The church smelled like lilies and expensive perfume, the kind meant to make people believe in forever.
I stood at the altar, fingers clenched around my bouquet so tightly my knuckles burned, and tried to breathe through the tightness in my chest. The white gown weighed heavier than it should have. Not because of the fabric, but because of what it represented-trust, hope, a future I had given five years of my life to.
Everyone was here.
My family. His family. Friends. Business partners. People who had flown in from other cities just to witness our happily-ever-after.
I searched the pews out of habit and found her.
Lena smiled at me from the second row, her lips curved softly, eyes bright with tears. My best friend. My maid of honor. The woman who had held my hands while I cried during wedding stress, who had sworn that Daniel was the best thing that had ever happened to me.
She lifted her phone slightly and gave me a thumbs-up.
You look beautiful, she mouthed.
I smiled back, even though something cold shifted in my stomach.
Daniel was late.
Again.
The murmurs began, low and polite at first, then louder as minutes stretched on. I could hear whispers behind me-sympathy wrapped in curiosity.
"Men get nervous," someone chuckled.
"Traffic, probably."
I nodded when the priest glanced at me questioningly. "He'll be here," I said quietly, because I needed to believe it.
I had believed in Daniel through missed dinners, unexplained absences, hurried phone calls he took in another room. Love meant trust. Trust meant silence.
The church doors opened.
Relief rushed through me so hard my knees almost buckled.
But it wasn't Daniel.
A man in a black suit walked in, unfamiliar, stiff, eyes avoiding mine. He stopped halfway down the aisle, cleared his throat, and looked toward the front row where Daniel's parents sat frozen in their seats.
"I-I was asked to deliver something," he said.
My heart began to pound.
The priest frowned. "This is not the appropriate-"
"I was told it was urgent," the man interrupted, voice shaking. "And that it concerns the groom."
The air shifted. Something in the room broke its quiet politeness and turned sharp.
Daniel's mother stood up abruptly. "What is this?"
The man swallowed and lifted his phone. "Mr. Daniel Wright couldn't make it today."
Laughter rippled nervously.
I forced a smile. "This isn't funny."
"It's not a joke," he said quickly. "He asked me to show this. To everyone."
The screen lit up.
The first image appeared-Daniel, unmistakably Daniel, shirtless, lying in a bed I didn't recognize. His arm was slung around a woman whose face was half-hidden, her hair spilling across his chest.
My breath caught.
"That's-" I whispered.
The next image slid into place.
Lena.
Her face this time. Her smile unmistakable. The same smile she'd given me minutes earlier.
Gasps filled the church.
My bouquet slipped from my fingers and hit the marble floor with a dull sound that echoed too loudly.
"No," I said. The word felt thin. Weak. "That's not real."
The man scrolled.
Videos. Messages. Dates.
Last night.
This morning.
I can't wait until it's over.
I heard a sharp cry and realized it had come from me.
Lena stood up so suddenly her chair toppled backward. "Aria, I can explain-"
"Don't," I said.
My legs felt numb, but somehow I managed to turn and face her.
The woman I trusted more than anyone.
The woman who knew everything about me.
"Don't say my name."
Her eyes filled with tears, but they didn't convince me. Not now. Not when the truth was displayed in high-definition for everyone to see.
Daniel's father stormed toward the man holding the phone. "Where is my son?"
"He's at the Riverside Hotel," the man replied quietly. "With her."
The silence that followed was unbearable.
I felt hundreds of eyes on me. Pity. Shock. Satisfaction. Judgment.
This wasn't just heartbreak.
This was humiliation.
Public. Final.
I lifted my head slowly, forcing myself not to cry. Not yet.
"Five years," I said, my voice echoing in the vast church. "Five years, Daniel."
He wasn't even here to hear it.
Lena took a step toward me. "I never meant for you to find out like this."
I laughed. A broken, hollow sound tore out of my throat. "Like this? At my wedding?"
She flinched. Good.
"I loved him," she whispered.
"So did I."
Daniel's mother approached me, her face tight with embarrassment rather than concern. "Aria, perhaps it's best if we-"
"You knew," I said suddenly.
Her eyes flickered.
"You knew," I repeated, louder this time.
The truth settled in my chest like a stone.
They all knew.
I was the only fool standing at the altar believing in a future that had already been stolen from me.
I reached up and unclasped the necklace Daniel had given me years ago, letting it fall into my palm.
"I won't marry a liar," I said calmly. "And I won't stay where I'm not wanted."
I turned and walked down the aisle alone, my heels echoing against the floor, my dress whispering behind me like a ghost of the woman I had been an hour ago.
The church doors closed behind me.
Outside, the sky was painfully blue.
I took one step forward-and the world tilted.
Strong arms caught me before I could hit the ground.
"Careful," a deep voice said.
I looked up, dazed, straight into a pair of cold, unreadable eyes.
A man I had never seen before.
A man everyone else seemed to recognize immediately.
"Sebastian Blackwood," someone whispered behind me.
The billionaire.
Daniel's uncle.
He looked down at me, his gaze sharp, assessing, as if my shattered wedding was nothing more than a problem to solve.
"Get in the car," he said quietly. "We need to talk."
And for the first time since everything fell apart, I realized my life was about to change in ways far worse - and far more dangerous - than betrayal.