“Cassandra, stop waiting here. Lucas is never gonna marry you.”

Just outside the Civil Affairs Bureau, Cassandra Bennett spun around instinctively at the sound of a familiar voice.

Danielle Bennett.

Her half-sister.

“What do you mean? Why wouldn’t he marry me?” Cassandra asked, brows knitted.

“Because I’m already pregnant with his child.”

Danielle stroked her belly, eyes full of smugness.

Cassandra stood frozen. Her mind went blank for a split second before she blurted out, “You’re pregnant with Lucas’s baby? Are you serious?”

“Look, I get that it’s a lot to take in,” Danielle said, gently smiling like she'd already won, “but that’s the truth.”

She pulled out her phone, tapped a few times, and shoved the screen in front of Cassandra.

Cassandra’s breath caught in her throat as she stared at the obscene photo. There they were—two naked bodies entangled. Her brain went completely blank.

This couldn’t be real.

It had to be fake.

Lucas was her fiancé. There’s no way he’d betray her like that… especially not with Danielle.

Almost without thinking, Cassandra reached for the phone.

But before she could touch it, Danielle suddenly stumbled back and collapsed onto the ground with a loud thump.

“Ah! It hurts... it really hurts…”

“Cassandra, why’d you push me?” Danielle clutched her stomach, curling up with a face full of pain.

“Smack!!!”

Before Cassandra could even react, a sharp slap landed hard on her face.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Cassandra?!”

“She’s carrying my kid—how could you push her?!”

The sting from the slap numbed not just her cheek but something deeper inside her too.

Holding her bright red cheek, Cassandra stared in disbelief at Lucas Daniels, who was shielding Danielle protectively.

“Lucas, you…”

“Don’t blame her, okay?” Danielle said tearfully, voice trembling. “It’s my fault… I made her angry…”

Cassandra almost laughed out loud. This whole thing was ridiculous.

She’d shown up today just to fulfill her grandfather’s dying wish—to register her marriage with Lucas.

Never thought she’d walk into a nightmare like this.

Danielle, her own sister, not only slept with her fiancé and got pregnant, but even staged a fall to frame her. And Lucas? He didn’t even hesitate before slapping her.

As if things weren’t already humiliating enough, a crowd began forming around them, staring at Cassandra like she was some kind of monster.

“Seriously? She pushed her pregnant sister? That’s basically attempted murder!”

“Isn’t that the older daughter from the Bennett family? I heard she grew up in the countryside. With that kind of upbringing, it’s no wonder she acts like a savage. Totally different from Danielle, who was raised like a true lady.”

At that moment, their dad Richard Bennett and stepmother Ariana Camidge arrived in a hurry.

As soon as Ariana saw Danielle lying on the ground, pale and hurting, she rushed over and held her protectively.

“Oh my poor baby… She just fell for someone, is that such a crime?”

Then Ariana turned to Cassandra, eyes full of reproach. “I get it. You hate us for sending you to live in the countryside. I really understand. But don’t take it out on Danielle, okay?”

“If you’ve got a problem, you can come at me. Just please… let Lucas and Danielle be together.”

Beside her, Richard echoed solemnly, “Cassandra, they’re genuinely in love. Maybe it’s time to let Lucas go.”

“Danielle’s always been weak, not cut out for hardship. Only a life like the one the Daniels family can offer will suit her.”

“But you, you grew up in the country, living a simple life. You’re used to it… Let’s be honest—you're not a match for Lucas, not in that world.”