The second chance flash marriage was better than I expected

The best way to recognize that you have managed to heal and overcome your past relationship is to be able to see a photo that had the power to destroy you a while ago without it affecting you now. On my phone, the latest news from the entertainment world was playing, and among the posts, the hottest gossip was some photos leaked by the paparazzi of the supposed partner of the best actor of the moment. And the worst thing? They speculated that she was pregnant. My trashy ex, with his shameless lover, had sparked a whole scandal that my husband's public relations team now had to clean up, probably working overtime to handle the mess. The only good thing about this situation was that the visual impact which would have previously made me throw my phone on the bed and cry for hours now felt like the story of some strangers. I could only sigh at Dylan's bad luck and his poor decision to get involved with that tremendously scheming woman. I left my room and looked around. The luxurious penthouse on top of the most important and secure condominium in the capital, where you need more than money to live, now felt empty and overwhelming without the man who helped me and stood by me to overcome those difficult moments in my life. Aaron Russel. It's incredible how life twists and turns. If my teenage self, who had cried over his departure from her, had been told that years later she would marry that man, and he would also help her get revenge on her trashy ex, she would have laughed. At that time, no one believed that the boy rejected by the Russel family would succeed and become a man worshiped as a god of fortune by everyone. In just one year, he managed to consolidate the company that began as a project at the university and turn it into a unicorn in the world of startups. He successfully invested in the entertainment industry and became one of the key partners of Royal Entertainment. He bought an almost bankrupt technology company, demonstrating his management skills and saving it within months. And so, if that wasn't enough, with his insightful eye, he supported the best talents in the industry from the beginning and invested in films that became top-grossing hits. Uff, instead, here I am still playing cat and mouse with my family and my past. I remembered the day it all began. We were less than two days away from the wedding of my trashy ex and I. As expected, I couldn't have been more excited and nervous about the situation. We had the entire ceremony prepared. Our families weren't entirely happy, but I didn't care. Dylan was my whole world; I had been his fan since he started his acting career, and only his mother knew him. I watched the first video he uploaded to YouTube, which he deleted not long after, and encouraged him on his social networks. Since we lived close by and shared the same dreams, we accompanied each other to auditions and supported one another when we were rejected. Even after the accident, his company meant so much to me that I decided to take the first step and move on from my first love, Aaron. Soon, I stopped thinking about others, and only he existed in my mind and heart. I felt like I was floating on a pink and cheesy cloud. We walked together and persevered in our dream of securing a place in the competitive world of entertainment. When he finally managed to stabilize himself and build a strong fan community, he proposed to me that our relationship could be complicated by both of us being public figures. I felt like the luckiest woman in the world. I felt like I was the protagonist of the most popular romantic movie. His agent was against it, and his family did not think I was good enough for the man he had become, but we did not care. To me, we were each other's priority. How naive I had been. The day before, we had had our respective bachelor parties with our friends, nothing too wild or too boring. I had missed him so much that I decided to get up early to see him. I wanted him to help me calm my nerves before the wedding and to hear him say that this day was going to be perfect. What followed was a cruel and cold reality check. I was about to move into his apartment soon, and I already had the keys, so I didn't have to tell him or wake him up. I had brought him breakfast with his favorite cinnamon rolls and some flowers. I was so happy, unaware that this day would turn into hell for me. When I entered the apartment, my intuition screamed that something was wrong. An agonizing pressure formed in my chest, and I had to leave my things on the kitchen counter for fear of dropping them. Everything appeared to be in its place, so I didn't understand what was happening to me. Was it the impending wedding? My hormonal cycle? The lunar phase? I was laughing at my bad jokes, trying to distract myself, until I saw the black heels that didn’t belong to me. My heart jumped into my throat and my hands started shaking. Obviously, they weren’t a gift for me. Well, in retrospect, maybe they were. But at that moment, I could only clench my hands into fists and swallow back my tears as I took the first steps into the bedroom. I needed to confirm it with my own eyes, so I turned on the camera on my phone just in case. The door was ajar, and more clothes were scattered around. A red dress, the shirt I had given my boyfriend a few months ago. If the singles night had gotten out of hand, could I forgive that infidelity? Could we get over this whole nightmare if we tried? Didn’t my friend Nana know an amazing couple’s therapist? We could try to make it work; marriage would fix our relationship. Paralyzed, I forced myself to take the last step and saw the couple tangled up in bed. No one is prepared to face a betrayal, no matter how mentally prepared and knowledgeable they are about the situation. I’m not sure if I screamed, cried, or what I did. I just know that it was enough for Dylan to open his eyes and the woman to lift her naked torso. I recognized her, and despite her nervous and panic-filled expression, I felt her satisfaction in her gaze. Sabrina Johansen, my stepsister’s best friend. The one who slept at my house and ate my food. The one who was always there when I talked to my boyfriend and always defended female solidarity. All this time, I had a thief in my house, and I hadn’t realized it. No, I had a cowardly liar and a disgusting thief by my side. Made for each other. “Elle,” the liar tried to say as he stood up, but I didn’t give him the chance to explain. I ran out of the apartment. “Elle, my love, it’s not what it seems, wait, let’s talk.” Is it not what it seems? Really? My next memories are blurry. I think I was trying to ask for a counselor, and then I was running down the stairs and even faced Sabrina before Dylan. That moment is very clear in my memory. In my vulnerable state, she found me before him. The elevator was late, and I just wanted to escape, so I took refuge in one of the common areas of the building to avoid being found. And, as if it had been very predictable, she saw me. “I’m your sister’s friend, so I don’t want to have problems with you, Noelle,” Sabrina told me when she saw me. She dared to act as if she wasn’t wrong, as if she hadn’t slept with another woman’s almost-husband, her best friend’s stepsister. I would have loved to hit her, but my body didn’t feel like mine at that moment. “I saw Dylan first. I fell in love with him before you. He only asked you to marry him because I rejected him first.” What?