My Fiancé's Secret: A Wedding Day Betrayal

a voice memo my fiancé of seven years

etly pregnant with our child. Then, as

and and ran to her

tea-the one I taught him-for her in our apartment. He was cer

his mother on the phone while I was at the

s a game and our baby

nd a bouquet of lilies. The smile died when he saw me, pale in the hospital bed,

pte

n Rom

fiancé of seven years had saved a voice memo

ext to my own. Our wedding planner, a frantic woman with a clipboard and a permanently stressed expression,

' s phone? Maybe he' ll pick up for a man," she'

m. The passcode was my birthday. 0814. It always had been. A small, silly

lean. Normal. But my finger slipped as I went to the call log, a

ed in his favorites, like a treasured keepsake. The contact picture was a self

od ran

ay and champagne, suddenly felt airless. The joyful chatter of my bridesmai

ssed

e a giggle, filled the silence of my mind. "Blake... everyone'

, coating it in sugar and suggestion-made my stomach clench. It was

red back at me, a stranger in a cloud of white tulle and lace, her face a mask of disbelief. The diamond earrin

culated innocence in her tone chipped away anoth

my maid of honor, Sarah,

st shook my head, my ey

his smile was so bright it was blinding. He was the golden boy, the charismatic litigator

mile faltered. "Evelyn? What is it?

from his face. For a split second, I saw panic flicker in his eyes before it was replaced by a carefully c

smooth as polished stone. He reached

ked the breathy tone, and the sound was so ugly in the pristine whit

that reasonable, placating register he used when he was handling a difficult clie

mmering against my ribs, a frantic bird trapped in a cage

ching mine. "And I love you. This is just... a silly

g. "And you tell her she' s being transferred.

en a team. Evelyn and Blake. Blake and Evelyn. We' d built a life, a home.

k, a secret joy blooming in my chest. A baby. Our baby. I was going to tell him on our honeymoo

were being difficult but he was willing to indulge me. "Fine, Evelyn. I' ll have HR move her to the archives d

He deleted the voice note, his movements swift and practice

t was

walked me down the aisle, my eyes weren' t on the

ring a dress that was a little too tight, a little too shor

in Blake' s, Cali' s eyes met mine. A flicker of trium

d. Her hand went to her forehead, and her eyes rolled back into her head.

ough the crowd. People sta

ing at her. I was

"Cali!" The name was ripped from his throat, a raw sound of pure panic that had noth

pped m

rted t

ine wool of his suit. "Blake, no." My voice

already halfway down the aisle. "She need

family. Let someone else handle it." My grip tightened. "If you wa

d, I thought he understood. I saw a flicker of the man I l

fted back to the

" he said, h

, one by one. The gesture was no

n he wa

aisle, away from me, away from our wedding, a

e staggering. I swayed on my feet

le my breath. It felt like my insides were being twisted into a knot. I

shroud, weighing me down, suffocating me. "You' re the most beautiful thing I' ve ever seen

e hadn' t seen the pain on my f

nt her weekends hiking and running half-marathons

alone at the altar, because hi

, a cruel, vicious punctuation