Chapter 71: Chapter 71: The Wedding

So, Ivan Hudson quickly continued, “Since you lost the Sanctum shares yourself, as an adult, you need to learn to take responsibility for your own actions. We’ve heard from the Jennings family. You just focus on resting up. Jared Jennings should be coming to the hospital to see you tomorrow or the day after. Don’t go causing any more trouble.”

Brianna Hudson knew it was impossible for her to get the shares back from Jessie Sterling. Even though Jessie had bought them at market price, with Sanctum doing so well now, it didn’t take a genius to realize that Jessie had come out on top in the deal.

And it wasn’t like she was short on cash.

“I know…” Brianna Hudson murmured, her head bowed and her spirits low.

November 27th was an auspicious day.

The Sterling and Morgan families had a master select the date, and this day was chosen for the wedding banquet.

The venue was St. Alban’s Palace, and Jessie Sterling had arrived a week in advance.

The entire St. Alban’s Palace was wreathed in white Titanic and Juliet roses. The roses alone, air-freighted from the Netherlands, numbered nearly one hundred thousand stems and took a full day just to unload.

The florists were all celebrity artists hired locally in the United Kingdom, and there were dozens of them.

Not only was an arched floral gate required at the palace entrance, but even though Jessie Sterling preferred an outdoor wedding on the lawn, the ceremony hall also had to be filled with fresh flowers.

Then there were the guest tables and chairs, the aisles, the dining hall, and even the ceilings. There were so many places to decorate with flowers that one or two florists could never have finished in time.

Lynn Jennings, the bridesmaid, had arrived at the venue early with Jessie Sterling.

When Lynn Jennings saw the sea of flowers before her, even though she was someone who spent money like water, she couldn’t help but exclaim, “President Morgan really went all out.”

It was winter, after all, when the cost of cultivating flowers was even higher.

And now, faced with these one hundred thousand high-quality stems—setting aside the price, the visual effect of the arrangements alone was truly breathtaking.

“I bet for the next ten years, no wedding in the world will be able to top this one.” Lynn Jennings gave Jessie Sterling a thumbs-up, sighing in admiration. “Uncle Sterling’s judgment is really impeccable.”

Jessie Sterling had been delighted by Lynn Jennings’s first sentence; she loved being one-of-a-kind and stealing the show. For most girls, a wedding happens only once, and a once-in-a-lifetime event naturally had to be a grand affair.

But when she heard Lynn’s next sentence, she pouted in dissatisfaction and muttered, “Hey, I was the one who picked him, you know!”

Why did Director Sterling get all the credit for having good taste?

Lynn Jennings reached out and pushed Jessie Sterling’s pout flat. “Whatever you say. You’re the bride, after all.”

Jessie Sterling smiled.

The invitations had been sent out long ago. The Sterling and Morgan families were both highly respected, and after coordinating their guests’ travel schedules, they chartered planes to fly everyone to the wedding hotel in successive waves. Other guests, planning to arrive on their own private jets, also began to land.

On the day of the wedding, London was blessed with a rare, sunny sky.

Thanks to the connections of the Sterling and Morgan families, a great many guests came to attend the wedding banquet.

Despite the large crowd, both families enforced extremely strict security and confidentiality measures. In attendance were not only tycoons from around the globe but also numerous political dignitaries.

Jessie Sterling wasn’t worried about any of that. All she had to do on her wedding day was be the most beautiful bride in the world.

Victor Morgan had also arrived in London early, but he had been so busy for days that he had barely managed to see Jessie Sterling.

Victor was actually quite looking forward to seeing Jessie in her wedding dress. On this matter, however, the secrecy maintained by Jessie and her entourage was arguably even stricter than the official event security. As a result, Victor didn’t manage to catch a single glimpse of her before she made her entrance.

So, at noon on the wedding day, when Jessie Sterling appeared before Victor Morgan—descending by helicopter, seated on a flower-basket swing suspended beneath it—the face of a man who was normally unflappable showed a clear trace of stunned admiration.

Victor Morgan had long known that his soon-to-be wife was dazzlingly beautiful, that her every frown and smile could captivate the soul. But he had never imagined that Jessie Sterling, clad in her wedding dress and arriving on the wind, would truly look like a goddess descending to the mortal realm.

She just stood there, and without a single glance in his direction, she could make his heart race.

At the end of the red carpet stood Jessie Sterling in a long-sleeved, ivory-white satin and lace wedding gown. Its hand-embroidered rose petals were all embellished with crushed diamonds.

The sunlight was perfect that day. The crushed diamonds on the gown refracted the light, making the entire dress seem to glow. The train, nearly three meters long, made Jessie look as if she were emerging from a halo of light, her beauty almost blinding.

On her head, she wore an antique Baroque-style gemstone crown from Director Sterling’s collection. Like a proud princess, she captured the undivided attention of everyone present; no one could tear their eyes away from the bride.

Jessie Sterling was very satisfied with the feeling of being on her own stage, with all eyes focused on her.

Director Sterling had made her promise long before the wedding that no one was allowed to cry. It was just a marriage, not a separation from the family, so what was there to cry about? She would be the Morgan family’s daughter-in-law, but she would always be the Sterling family’s daughter.

But when the moment truly came, as Director Sterling took her hand and walked her toward the man at the other end of the red carpet, she heard her father whisper in her ear, “Walk forward, don’t look back.” Her vision began to blur.

She couldn’t help but look back.

Seeing Director Sterling in his suit, his eyes now showing the faint marks of time, giving her an encouraging smile, a distant memory suddenly surfaced in Jessie Sterling’s mind.

The first time she went to kindergarten, Director Sterling had personally walked her to the gate.

The night before, she had been thrilled and eager, excited to wear her brand-new school uniform and the sparkling crystal headband her mother had specially prepared for her.

She didn’t cry on her first day of kindergarten. Even as the other children around her cried until they were out of breath, she didn’t shed a tear. She even turned back happily and waved to her parents.

But it was only after she had entered the school grounds and turned back that Jessie saw Director Sterling outside, crying his eyes out.

She had been too young to feel anything at the time. But now, the memory of that scene appeared in her mind, sudden and unexpected.

The figure of the father who had taken her to kindergarten all those years ago now overlapped with the father who was giving her away to another man at her wedding.

’That phrase, “Walk forward, don’t look back”… but if I hadn’t looked back, would I have ever seen my father standing there, unable to stop his tears as he watched me go?’

Jessie Sterling couldn’t help it. The tears came.

’This is completely different from what I expected. I thought I wouldn’t cry.’

’I’ve always known my life has been so smooth because my family has always been behind me. But what about now?’

Just as Jessie Sterling’s vision blurred completely, Victor Morgan, who had been standing at the other end of the red carpet, had at some point walked to her side and taken her hand.

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