Shattered Vows The Wedding Day Massacre

On the day of our wedding, Ken Gilbert told me something.

He'd been sleeping with my bridesmaid.

"Last night, I slept with Madison."

"I was going to keep it from you forever, but I thought it over."

"The truth is, I like her more than I like you."

"If you can live with that, the three of us can make it work. I'll do my best to be fair to both of you."

"If you can't, I'll take Madison overseas and we'll get our marriage license there. You go your way, we go ours. No interference."

He smiled at me, fully expecting me to fall apart the way I always had before.

Crying. Begging. Pleading for him to come back.

Instead, I grabbed the knife off the table.

And I drove it into Ken Gilbert's chest. Again. And again.

……

The knife had been set out for cutting the cake. It wasn't particularly sharp.

But I'd prepared for this long before today.

Every strike landed exactly where it needed to.

Within seconds, he was on the ground, unable to move.

My wedding dress was soaked through with blood.

The elegant reception dissolved into chaos.

Guests scattered in every direction.

Someone crashed into the champagne tower.

Someone dialed 911.

Others quietly signaled security, trying to get them to restrain me.

I ignored all of it.

I walked slowly toward Madison Pruitt.

I drove the knife through her arm and pinned her to the officiant's podium.

"AHHH—"

Madison let out a scream of pure agony.

The smugness that had been on her face moments ago was gone. All that remained was raw, animal terror.

"I'm sorry, Ruby Henson, I didn't mean for this to happen!"

"We were just... we were just messing with you. It was a joke."

"Please let me go. I swear I never wanted to ruin things between you two."

Never wanted to?

I pulled out Madison's phone and opened her photo gallery.

Over twelve thousand pictures.

Half of them were with Ken.

The earliest ones dated back to the night of our engagement party.

Madison had flown back from overseas specifically to celebrate with me. I'd been so happy that I drank too much, and I asked Ken to drive her home.

That was the night they first looked at each other and saw something.

They did it in my car.

After that, Ken used wedding planning as his excuse to stay in constant contact with her.

I tapped on a video at random.

Their voices, thick with intimacy, blared through the speakers across the ruined hall.

Madison clung to Ken, her tone dripping with lovesick need.

"Tell me. Who do you really love? Me, or Ruby?"

"I'm carrying your baby now. You have to make this official."

Ken leaned down and kissed her face.

"Of course you're the one I love most."

"But you know my situation with Ruby is... complicated."

"Give me some time. I'll figure out how to manage things between you two."

Ken's idea of "managing things."

Was to humiliate me as deeply as possible at my own wedding.

But they both forgot something. I was never the pushover they thought I was.

I slapped the flat of the blade against Madison's cheek a few times.

Then pressed the tip slowly against her lower belly.

"How about I play a little joke on you too?"

"Let's see if this baby can survive outside your body."

Madison's entire body shook.

She tried to hold herself together, but the tears streamed down her face beyond her control.

"Ruby, you can't do this."

"Ken is dead. This baby is the only Gilbert heir left."

"If anything happens to this child, the Gilbert family will never let you go."