Maya:

Today is the happiest day of Maya Brook's life. At the peak of her twenty-four years, she is about to fulfill her greatest dream: getting married.

She woke up very early and is already dressed in her beautiful wedding gown. The only thing worrying her is the disappearance of her best friend, Kate Belvoir, who didn't show up for her bachelorette party. Kate had helped Maya with every detail of the celebration. She had been there throughout the entire two-year engagement -- she helped buy the couple's future home and even planned the honeymoon.

Maya called Kate's cell phone several times, but every call went straight to voicemail. The other bridesmaids were already there for the big day. Maya had even received a lovely bouquet of flowers from her godmother.

"Do you think Kate isn't coming, Maya?"

"I don't know, Emily. God willing, she's okay."

It was already nine in the morning when a gift box arrived at Maya's house. She received the beautifully wrapped package with joy -- she had always been so grateful for every present that had been arriving at her home. But when she undid the ribbon and opened the box, pain and devastation flooded her soul. She let the box fall to the floor, collapsed onto the ground with her dress fanning out around her, and the worst agony of her life began. Inside were photos of her beloved fiance Josh in bed with her best friend Kate. When she looked at the photos scattered on the floor, she started ripping them apart. There were so many, but when she reached for the last one, she found a typed letter from a computer telling her exactly where to find the two of them. Determined to catch them in the act, she grabbed the skirt of her dress and ran. Besides the photos and the letter, there was a key card that opened the hotel room door, and the letter included the address and room number. She took the elevator up without much difficulty, despite the curious stares of everyone who saw a bride with ruined makeup and tear-streaked face in a hotel. When she opened the room door, she found the remnants of a fondue on the bedside table, a melted candle, and the remains of a romantic setup. So that was why her "best friend" hadn't shown up to her bachelorette party. She walked toward the bed, and there they were -- the two traitors, completely naked, fast asleep.

"You bastard!"

Maya screamed, then hurled the roses from the vase onto the floor and threw water over both of them, jolting them awake. Kate wrapped herself in the sheets while Josh pressed a pillow over his privates.

"My love, I can explain. It's not what you think. I don't even know what she's doing here. I was at my bachelor party -- I don't even know how I ended up in this room."

"Look at me, Josh. Do you see 'fool' written on my forehead?"

"And you, you bitch -- you pretended to be my best friend just to steal my fiance!"

"Forgive me, May. I didn't mean for it to happen, but being so close to each other during the wedding preparations... I fell in love with Josh. I love him."

"You damn bitch!"

Maya managed to land a few slaps on Kate.

"It's over, Josh. You can go explain to the wedding guests why we're done. I still have the proof of your cheating -- even though I tore up some of them, I still have plenty. Why don't you go ahead and use the wedding to marry this bitch instead?"

She stormed out of the room the same way she'd come in, her dream of marrying the man she had loved since she was fifteen shattered to pieces. This time she left her car at the hotel and walked the streets of New York in her wedding dress, heartbroken and devastated. Cars started honking. People stared at her with pity while others whispered to each other. But nothing that happened now could break Maya any further. The weather turned suddenly, and a storm poured down, finishing off what was left of her wedding dress.

Maya didn't care about anything anymore. She looked up at the sky, tore the veil from her head, and threw it onto the avenue, swearing to get her revenge on Josh and Kate. She vowed that one day she would look at them from the top while they were at the bottom, and she would laugh at their failure. Even if it was the last thing she ever did, she would make both traitors pay.

Maya's father finally found her and brought her home, but just when she thought she'd find some comfort, her nightmare continued.

"What were you thinking, Maya? Josh called me and said you canceled the wedding. You must be out of your mind! How could you cancel the wedding with Josh Miller? He's a top executive at Moore Corporation. He's very close to Nathan Ford Moore -- do you have any idea how powerful that man is? He has a massive empire with companies all over the world. Josh could have been the bridge between our company and theirs!"

"All you think about is business, Dad. That bastard Josh cheated on me with Kate!"

"That was just a slip-up, sweetheart. It was his bachelor party -- he had to have some fun. After all, you're still, shall we say, innocent -- you never gave yourself to him. A man needs sex. If you wanted the perfect wedding and to stay a virgin, you should've been prepared to put up with your fiance's slip-ups, since you weren't satisfying him the way a man deserves."

"I can't believe you're taking his side, Dad."

"I'm disappointed in you, Maya. The wedding is in two hours. There's still time for you to throw on any dress and go. I won't let you make this stupid mistake."

"I am not marrying the bastard who cheated on me."

"You will marry him because you owe me obedience."

"I won't marry Josh. Not even over my dead body."

"Then pack your things and get out of my house. I don't want to see you again. If you don't marry Josh, forget you ever had a father..."

Nathan:

It was past ten in the morning when Nathan Ford arrived at his company, entering his office through the private elevator. He sat down in his chair and found himself reflecting on what his grandmother had just asked of him -- what she herself had called "her final wish." Amber Ford, the great matriarch of the Ford family, was now in the terminal stages of cancer. Nathan felt powerless. Despite all his wealth, he couldn't save the life of the grandmother who had raised him as her own son.

Amber Ford hadn't just been a mother to Nathan -- she was an extraordinary woman. She had built the company from a small firm she inherited after her husband died of a sudden heart attack, leaving her with two small children: his aunt Lindsey and his father Paul, who were six and eight at the time. Amber ran the company and raised her children on her own. When she handed control to her eldest son right after he finished college and got married, it was already a major enterprise and one of the best in the country. But his father managed the company for only five years before a tragic accident took the lives of both his son and daughter-in-law. The only survivor was their three-year-old grandson, Nathan -- which forced Amber to return to the company. Her daughter lived a frivolous life and had no interest in the business, eventually marrying one of the executives, the company's vice president. But for Amber, only those who carried her blood could be president, so she took back the reins until her grandson was ready to assume control at twenty-two. For the past six years, Nathan had been president of Moore Corporation.

His thoughts were interrupted by his secretary calling to go over the day's schedule. He authorized her to come in.

"Good morning, Mr. Ford! You have two meetings this morning -- the first at ten-thirty with the governor, and the second at eleven-thirty with Hassan Construction. At two o'clock, Mr. Josh Carter's wedding."

"All right. You may go, Hillary. Prepare the conference room."

The secretary left, but just five minutes before the meeting, word came that Josh Carter's wedding had been canceled. Nathan scratched his head, wondering why -- Josh never missed an opportunity to praise his fiancee, saying she was perfect. But he pushed the thought aside and headed to his appointments.

After both meetings, he decided to go out for lunch at his favorite restaurant. As he was leaving the building, a scene near the parking lot entrance caught his attention. He saw Josh arguing with a woman, and after she gestured furiously and pointed her finger at him several times, he shoved her. She fell to the ground, clutching her ankle, and Josh simply turned his back and walked away, leaving her there with an expression of pain. Nathan was outraged by Josh's cowardice. He got out of his car and approached the beautiful woman.

"Are you all right?"

"No, but I will be."

"It looks like you twisted your ankle. It could be serious -- let me take you to the hospital."

The woman tried to protest, but he wouldn't hear it. He simply scooped her up in his arms, placed her in his car, and drove to the same hospital where his grandmother was being treated -- the best in the country.

"You're lucky it's just a sprain. It could have been much worse. I don't know how you women walk around in heels that high."

He said this pretending not to know what had really happened.

"If I'd just twisted my ankle in a stiletto, it would've hurt less. It was the heartbreak I got from that bastard ex-fiance of mine. But what's coming to him is all saved up -- I'm writing down every single reason to get my revenge, and his fall is going to be spectacular. His and that bitch of a mistress who's now his fiancee. The bastard swaps brides like he swaps clothes."

"You really are furious with him, aren't you?"

"How could I not be? I received proof of his cheating as a wedding gift at the exact moment I was getting dressed to go to the church and fulfill my greatest dream -- getting married in a white gown. I even had time to catch them in the act. And to top it all off, I got kicked out of my own house for ending the relationship. Then, on my way to a lawyer's office, I run into the jerk, who insults me and says I'll never find another fiance of his social standing and that I'm not on his level. But that's enough -- you must be bored with my story by now."

"No, go on. Just for today, I'll be the listener for your vent session."

The woman smiled, and Nathan found her smile beautiful.

"There's nothing more to say. The only thing I want right now is to find another fiance -- someone far better than him -- and rub it in his face that he's worthless. And to show that jealous bitch of an ex-best friend that I can do so much better than her."

A spark of hope lit up in Nathan's mind. This was the perfect chance to fulfill his grandmother's wish -- to marry a woman who wasn't after his money, but who wanted to get back at everyone who had humiliated her. It would be an exchange of favors: he would help her with her revenge, and she would help him grant his grandmother's dying wish.

"Well, you just found him. A pleasure to meet you -- Nathan Ford Moore, your fiance."

Maya:

"Dad, you can't be serious."

"I am dead serious, Maya. If you don't reconsider this decision and go talk to Josh about getting married immediately, you can leave."

"I'll go pack my things."

"There's nothing to pack. You can walk out the same door you came in."

"Can I at least take my documents?"

That was the only thing my father let me take from the house -- I left with the clothes on my back, my documents, and my cell phone. With nowhere to go, the only place I knew I'd find love and understanding was my godmother Ava's house.

"I can't believe you went through all of that, sweetheart. George has lost his mind, and you're just like him -- how can you leave your own house? He's the one who should leave. That house is yours!"

"I don't want any fights, Godmother."

"You don't want fights? He humiliates you, tries to force you to marry a cheating bastard -- Maya, you have to be smarter than this, my girl. You need to find a lawyer and revoke the power of attorney. How can you let your father run your inheritance from your own house when he's the one who kicked you out and told you he's disowning you as a daughter? If he disowns you, then he can go find another source of income, because you're no fool."

"You're right, Godmother. I can't let them humiliate me any more than they already have."

I don't know why I opened my mouth, because it seems like whenever we say something out loud, it attracts bad luck. The doorbell rang, and when I opened the door --

"What are you doing here, Kate? Wasn't what I gave you at the hotel enough? You came for interest on top of it?"

"I want to explain, and I'm telling you before you hear it from someone else again. Like I said, I fell in love with Josh during the wedding preparations. If I gave myself to him, it was out of love, Maya. That's why, as soon as you left, he proposed to me. I thought I should be the one to tell you."

"You damn bitch -- I'll kill you!"

"Let her go, Maya. She's not worth it."

"You're right, Godmother. She's not worth it."

I turned to leave and close the door, but then I stopped and looked back at her.

"Oh, Kate, darling -- be careful when you're planning your wedding and choosing your friends, because what you sow, you'll reap later. Congratulations, sweetheart. If you want me to be your maid of honor, I'll buy a beautiful dress."

I slammed the door in her face and went to cry in my godmother's arms.

"Stop suffering over this, Maya. Those two bastards don't deserve your tears. You're strong, and you're going to come out on top. We'll be laughing at their downfall someday."

"You're right, Godmother. I'm going to find a lawyer, take back what's mine by right, and figure out a way to get my revenge on those two. This isn't over. They're not going to laugh and have a good time at my expense."

I took a shower and gathered all my documents. As my luck would have it, the lawyer's office was very close to Moore Corporation. I had no idea Josh would be there, but as soon as I came up from the subway, I ran right into him in front of the building.

"What are you doing here? If you came to beg me to come back and go through with the wedding, you're wrong. You made me go through the worst humiliation of my life -- having to cancel a wedding just hours before it was supposed to happen."

I let out a laugh.

"Not if you were the last man on the face of the earth would I go back to you."

"You think you're so important, don't you, Maya?"

"I am important, dear ex. I love myself and I know my worth. Thank God I woke up in time and caught you in the act. Imagine marrying a worm like you."

"Listen here -- you're crossing the line."

"Excuse me, Josh, the world doesn't revolve around you. I have better things to do than waste my time on your insufferable presence. Oh, and congratulations on your next wedding! I hope this one actually happens. Maybe you'll catch your 'bride' with someone else this time."

"This is all sour grapes because I traded you for Kate. I just realized you're not on my level. Look at me, Maya, and tell me -- do you really think a pathetic nobody like you could ever reach my level? You're going to end up alone. I doubt you'll ever find a fiance who measures up to me -- if you find one at all. You'll end up on the shelf, and that ridiculous dream of yours of getting married in a white gown will never come true. And still a virgin on top of it -- you'll scare off every man. That's the difference between you and Kate. Kate knows how to satisfy a man, while you're just pathetic."

I wanted to fly at his throat, but when I raised my hand to slap him, he shoved me and I fell hard, a searing pain shooting through my ankle. I watched him walk through the company doors without looking back. It wasn't long before another man scooped me up in his strong arms and carried me to his car, then to a hospital. He was incredibly kind -- not only did he take me to the hospital, he listened to my entire vent and smiled. It was comforting to let out everything that had been bottled up. The rage was immense.

After boring him with my story, I apologized for being a nuisance, but he asked me to keep going and tell him more. The only thing I said was that I wanted revenge -- to find a fiance better than Josh and make his life and that bitch Kate's life a living hell. He paused for a moment to think, and then suddenly looked at me with a serious expression, took my hand, and gazed deep into my eyes.

"Well, you just found him. A pleasure to meet you -- Nathan Ford Moore, your fiance."

That name wasn't unfamiliar, but I wasn't understanding what he was saying.

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Isn't this what you want? A fiance better than Josh, and revenge on those two? I'm willing to help. We get married, and I help you get your revenge on your ex-fiance and your ex-best friend."