“Our marriage hasn’t worked for a long time,” he said. “We were drowning. Bills, debt, that house we could barely afford. Every day felt like another failure.”
“You told me you were looking for work.”
“I was trying to build a better life…” He looked at Vanessa. “And now I have.”
A murmur rolled through the chairs.
But Vanessa was still staring at me.
And deep down, I suspected that stealing Sean was part of something even more devastating.
Stealing Sean was part of something even more devastating.
Sean lifted his chin.
“I found someone who believes I was meant for more than scrambling from one overdue bill to the next. I slipped into the house on my way here. I left the divorce papers on the kitchen table. There’s a letter too.”
“You left divorce papers beside a goodbye letter?”
“I didn’t want a scene.”
A bitter laugh escaped someone near the aisle.
Then Vanessa made her move.
“I left the divorce papers on the kitchen table.”
Vanessa slipped her hand through his arm.
He looked relieved, as if her touch proved he’d still won.
Then Vanessa laughed.
“Oh, Sean. Don’t flatter yourself. You were never the prize.”
She turned toward me.
“Samantha’s the one I was after all along.”
Sean pulled his arm free.
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t flatter yourself. You were never the prize.”
Vanessa ignored him and stepped toward me, her gown whispering across the aisle.
“I hired you on purpose,” she said. “Every meeting. Every impossible demand. Every insult. I wanted to watch you bend. I wanted you exhausted, terrified, and desperate.”
Sean looked between us.
“Vanessa, what…”
She raised one finger without looking at him. “Be quiet. The adults are talking.”
He obeyed.
“I wanted you exhausted, terrified, and desperate.”
“I wanted your husband. Your home. Your career,” she said. “I wanted you to walk into the wedding you had built and discover that every beautiful thing around you had been designed to destroy you.”
My mouth went dry.
She’d calculated this entire wedding just to hurt me… but why?
A few guests stood.
She’d calculated this entire wedding just to hurt me… but why?
One bridesmaid covered her mouth.
Sean stepped back from her.
Vanessa didn’t care.
Her eyes stayed on me.
“Why go to all this trouble?”
My voice was barely a whisper, but the microphone picked it up loud and clear.
“What did I ever do to you, Vanessa?”
“What did I ever do to you, Vanessa?”
