We Both Broke Rule No.1

My Ex

I turned to see who had spoken. I expected my mother. I expected Betty but It was neither.

"Hetty. How dare you get married?." James spat.

James was my boyfriend. Cute, charming, gentle in every way Lucian wasn't. He was everything I thought I needed in a man. But that life belonged to someone else now. Every promise we'd made to each other had already been signed away in a contract I never agreed to.

"James, not now. Please." I kept my voice low, pleading.

"No. I won't let you marry him. You hate him, remember? Why are you marrying him now?" His voice cracked on the last word. His eyes had gone bloodshot, his face flushed red.

"I'll explain, James. Just not here." I tried to steady myself, but my hands were already shaking.

"No. Nobody is getting married today".

His hand disappeared into his jacket. A second later, a gun was in his grip, and the entire hall erupted into screams. Chairs scraped. Someone knocked over a flower arrangement.

Fear spread through the room.

Anna moved first. She stepped in front of me before I could even react, her arm out, her whole body between mine and the gun.

"Get down, Hetty." She said it through her teeth, not once looking away from James.

Near the front pew, Betty hadn't moved at all. She sat frozen, both hands pressed over her mouth, her eyes wide and glassy, watching the boy who'd once walked me home from school turn into someone none of us recognized.

"I can kill for you, Hetty." James raised the gun, aiming it straight at Lucian. "And I will kill him right now."

"Stop it, James. Stop!" I screamed, pushing past Anna's arm.

Lucian didn't move. He stood there, calm, almost bored, like a gun pointed at his chest

was a minor inconvenience.

"Baby." He turned to me, unbothered. "Should I call the cops? One snap of my fingers and it's done."

I looked at him. Then my parents, pale and frozen near the front pew. Then at James, unraveling in front of two hundred guests. I had seconds to decide, and every option felt like a betrayal of someone.

"Yes. Call them." My heart slammed against my ribs as I said it.

"Okay, baby."

He snapped his fingers, exactly like he promised. Officers poured through the side doors within seconds. Too fast.

A small, cold thought slid through my panic before I could stop it.

How were they already here?

I didn't have time to chase the thought further. James was already surrounded.

"Hands in the air. Now." One of them shouted, weapon raised.

James's face crumpled. "Hetty? You called the cops on me?"

"I'm sorry." My voice barely made it out.

"Move." The second officer grabbed his arm and shoved him toward the door.

I watched them drag him past the rows of stunned guests, and just before they pushed him through the doors, he twisted back one last time, his eyes locking onto mine.

"Do you know who hacked your parent’s wealth?" His voice carried across the silent hall. "No. You don't. He's closer than you think."

The doors slammed shut behind him.

I stood frozen at the altar in my wedding dress, the words echoing louder than the priest, louder than the screaming guests, louder than my own heartbeat.

Closer than I think.

I turned slowly, and my eyes landed on Lucian.