That surprised me.
“He told me he’d changed. Said he’d gone to therapy. Said hurting me was the worst thing he’d ever done.”
I looked at Evan.
His face was rigid.
“Then why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
“I knew how you’d react.”
“No. You knew what I might decide.”
There was a difference.
A huge one.
Vanessa looked at me.
“I should have contacted you sooner.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I was scared.”
“Of him?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
“Of you.”
That caught me off guard.
“Me?”
She looked embarrassed.
“I searched you online.”
Of course she had.
“You looked happy. You were posting about the wedding. Your family loved him. I kept thinking maybe he really had changed.”
She wiped at one eye.
“Then he came to my apartment three weeks ago.”
Every sound around me disappeared.
I looked at Evan.
He said nothing.
“Three weeks?”
Vanessa nodded.
“He asked whether I planned to contact you.”
“And?”
“I told him I didn’t know.”
“What did he say?”
“He said if I ruined his life again, he’d make sure everyone knew what kind of woman I was.”
Evan exploded.
“That is not what I said!”
The force of his voice made me jump.
So did half the guests.
He saw it.
We all did.
The anger vanished from his face almost instantly.
“Brianna…”
I stepped backward.
He reached toward me.
“Don’t touch me.”
His hand froze.
That was the moment my wedding ended.
Not when Vanessa arrived.
Not when I opened the envelope.
Not even when I saw the hotel receipt.
It ended when I saw how quickly Evan could make rage disappear once he realized other people were watching.
Like flipping a switch.
I had never noticed it before.
Maybe because I had never been the person standing against him.
I removed my engagement ring.
His face changed again.
“Don’t do this.”
I stared at the ring.
We had been legally married 27 minutes earlier.
The ceremony had already happened.
Vanessa had arrived at the reception.
My stomach turned.
“I’m already married to you.”
No one spoke.
My mother squeezed my arm.
Evan took a slow breath.
“Exactly. So let’s go somewhere private and talk like adults.”
Vanessa whispered, “That’s what he always says before he gets you alone.”
Evan lunged toward her.
Luke grabbed him.
Everything happened at once.
My mother screamed.
A champagne glass shattered.
Venue staff rushed forward.
