed a single tear. She even asked Celestine’s fiancé, Bastian Ryland, to marry her instead, right in front of all the mourners.
While everyone was certain Bastian would fly into a rage and refuse, he agreed with unsettling composure.
After the mourning period ended, the wedding went ahead as planned—with Annelise as the bride.
That night, Annelise was pinned to the bed and taken by Bastian with brutal force.
Gripping her wrists, he wrenched her face toward him. “Surprised? You asked Cece out in the middle of the night because you wanted something to happen to her so you could force me to marry you, didn’t you?
“You’re disgusting! You actually dared to lust after your own sister’s man. Of course, I had to give you exactly what you wanted, so I could make you suffer for it!”
After that night, Bastian went out of his way to make life even harder for Annelise.
At the dinner table, he pitted his mother against Annelise, then leaned back and watched her be humiliated until she could barely lift her head.
After her performance, he sent her funeral bouquets and savored the sight of her falling apart under the media’s vicious questions.
But Annelise let it go every time, never letting her composure slip.
But that changed after Bastian let his new lover, Talia Norwood, crash into her car.
For three hours, Annelise was trapped in the driver’s seat, her white dress drenched in blood as the tiny life within her slowly faded.
And while it was happening, Bastian sat in a restaurant with Talia—the murderer of his own child—celebrating their hundredth day together.
By the time the doctor told her she would never be able to have children again, Annelise had already cried herself dry.
During the two weeks she spent in the hospital, she never got a single apology from Bastian. All she saw were the daily trending scandals about him, each one different from the last.
At first, she was heartbroken, then she went numb, and eventually, she stopped hoping for anything from him.
She returned to the Ryland’s residence, intending to tell the truth at last, only to overhear a conversation between Bastian and his assistant.
“Mr. Ryland, Mrs. Ryland was badly hurt. Are you really not going to the hospital to see her?”
“Getting sentimental, are you?” Bastian toyed with the cigar in his hand, his tone cold and vicious. “What? You don’t approve of how I do things?”
The assistant took a deep breath and slowly voiced his confusion. “The police recovered Ms. Celestine’s phone. It was clear she had asked Mrs. Ryland to meet her—and that she had also been in contact with the drunk driver…
“The car crash had nothing to do with Mrs. Ryland. So why did you still let everyone slander her and leave her living in guilt all this time?”
Bastian’s face stayed hard and expressionless. “So what? It’s a fact that Annelise was in love with me. If she hadn’t been so shameless, Cece wouldn’t have felt so insecure, let alone rushed to meet her with the intention of sending her abroad in secret.”
He paused, a mocking smile touching his lips. “Besides, I’m not the only one who knows the truth. Her own parents hid it from her and pinned Cece’s death on her, too.
“At the end of the day, all of this was Annelise’s fault. I will ensure that anyone who has harmed Cece pays a heavy price.”
Outside the door, Annelise froze where she stood, her heart sinking.
So everyone had known the truth all along.
Bastian knew Celestine’s death had nothing to do with her, yet he still found endless ways to humiliate her.
Her father, Robert Vasquez, knew that what had happened back then wasn’t her fault either, yet he still guilt-tripped her into pressuring Bastian into marriage at the funeral.
Annelise closed her eyes as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Back when news of her marriage to Bastian got out, every ounce of public malice was directed at her.
They called her cold-blooded, vicious, and ruthless—a woman who had killed her own sister for her fiancé.
But she was the one Bastian had loved, and the one he was supposed to love.
Annelise had harbored a secret crush on Bastian since high school, and a school event made her his pen pal.
She kept her identity hidden and, for three years, became the only person he confided in about everything.
On the night the SAT ended, Bastian asked to meet her in person.
She was so excited that she stayed up all night, sharing all her secrets and feelings with Celestine.
To her surprise, Celestine went to meet Bastian the next day, pretending to be her, and agreed to be his girlfriend.
Devastated, Annelise watched as the two of them walked away hand in hand. From that day on, she never mentioned her feelings for him again.
The only reason she had agreed to meet that night was to make things clear with Celestine.
She had already decided to let go and was ready to give her blessing. She just never expected something like that to happen.
Annelise slowly opened her eyes and turned to leave.
But then she saw the assistant hesitate before pulling out an envelope.
“There’s one more thing. The Orchestre de Paris has reached out to Mrs. Ryland with another offer.”
Bastian took it casually, then lit the offer letter on fire with a dismissive chuckle. “She still thinks she can become a principal chair in a symphony orchestra? Without my permission, she’s not going anywhere.
“Handle it as you always do—leave no trace.”