REVENGE ON HEELS

CHAPTER 1 THE BRIDE HE LEFT POV: EVELYN The first thing I noticed was Adrian's hand. It was still holding mine. That was the cruel part. His fingers were warm around mine, his thumb resting against the side of my hand the way it had a thousand times before. The same hand that had held mine underneath restaurant tables when we were younger. The same thumb that used to rub slow circles over my knuckles whenever I was nervous. Except now, he was shaking. I looked up at him. “Adrian?” He didn't answer. The priest looked from him to me, waiting. Around us, the church had gone so quiet that I could hear the faint hum of the air conditioner above us. My veil brushed against my shoulders when I moved. “Adrian,” I whispered again. His eyes finally met mine. And I knew. I didn't know what he was going to say. I didn't know why. But I knew something had already gone terribly wrong. He swallowed. “I can't do this.” For a second, I actually smiled. Not because it was funny. Because my mind refused to understand the sentence. “You're nervous,” I whispered. “It's okay.” He shook his head. “No.” The word was quiet. Final. My fingers tightened around his. “Then what is it?” He looked past me. That was when I followed his eyes. Elena was standing in the second row. My sister. She was crying. Not the kind of crying people did when they were moved by a wedding. She looked terrified. My stomach dropped. I turned back to Adrian. “What's happening?” He pulled his hand away. That tiny movement hurt more than it should have. His fingers slipped out of mine, and suddenly there was nothing between us. No ring. No hand. Nothing. Someone in the front row whispered my name. My mother stood halfway out of her seat before my father caught her wrist. I saw it. I saw the way he looked at her. A warning. My father never looked at my mother that way. Not in front of me. Not ever. I looked back at Adrian. “Tell me.” His jaw tightened. “I'm sorry.” I almost laughed. “Sorry?” His eyes were wet. That should have made me angry. Instead, it confused me. This was Adrian. The man who had once driven three hours in the rain because I had casually mentioned that I missed the sea. The man who knew I hated being touched when I was angry but always knew when I secretly wanted him to stay. The man who had spent six months saving for the watch he gave me because he knew I would never let him spend that much on me. The man who had promised me forever in a kitchen at two in the morning while we ate cold noodles straight from the pot. Now he couldn't look at me. “Adrian,” I said, quieter this time. “Please.” His eyes closed. When they opened again, something in them had changed. “I can't marry you.” The words landed softly. The room exploded anyway. Someone gasped. A chair scraped against the floor. My aunt said, “What?” My mother's hand flew to her mouth. But I barely heard any of it. I stared at Adrian. “You're joking.” He didn't answer. “You're joking,” I repeated, because if I said it confidently enough, maybe reality would correct itself. He shook his head. “No.” I looked down at my dress. White silk. Hand-stitched flowers along the waist. The dress I had tried on six months ago while Elena stood outside the fitting room crying because she said I looked beautiful. I remembered laughing. I remembered telling her, “You'll be next.” She had smiled. God. She had smiled. My eyes found her again. She was no longer sitting. Elena stood frozen beside her chair, tears running down her face. “Evelyn…” I took one step back. She didn't come closer. Good. Because if she had, I didn't know what I would have done. I looked at Adrian. “Why is she crying?” He didn't answer. I turned toward him. “Why is my sister crying?” His face tightened. Then he said the sentence that would follow me for two years. “I choose Elena.” Everything inside me went still. There are moments when your life changes so quickly that your mind refuses to move with it. This was one of them. I looked at Elena. She covered her mouth. “Evelyn…” I took another step back. She didn't come closer. I looked at Adrian one last time. “Did you ever love me?” His face crumpled for half a second. Then he looked away. That was my answer. Or at least, I thought it was. I lifted my chin. Somewhere behind me, somebody began crying. Someone else was whispering. The priest quietly removed his hands from the book. The wedding I had spent a year planning was disappearing around me. Flowers. Music. Photographs. Family. Promises. All of it. Gone. And still, I couldn't cry. I don't know why. Maybe because crying would have meant admitting that this was real. Maybe because I was still waiting for Adrian to come back to himself and tell me this was some terrible misunderstanding. Maybe because the woman standing in that white dress was still stupid enough to believe the man she loved couldn't possibly do this to her. I turned toward the aisle. I wanted to leave. Just leave. Then I heard a voice behind me. It was quiet. Almost a whisper. But the church had gone so silent that everyone near me could hear it. “She didn't know?” I stopped. My hand tightened around the bouquet. I didn't turn around. I couldn't. Because suddenly, for the first time that morning, I wasn't wondering why Adrian had left me. I was wondering what everyone else knew. And why I was the only one who didn't. END OF CHAPTER 1