“Your sister’s being blamed for the veil.”
I clamped my hands over my mouth. Every word was a knife sliding between my ribs, twisting deeper.
This couldn’t be real.
This couldn’t be happening. “You said this would be simple,” Vanessa murmured. “I didn’t think it would go this far.”
“Relax.” Liam’s voice dropped lower.
“Once the hall’s trashed, no one will ask questions.
By then, everyone will believe she lost control.”
Liam and Vanessa had plotted against me. The woman who’d held my hand through every heartbreak, every triumph, every moment that mattered had destroyed my grandmother’s veil.
And they weren’t done; they were planning to trash the venue. To make everyone think I’d lost my mind.
To ruin me.
So they could be together. “They won’t listen. They told me that my marriage to a responsible woman like Jade was the only reason they’d decided to let me take over the business instead of Lena.
The only way I can keep the business and you is to change their opinion of Jade.”
Vanessa said something, but her voice was low, more distant.
Their footsteps echoed on the tile, and then the door shut. I sat there on the bathroom floor, makeup ruined, wedding dress wrinkled, world imploded.
I stood up slowly and exited the stall. I was immediately confronted by my haggard reflection in the restroom mirror.
I looked like someone who’d been destroyed… I needed to fix that.
I dabbed at my face with a tissue and reapplied my lipstick. Then I walked out of that restroom with my chin high and my spine straight. I found Lena pacing in the hallway.
She looked up when she saw me, her eyes red and puffy.
She opened her mouth to speak, but I raised my hand. Her eyes widened as I told her what I’d overheard.
For a moment, she just stared at me, then she nodded. “What do you need me to do?”
We moved quickly.
I found the venue manager, pulled him aside, and explained everything he needed to know in calm, clear terms.
He listened, and then he summoned two security guards and told them to follow me. I squeezed back. “Completely.”
The guests had started arriving.
I could hear them in the lobby, their voices bright with anticipation.
I took my position at the side entrance to the hall. From there, I had a perfect view of the floral arch at the front of the room.
The arch Liam and I were supposed to stand under as the officiant pronounced us man and wife. Liam and Vanessa jogged to the front of the hall.
I watched as Liam pulled a can of spray paint from his jacket.
Vanessa reached into her purse and produced a wrench. Their intentions were crystal clear: they were going to destroy that arch. They never got the chance.
Two security guards stepped out of the shadows.
It happened so fast — one moment, Liam and Vanessa were reaching toward the flowers, tools in hand; the next, they were being restrained. “Everyone,” she called out.
“You need to see this.”
The guests flooded in, pausing uncertainly as they took in the sight of the groom and maid of honor being restrained by security guards. I stepped forward and turned on the microphone the venue manager had handed me earlier.
I tapped it gently, and everyone turned to look at me.
I gestured toward Liam and Vanessa. They were both staring at me now. Liam’s face had gone pale, and Vanessa looked like she might be sick.
“The man I was supposed to marry and the woman I called my best friend plotted to vandalize this venue and make everyone believe I’d lost control.
All because Liam couldn’t tell his parents that he didn’t want to marry me. He believed they wouldn’t let him take over the family business.”
“But what they didn’t know,” I said, raising my voice to be heard over the noise, “is that I don’t break that easily.”
Liam was being marched toward the exit now, his head down.
Vanessa was crying, but I felt nothing watching her tears. The doors closed behind them.
I stood there in front of a hundred people, still in my wedding dress, still holding the microphone.
The floral arch stood behind me, untouched. Perfect. I looked around the room, scanning the faces of my friends and family, pausing when I reached Liam and Lena’s parents.
They clung to each other, Liam’s mom softly sobbing while his dad stared blankly ahead.
They were good people, and I hated that they’d had to see their son act out like a toddler, but I did what I had to do. “Well, the venue’s been paid for, and so has the food,” I told the guests.
“We won’t be celebrating a marriage, but we can still celebrate the truth.”
I turned the mic off and set it down on a nearby chair. Then, I walked over to Lena.
“I’m sorry I accused you of ruining my veil.
Can you forgive me?”
Lena pulled me into a hug. “Of course, I can. I’m sorry for what my brother tried to do to you.”
“We are too,” a man said behind me.
“It’s true, we did tell Liam that we’d let him take over the business once he married you,” Liam’s dad said.
“But we never realized he would see that as a trap.”
“We just wanted him to settle down,” his mom added. “He’s been so stable and calm since he started dating you… We wanted to encourage him to stay that way.”
I took a deep breath.
“I appreciate your words, but I think you should just let Lena run the business instead of holding it up as a prize for Liam to earn.”
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