Chapter 4 - The Wedding Without a Groom
The cathedral doors remained open for forty-three minutes.
Guests sat beneath white roses while rumors moved faster than the music.
Adrian never returned.
Vanessa did.
She walked alone down the aisle in her stained wedding gown.
Not toward the altar.
Toward the microphone.
“My fiancé has suffered a family emergency,” she announced.
The room went quiet.
A phone camera captured everything.
By evening, the video was everywhere.
Vanessa looked beautiful.
Heartbroken.
Abandoned.
She knew exactly where to pause.
Exactly when to let her voice crack.
She even defended Adrian.
“Please respect his privacy.”
Then she left through a side door and entered a black sedan belonging to Richard Carter.
Adrian’s father.
Daniel showed me the footage from his phone.
“They’re coordinating,” he said.
I sat in a wheelchair near the hospital discharge desk.
Lily slept in a carrier against my chest.
“Adrian knows?”
“We don’t know.”
“He always knows less than he thinks.”
“That hasn’t made him harmless.”
Outside the hospital, reporters waited behind metal barriers.
Someone had leaked my location.
Daniel frowned at the crowd.
“You can use the private exit.”
“No.”
“You gave birth yesterday.”
“And they’re already calling Lily an illegitimate corporate weapon.”
“You don’t need to prove anything today.”
He was right.
I still stood up.
That was mistake number one.
My knees nearly folded.
A nurse caught my elbow.
Daniel swore under his breath.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding through your coat.”
I looked down.
He was right again.
The nurse pulled me back into the chair.
I hated the weakness in my body.
I hated that cameras were ten yards away.
Most of all, I hated that I had chosen pride over common sense.
We used the private exit.
In the parking garage, a dark SUV waited.
Daniel stopped walking.
“That isn’t ours.”
The rear door opened.
Adrian stepped out.
He had changed clothes, but he still looked like he hadn’t slept.
“I need five minutes,” he said.
“You filed for custody,” I replied.
“I panicked.”
“You threatened to take my child.”
“Our child.”
“You haven’t earned that word.”
His face tightened.
Daniel moved between us.
“Anything you say goes through me.”
Adrian looked at Lily.
“I canceled the petition.”
Daniel checked his phone.
“No, you didn’t.”
Adrian stared at him.
“What?”
“The filing is still active.”
“I told my attorneys to withdraw it.”
“Which attorney?”
“Halpern.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“Martin Halpern works for your father.”
Adrian pulled out his phone.
Before he could call anyone, the garage lights went out.
A vehicle engine started behind us.
Daniel grabbed my wheelchair.
“Move.”
Headlights flared.
A black car accelerated directly toward us.
Adrian lunged forward and shoved the wheelchair sideways.
The car missed Lily by inches.
It struck Adrian instead.
His body hit the hood, rolled across the windshield, and landed hard on the concrete.
The car sped toward the exit.
I screamed his name before I could stop myself.
Adrian didn’t move.
Then his phone lit up beside his hand.
A message appeared on the screen.
May you like
You should have gone back to the wedding.
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