Chapter 4: The Groom's Explanation
Daniel moved so quickly that he nearly knocked over the glass on his desk.
He grabbed his phone and turned the screen facedown.
The message had already been seen.
I stood in the doorway, watching him.
“Did you tell her what you agreed?”” I repeated.
“Claire, please.””
“What did you agree?””
He glanced toward the hallway.
“Can we do this privately?””
Nia folded her arms.
“We're not leaving.””
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“This is between my fiancée and me.””
“Your fiancée?”” Nia asked.
“That's interesting, considering what we just watched.””
“Stay out of it.””
“Gladly,” she replied.
“As soon as Claire says she's finished.””
I took a step into the room.
“Daniel, I am going to ask you one more time. What is happening between you and Vanessa?””
He dragged a hand through his hair.
“It's complicated.””
“No. Complicated is when the florist loses the bouquet. Complicated is when the hotel makes a mistake with the seating plan.””
I pointed toward his phone.
“That's not complicated. That's a message from my sister asking whether you told me something you had agreed to tell her.””
He stared at the floor.
I waited.
Finally, he said, “Vanessa and I have been seeing each other.””
For a moment, the words meant nothing.
They were just sounds in an expensive hotel room, surrounded by neatly folded clothes and wedding gifts.
Then they settled into my mind.
“How long?””
He looked up.
“Claire—”
“How long?””
“Since the spring.””
I gripped the back of a chair.
The spring.
Six months.
Six months of dress fittings and cake tastings. Six months of conversations about our future home. Six months of Daniel telling me how lucky he was to have found me.
Six months of my sister sitting across from us at family dinners, smiling while she passed the salt.
“You were with her while we were planning our wedding?””
He nodded once.
“I'm sorry.””
I laughed.
It was a small, broken sound.
“Were you with her the night you proposed to me?””
“No.””
“The weekend we visited my father’s grave?””
“No, Claire.””
“The night you told me I was the only woman you wanted to spend your life with?””
His face crumpled.
“Please don't do this.””
“Do what? Ask you about the things you said?””
“I know I've made mistakes.””
“Six months is not a mistake. It's a decision you made over and over again.””
He sat on the edge of the bed.
For the first time since I had known him, Daniel looked genuinely small.
“I didn't plan for this to happen.””
“Did you plan to kiss her in the corridor?””
He covered his face.
I felt nothing like the anger I had expected.
Anger might have been easier. It would have given me something hot and immediate to hold onto.
Instead, I felt hollow.
“What did you agree with her?”” I asked.
He looked up.
“It's not what you think.””
“Then you shouldn't have any trouble explaining it.””
He rubbed his hands together.
“Vanessa thought you were going to cancel the wedding.””
“Because she destroyed my dress?””
He flinched.
“So you knew about that?””
“I knew she was upset.””
“Upset about what?””
“About us. About the wedding. About how everything was changing.””
I stared at him.
“That's your explanation? My sister was upset, so you helped her betray me?””
“I didn't help her ruin the dress.””
“You were in your room with her twenty-five minutes before she did it.””
“I didn't know she was going to do that.””
“Did you give her the bottle?””
He hesitated.
That was all the answer I needed.
“Daniel.””
“She asked me to hold something for her earlier.””
“What something?””
“A bottle. I didn't know what was in it.””
“You held a bottle for my sister, kissed her in the hallway, and watched her walk toward the bridal suite.””
He closed his eyes.
“When you say it like that—”
“How else am I supposed to say it?””
He had no answer.
I looked around the room.
His wedding shoes were beside the wardrobe. His vows lay on the desk, folded into a cream envelope. A white rose was pinned to his jacket.
I had imagined this moment differently.
I had imagined him waiting at the end of an aisle, looking at me as though I were the only person in the world.
Instead, I was standing in his hotel room, trying to understand how two people I loved had turned my wedding into a private joke.
“What did Vanessa want?”” I asked.
Daniel stared at the carpet.
“She said you needed to see things clearly.””
I frowned.
“What does that mean?””
“She said you'd always been able to make everyone believe you were the perfect sister. The perfect daughter. The perfect bride. She thought that if something went wrong today, you'd finally understand what it felt like to lose control.””
I felt my chest tighten.
“So she destroyed my dress because she wanted to teach me a lesson?””
“She was angry.””
“And you agreed with her?””
“No.””
“But you kissed her.””
He looked away.
I let the silence stretch.
Finally, I asked, “Did you want to marry me today?””
His eyes snapped toward mine.
“Yes.””
The answer came too quickly.
“Then why were you sleeping with my sister?””
“I was going to end it.””
“When?””
He didn't speak.
“Before the ceremony? After the ceremony? After we'd signed the marriage certificate?””
“Claire, I love you.””
I looked at him for a long moment.
Then I removed my engagement ring.
His expression changed.
“Don't.””
I placed the ring on the desk, beside his carefully folded vows.
“You don't get to use that word as a bandage for what you've done.””
He stood.
“Please. We can fix this.””
“Fix what?””
“Our relationship. The wedding. Everything.””
I looked at him in disbelief.
“You were with my sister for six months. You helped her carry a bottle into the room where my wedding dress was being kept. You kissed her outside your suite. What exactly are you offering to fix?””
He stepped toward me.
I stepped back.
“Don't touch me.””
He stopped.
“I made a terrible mistake.””
“You keep calling it a mistake because you don't want to call it what it was.””
“What was it, then?””
“Betrayal.””
The word hung between us.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Daniel's expression shifted.
The desperation faded, replaced by irritation.
“Fine,” he said.
“You want the truth? Vanessa was tired of watching you get everything. She wanted to make you feel what she felt.””
“And you?””
He looked at the ring on the desk.
“I didn't know how to end things with you.””
I stared at him.
“So you were going to marry me while sleeping with my sister because you didn't know how to have an honest conversation?””
He said nothing.
I nodded slowly.
“Thank you.””
He frowned.
“For what?””
“For finally saying something true.””
I turned toward the door.
He followed.
“Claire, wait. Don't go downstairs and tell everyone what happened. Not yet.””
I stopped.
“Why?””
“Because people will ask questions. They'll make assumptions. They'll say things about you, about Vanessa, about me. Think about your mother.””
I looked at him over my shoulder.
“My mother is already upstairs, watching her daughter's wedding dress being documented as damaged property.””
“I'm trying to protect you.””
“No, Daniel. You're trying to protect yourself.””
He went quiet.
I walked into the corridor.
Nia fell into step beside me.
We made it halfway to the bridal suite before my phone rang.
The screen showed Vanessa's name.
I almost ignored it.
Then I answered.
“What do you want?””
Her voice came through thin and shaky.
“Claire, I know you're angry.””
“That's an understatement.””
“I never wanted things to happen like this.””
I closed my eyes.
“You deliberately ruined my dress.””
“I was trying to make you listen.””
“By pouring ink on a sixty-thousand-dollar gown?””
“You never listen to me!””
I heard a door slam on her end of the line.
She took a breath.
“Daniel told me you went to see him.””
“What happens between Daniel and me is no longer your concern.””
“That's not fair.””
A laugh escaped me.
“Fair?””
“You don't understand what I've been going through.””
“Then explain it.””
She was silent.
When she spoke again, her voice had lost its theatrical edge.
“He was going to tell you.””
“Tell me what?””
“That he was going to leave you.””
My stomach tightened.
“He just told me you've been seeing each other for six months.””
Vanessa made a wounded sound.
“He promised me he would choose me.””
I couldn't speak.
“He said he only stayed with you because he was afraid of what everyone would think. He said he was going to end the engagement after your wedding.””
I gripped my phone.
“After?””
“He wanted to wait until everything was settled.””
The words were so cruel that for a moment I wondered whether I'd heard her correctly.
“You both planned to let me marry him?””
“I thought he was going to tell you.””
“But you destroyed my dress instead.””
“I wanted you to cancel before he could humiliate you.””
“You thought humiliating me yourself would be better?””
“I didn't think it would get this far!””
I heard her breathing unevenly.
Then, more quietly, she said, “Claire, please. Don't show anyone that video.””
I looked at Nia.
She had stopped walking.
“Why?”” I asked.
“Because it doesn't show everything.””
“What doesn't it show?””
Vanessa hesitated.
Then she whispered, “The agreement Daniel and I made.””
“What agreement?””
Before she could answer, the line went dead.
I lowered the phone.
Nia watched my face.
“What did she say?””
I looked toward the bridal suite, where my mother and the ruined dress were waiting.
“She said Daniel promised to leave me after the wedding.””
Nia's expression hardened.
“And the agreement?””
“I don't know.””
I looked down at my phone.
A new message had arrived from an unknown number.
It contained a single photograph.
Vanessa and Daniel were sitting together in what appeared to be a restaurant, their hands joined across the table.
The timestamp was from three days earlier.
May you like
Beneath it was a message.
If you want to know why they were so desperate to stop you getting married, ask Daniel what he signed.
