"You can't marry him!"
My voice cracked through The Plaza's Grand Ballroom like a whip, and two hundred heads snapped toward me in perfect, horrified synchronization.
At the altar, drowning in white roses that probably cost more than my rent, my ex-fiancé looked like he'd seen a ghost.
Maybe he had. I'd died three months ago when Damien Sterling dumped me via text. This was just my vengeful spirit in ripped jeans and a leather jacket, tracking dirt across their perfect white aisle.
"Raven?" Damien's voice cracked. "What are you doing here?"
What was I doing here? Excellent question. I'd asked myself the same thing in the Uber, nursing a bottle of tequila. Asked it again when I'd slipped past security. Asked it while downing three shots in the coat room, listening to the ceremony begin.
But now, staring at him in his custom tux with his arm linked through his bride's, I knew exactly why I'd come.
"Tell her." I started down the aisle, my boots too loud against marble. "Tell Madison what you said to me three nights ago."
The bride's face crumpled like wet tissue. "Damien? What is she talking about?"
"She's drunk." Red flushed up Damien's neck his tell when he was about to lose it. He'd always hated when I embarrassed him in front of his rich friends. "Security!"
"I'm not drunk." I was. Definitely was. "I'm honest. Which is more than you can say, you lying piece of"
Two security guards materialized, moving toward me with that careful crazy-person walk.
I was faster.
I yanked out my phone, finger hovering over the screen. "One more step and everyone hears the voice message you left me at 2 AM on Tuesday. I'm sure Madison would love it. Your mother too."
Victoria Sterling sat front row in a dress worth more than my car, her face a mask of aristocratic horror. She'd never liked me. Said I wasn't "their kind of people."
Damien's jaw clenched. "Raven, don't"
I pressed play.
His voice filled the ballroom, thick with whiskey and desperation: "Raven, baby, please pick up. I made a mistake. A huge mistake. I thought Madison was what I wanted stable, predictable, easy. But she's not you. She'll never be you. I don't love her the way I loved you. I don't love her at all. This wedding is a mistake. The biggest mistake of my life. Call me back. Please."
I stopped the recording.
The silence could've choked a horse.
Madison ripped her hand from Damien's arm like she'd been burned, tears destroying her professional makeup. "You called her? You promised me"
"Madison, I was drunk, I didn't mean"
"You didn't mean it?" Her voice hit a shriek. "You didn't mean you don't love me?"
"This is your fault!" Damien's hatred hit me like a physical blow. "You're ruining everything!"
I laughed, bitter and broken. "You called me, Damien. You got drunk at your bachelor party and told your ex you were making a mistake. That's on you."
Victoria shot to her feet. "You vindictive little bitch"
"How dare I tell the truth?" I turned to face them all. "How dare I let her know she's marrying a man who doesn't love her? A man who dumped me three months before our wedding because I was 'too much work,' but now misses his exciting toy?"
"Get out!" Victoria's voice could cut glass. "Before I have you arrested!"
"For what? Playing a voice message?" I looked at Madison, sobbing into her hands.
"I'm sorry. You seem nice. Too nice for him."
"You're insane," Damien hissed. "Unstable, dramatic, exhausting"
"And yet you called me at 2 AM begging me back." I smiled through the pain. "Funny how that works."
I turned and walked back down that aisle, head high even though tears blurred my vision. Not here. Not in front of them. Not when I'd come to destroy him the way he'd destroyed me.
Behind me, the wedding imploded Madison's wails, Damien's protests, Victoria's shrieks, two hundred guests whispering like judgmental bees.
I'd done it. Crashed his perfect wedding. Exposed his lies. Ruined his fairy tale.
So why did I feel like the one who'd shattered?
The November air slapped me the second I hit the Plaza's front steps. Cold, sharp, sobering. My breath came out in clouds. My hands shook. Everything shook.
The tears came hot, furious, unstoppable.
I stumbled down the steps and crashed literally into him.
"Whoa!" Strong hands caught my arms before I face-planted. "You okay?"
I looked up into the most intense dark eyes I'd ever seen.
He was tall six-two at least with artfully messy black hair and a jawline that could cut glass. Sharp cheekbones. Full lips curved in concern. A custom black suit that whispered wealth instead of shouting it.
And he was holding me like I was something precious instead of the train wreck I clearly was.
"I'm fine." I tried to pull away. He didn't let go. "I need to"
"You don't look fine." His voice was deep, smooth as aged whiskey. His eyes scanned my face the tears, the smudged makeup, the disaster. "You look like you just"
Recognition dawned across his stupidly handsome face.
"Wait. You're the girl who just blew up that wedding."
"Congratulations, you have eyes." I yanked free, wiping at my tears. "Enjoy the show?"
A slow, devastating smile spread across his face. The kind that made grown women do stupid things. "That was the most entertaining thing I've seen all year."
I stared. "I just destroyed a man's wedding and you're entertained?"
"You saved a wedding," he corrected. "That guy was clearly garbage. She's better off knowing now than after she signs the papers."
Despite everything the chaos, tears, destroyed dignity my lips twitched. Almost a smile.
"You don't even know me."
"No." His dark eyes studied me with unnerving intensity. "But I'd like to."
There was something in the way he looked at me. Like I was a puzzle to solve. A mystery to unravel. Not a disaster. Not a psycho ex. Just… interesting.
Every rational cell screamed at me to run. Go home. Curl up and cry for three days like a normal person having a normal breakdown.
Instead: "Why?"
"Because you're either incredibly brave or completely insane." He tilted his head. "And either way, I want to know which."
"Both," I said flatly. "I'm both."
His smile turned into something darker, more intense, more dangerous.
"Perfect." He extended his hand. "I'm Cain."
I looked at his hand strong, calloused despite the expensive suit and thought about all my terrible decisions. Falling for Damien. Staying with him. Crashing his wedding.
This would just be one more for the collection.
I took his hand. His grip was warm, firm, electric.
"Raven."
"Raven." He tested my name like he was tasting it. His thumb brushed across my knuckles, sending shivers up my spine. "How about that drink?"
I should've said no. Should've called an Uber. Should've gone home.
"One drink."
His smile turned wolfish. "That's all I need."
Standing there in the cold November night with tears still drying on my cheeks and my heart still bleeding, I believed him.
And that should've been my first warning.