Wedding Cancelled, Empire Reclaimed

For ten years Vivian raised her husband David's daughter Chloe, pulling the withdrawn child back from the edge of emotional collapse and paying for her schooling, her violin lessons and her future. On Chloe's wedding day, the bride turns on her, thanking Vivian for minding her father and announcing that her real mother, Brenda, has returned and Vivian can leave. David stays silent; Brenda takes the front row and blames Vivian for the family's breakup.

What Chloe does not know is that the match was Vivian's doing. Six months earlier she made billionaire CEO Arthur Lin's partnership conditional on his son Lucas marrying Chloe, and she never told the girl. Vivian calmly calls the wedding off while keeping the business deal, and Lucas, coldly obedient to his father, walks away without a backward glance.

Brenda demands an eight-million-dollar bride price and turns her fury on Vivian, who answers by laying out the past: the mother who abandoned a feverish ten-year-old, the years Vivian spent raising her. Chloe falls to her knees, and Brenda orders her to get up.