Chapter Two: Wedding Betrayal
1122 Words
The sanctuary went dead silent. Isabella’s brain couldn’t process what she’d just heard. She looked up at her fiancé, confusion flooding through her.
“What?”
“I can’t do this.” Adrian’s voice was rough. Loud enough for everyone to hear. “I’m sorry, Isabella. I can’t marry you.”
The world tilted. "What are you talking about?”
“I don’t love you. Not the way I should. Not the way you deserve.” His hands were shaking. “I thought I could. I tried. But I can’t.”
Two hundred people were dead silent. Isabella was aware of her father standing somewhere behind her, of the bridesmaids frozen in their line, of the officiant’s shocked expression.
“Adrian, if you’re nervous, we can take a minute.”
“I’m in love with someone else.”
The words hit like a physical blow. Isabella actually swayed. “What?”
“I didn’t mean for it to happen. I fought it. But I can’t marry you when I’m in love with her.”
Her. Someone else. Another woman.
Isabella’s mind raced through possibilities. His secretary? One of his work colleagues? That woman from his gym he’d mentioned a few times?
“Who?” The word came out broken.
Adrian looked past her. At the bridesmaids. At the maid of honor in her green dress and guilty face.
“Vanessa.”
The sanctuary erupted. Gasps. Shouts. Someone screamed. It might have been Patricia.
Isabella turned. Vanessa stood there, tears streaming down her face, and she wasn’t denying it. She was just crying.
“Nessa?” Isabella’s voice didn’t sound like her own. “He’s talking about you?”
“I’m sorry.” Vanessa’s voice was barely audible. “Bella, I’m so sorry. We didn’t mean for it to happen.”
“You’re my sister.”
“I know. I know, and I tried to stop it, but I love him.”
Isabella looked between them. Her fiancé. Her sister. Both looking at her with pity and guilt but not enough. Not nearly enough for what they’d just done.
“How long?”
Adrian had the decency to flinch. “Six months.”
Six months. Half a year. While Isabella had been planning a wedding, choosing flowers, addressing invitations, Adrian had been sleeping with her baby sister.
The betrayal was so enormous Isabella couldn’t feel it yet. She was numb. Floating.
“So all those times Vanessa came to our apartment for dinner. Those weekends you two were planning the bachelor and bachelorette parties together. The family vacation in July.”
“Bella.” Adrian reached for her.
“Don’t touch me.” The words came out sharp. Hard. Isabella stepped back. “Don’t you dare touch me.”
“I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt you.”
“Then what the hell did you think would happen?” Jade’s voice cut through the chaos. She’d pushed through the frozen bridesmaids and was at Isabella’s side now, fury radiating from her. “You objected at your own wedding, you absolute piece of shit.”
“Jade, this doesn’t concern you.”
“Like hell it doesn’t. Bella is my family. Which is more than these assholes can claim.” Jade turned to Vanessa. “And you. Her sister. You’re really going to stand there and cry like you’re the victim?”
“I didn’t want this.” Vanessa’s tears were coming harder now. “I tried to stay away. But we fell in love.”
“You fell in lust with your sister’s man and decided your happiness mattered more than hers.” Jade’s voice could have cut glass. “There’s a word for that. Several words, actually, but we’re in a church.”
Isabella’s father pushed through to the altar. Richard Hart’s face was purple with rage. “Adrian, you son of a bitch.”
“Mr. Hart, I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? You humiliated my daughter in front of two hundred people!”
Patricia appeared, looking like she might faint. “This can’t be happening. Vanessa, tell them this is a misunderstanding.”
“I can’t, Mom.” Vanessa was sobbing now. “I love him. I really love him.”
“You stupid, selfish girl.” Patricia’s voice shook. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
The church had descended into complete chaos. People were standing, talking, phones were out. Someone was definitely recording. This would be on social media within the hour.
Isabella stood at the altar in her three-thousand-dollar dress, and she still couldn’t feel anything. The numbness was spreading, filling her from the inside out.
“Isabella.” Adrian’s hand on her arm. “Please say something.”
She looked at him. Really looked at him. This man she’d loved for four years. Lived with for two. Planned a future with. She’d thought she knew him. Every scar, every fear, every dream.
She hadn’t known him at all.
“I want you out of the apartment by tonight.”
“What?”
“The apartment is mine. My name on the lease. I want you gone.” Her voice was calm. Eerily calm. “Take your things and leave.”
“Bella, can we please talk about this?”
“What’s there to talk about? You’re in love with my sister. Congratulations. I hope you’re very happy together.” She turned to Vanessa. “You too. I hope he’s worth it.”
“Bella, please.” Vanessa reached for her.
Isabella stepped back. “Don’t. Don’t come near me. Don’t call me. Don’t text me. You are dead to me. Both of you.”
She pulled off her engagement ring, the two-carat diamond Adrian had spent a fortune on, and let it fall to the marble floor. The sound of it hitting stone was very loud in the suddenly quiet church.
Then Isabella turned and walked back down the aisle, her head high, her bouquet still clutched in shaking hands. The crowd parted for her like the Red Sea.
Jade was at her side immediately. “I’ve got you. Come on.”
They made it out of the church, down the steps, to the waiting limo that was supposed to take Isabella and Adrian to the reception.
Isabella climbed in. Jade climbed in after her.
The driver looked back, confused. “Where to, Miss?”
“Just drive,” Jade said. “Anywhere. Now.”
The limo pulled away from the church. Through the tinted window, Isabella could see people spilling out onto the steps, phones out, talking and gesturing.
She’d just been left at the altar.
By her own fiancé.
For her own sister.
The numbness cracked.
And Isabella started to scream.
- Writer
