Abandon Deadly Betrayal, Embrace New Life

standing at the altar in the chapel I designed myself, waiting

him and asked, "Franklin Frye, will you marry me?" he didn't laugh.

ain tumor. He then forced me to donate my rare blood type to save her, had my beloved cat put down to app

nto anaphylactic shock from the peanuts Hayley had deliberately put in my food.

dn't just betray me; he was

venience to Arden Harvey, a reclusive and powerful tech CEO. My heart was a dead, hollow thing. Love wa

pte

date to this very moment, standing on the wedding aisle. Charlotte, a talented architectural designer, had even designed the beautiful chapel herself, a testament to

ted her through grueling architectural exams, and celebrated every one of her successes as if they were his own. He was the man who, after a minor argument in their junior year, had driven thr

re private with his phone. He started working late, citing pressures on a new development project. Charlotte, trusting and

incessantly. It was a reflex, not suspicion, that made her glance at the screen. A string of notifications from an unkn

unlocked folder on his desktop. The name was innocuous: "Project H." Cur

an with bright, vivacious eyes and a smile that seemed to light up every frame. She was laughing on a boat, sipping coffee at a cafe Charlo

ir conversations. Charlotte'

ike a wildfire. I

gain. Your laugh i

le. Stable. You' re.

through Franklin's recent emails. There she was. Hayley Herring. Their wedding planner. The woman Charlotte herself had hired

s lingering glances at Hayley during their consultations, which Charlotte had mistaken for simple appreciation of her work. The way he' d started using phrases and jokes that w

on the laptop screen when he walked into their bedr

?" Charlotte' s voice

zing minute. A minute where ten

," he finally said, his voice strai

You told her I was 'stable' while she was 'everyth

, unable to meet her eyes. "Different. It was a mista

went cold. "So, who do you choose?" she asked,

k of guilt. "You, Charlotte. Of cours

ated, that he was blinded by the novelty. To prove it, he took his phone, and right in front of her, deleted Hayley Herring'

or a third of her life, was desperate to believe him. She chose to believe him. She buried the pain and the betrayal, telling he

lin came to her wit

"She apologized for everything. She feels terrible. She'

nothing, her

hat if we let Hayley do it? It would be a way to show there are no hard feelings. A way for

king at his earnest face, his plea for a "clean slate," she felt a crushing weariness. She was so tired of fighting, so tired of the suspicion. Maybe he was right. May

agreed. "Fine," she said, he

The question echoed in her mind n

standing before everyone they knew, the full, ho

smiled brightly at the crowd, then at Franklin. The music

r voice clear and carrying through the si

officiant' s nervous mistake. Charlotte managed a tight, strained smile, waiting

klin did

ven look at

but an ocean of raw, unguarded emotion. A look of such profound longing and adoration that it stol

a dull roar. All Charlotte could see was her fiancé, the man she had loved fo

ice was firm, clear, a

d

es filled with tears, a triumphant, brilliant smile brea

"Take me away from here. P

g-guilt, maybe pity-but it was gone as quickly as it came, replaced by a look of grim determination. H

harlotte. On their ten

oat. She reached for him, her fingers brushing the sleeve of his t

h burned him. Without another glance, he led Hayley Herring down the aisle, past their stunned frie

rdenias from her bouquet was suddenly sickening. The beautiful vaulted cei

recognized as her own. Tears streamed down her face, mingling with the hideous, painful laughte

to the altar. "That bastard! That absolute bastard!" she h

landed on a man sitting quietly in the back row-Arden Harvey, a reclusive and immensely powerful tech CEO, a family a

through the chaos. "The Wooten family owes you a favor. A

otte, standing in the ruins of her life, it sounded like the only lifeline in a drowning sea. Her hea

ay, her voice devoid of al

mediately began making arrangements, his voice low a

She tore off the beautiful lace gown, the symbol of her shattered dreams, and let it fall to the floor in a heap of white silk and humiliation. She began robot

the suitcase, the f

s Fra

e frantic desperation was gone, replaced by a heavy, so

oice thick with a pain that, for a horrifying

ated, her voice dripping with ice. "What is there to explain, Franklin? You left

his eyes welling with tears. "Hayley..

ared at him,

ss. She got the final diagnosis this morning. She panicked. At the wedding, when she said that... it was a cry for help. She told me it was he

rstand, to see the nobility in his cruel betrayal. He was asking her to postpone their wedding, to le

yes at the altar. This story, this perfectly tragic, cinematic tale of a dying wish, was nothing but a convenient excuse. It was a way for him to have his cake and eat it too-t

ity for cruelty, she would have laughed in his face and walked out forever. She would have seen tha

eeping, torn between his past and a tragic, fabricated

the beginning of h

ing. Franklin' s head snapped up, his expres

o the phone. "What do you mean s