Three days before we were supposed to sign the marriage license, I finished planning the last wedding of my career.

When the doors opened, the groom with his arm around the blonde bride was Nolan James. The man I was about to marry.

He lifted the microphone, grinning wide and shameless.

“The white wedding dress has finally found its true owner.”

The blood drained from my face. I snatched my phone and dialed him like a lunatic.

Nolan picked up without hesitation. When I demanded an explanation, his voice was perfectly calm.

“Lisa isn't a gold-digger like you. She doesn't want a car, a house, or a bride price. She doesn't even need the title.”

“All she wants is me.”

“Love that pure? I can't let her down.”

“But don't worry. This is just a ceremony for her. When it's time to sign the license, it'll still be you. You'll still be the legitimate Mrs. James.”

The microphone carried his voice across the entire banquet hall. Laughter, sharp and mocking, hit me from every direction.

Through the blur of tears, I thought of the black suit I'd hand-stitched for Nolan myself.

It should go find its true owner, too.

……

His friends crowded around to toast him, praising him for landing a foreign wife.

He pulled Lisa in by the waist and tipped his chin up, proud.

“It wasn't until I met Lisa that I understood what real love is.”

Then he glanced in my direction. The guests followed his gaze.

It didn't take long for someone to recognize me.

“Hey, isn't that wedding planner Mr. James's fiancée?”

“Tsk tsk. Poor thing. Planning her own boyfriend's wedding to another woman.”

“Poor thing? Please. She's nothing but a gold-digger. Demanded two hundred sixty thousand in bride price before she'd sign the license.”

“Two hundred sixty thousand? Who does she think she is? She deserved to get dumped.”

The rest of the guests turned to stare at me, eyes full of contempt.

I bit down on my lip until it hurt, nails digging into my palms.

None of them knew. When Nolan wanted to start his company, I sold the only thing my mother ever left me—her house—and gave him every cent for his startup capital.

He promised me that once the business took off, he'd buy it back.

That $260,000 bride price was the house's current market value.

I opened my mouth, but not a single word came out.

Then someone in the crowd yelled.

“Hey sweetheart, make sure you tell all your girlfriends back home—a man like Nolan James doesn't come around twice, and you let him slip right through your fingers!”

Nolan beamed. Beside him, the blonde bride nestled into his chest, blushing and radiant.

I couldn't breathe. I stumbled backward, nearly losing my footing.

A coworker beside me caught my arm.

“Gusta, are you okay?”

I shook my head, my voice raw.

“I'm fine.”

Then I turned and walked out of the banquet hall.

Nolan caught a glimpse of my retreating figure. The smile on his face faltered for a second, something tight pressing against his chest.

But the congratulations pouring in from every side buried the feeling before it could take hold.

After the ceremony ended, I drifted out of the hotel entrance in a daze and walked straight into Nolan's car.

He'd pulled up right in front of me and rolled down the window. In the passenger seat sat the blonde bride.

I saw their fingers laced together, and my chest clenched so hard the air locked in my throat.

Nolan once told me that passenger seat was mine and no one else's. He'd even put a little sticker on the dash: *Gusta's seat only ♡*.

The sticker was gone. In its place was a photo of Lisa.

Nolan leaned out the window and waved me over.

“Augusta, get in the car. I'm heading home to grab some things before Lisa and I leave for our honeymoon.”

“Sis, let's ride home together.”

Lisa leaned across Nolan, calling out to me in that clumsy, broken way she spoke.

I turned my face away, my voice ice-cold.

“My mother had one daughter. I've never had a sister.”

Lisa's eyes went red instantly. She apologized in her stilted, accented way.

“I'm sorry, I didn't know that word is so serious in your culture.”

“I didn't mean it……”

Then came the soft, pitiful sobbing.

Nolan pulled her into his arms immediately, murmuring softly to her.

It took a while before she smiled again, and he stayed patient the entire time.

That kind of patience from him was something I hadn't felt in a very long time.

He turned to me, glaring.

“Augusta, Lisa was being nice enough to offer you a ride. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Since you can't appreciate a kind gesture, you can walk home.”

Before the words had even settled, he floored the gas and the car shot past me.

The tires hit a puddle at the curb and dirty water sprayed across my dress.

The last of the wedding guests stood by the entrance, watching. Enjoying it.

Muddy water and tears ran down my face together.

I stood there for a long time. Then I wiped my face, took out my phone, and sent a message to an unfamiliar number.

“I'm done being Mrs. James. Three days from now, would you be willing to be the one who claims the black suit?”

By the time I got home, Nolan was gone. Off on his honeymoon, probably.

A wedding portrait of him and Lisa had appeared in the living room. I didn't know when he'd put it there.

Even though I'd already made my decision, my breath still caught for a moment.

I looked away, sat down on the couch, and felt my phone buzz with a reply.

“Yes. I'll come pick you up shortly.”

I typed back “okay” and went to pack.

By the time I dragged my suitcase out, the sky had opened up into a downpour.

My phone lit up.

“Sorry, something urgent just came up at the office. I was going to come myself, but I'll have to send my driver instead.”

I glanced at the rain hammering down outside, then looked back at my phone.

“The rain's too heavy. Don't send anyone tonight. Let's just meet at the courthouse in three days.”

The reply came instantly.

“Okay.”

I was pulling my suitcase back toward my room when the front door opened. Nolan walked in with Lisa.

His eyes swept to the suitcase in my hand, sharp with scrutiny.

“Where are you going with that?”

“Nowhere. Just sorting out some clothes I don't wear anymore.”

My face gave nothing away. My voice was flat.

Nolan frowned, about to press further, but Lisa cut in.

“Sis……oh no, sorry, Ms. Pruitt. The rain is very bad today, flight got canceled. My honeymoon with Mr. James is ruined.”

Nolan looked at her with pure indulgence and tapped the tip of her nose.

“Silly. It's not ruined. It's just rescheduled.”

Lisa gave him a sugary smile and fell into his arms.

“Don't make fun of me. I will try harder to learn English.”

I said nothing. I turned around and pulled my suitcase toward the bedroom.

Nolan's voice stopped me.

“Tonight's our wedding night, Lisa and me. We're taking the master bedroom. You can sleep in the guest room.”

My steps faltered. I stopped for two seconds, then said, quietly, “Fine.”

Nolan's brow creased with displeasure. My reaction was too calm, too unlike me. Something felt like it was slipping away from him, and his chest felt empty.

Before he could think too hard about it, Lisa bounced over to me and grabbed my hand：

“The three of us can sleep together.”

I yanked my hand free of hers.

“Don't touch me. You're disgusting.”

I hadn't even used much force, but she crashed to the floor like I'd thrown her.

By the time I processed what happened and reached down to help her up, Nolan came charging over and slammed into me, knocking me to the ground.

He scooped her into his arms, face full of worry and tenderness.

“Are you hurt anywhere? Does it hurt? We're going to the hospital right now.”

I lay on the floor, facedown, as a savage pain tore through my abdomen and something warm ran down between my legs.

A cold dread hit me. I grabbed the hem of Nolan's shirt.

“Nolan, I……”

Before I could finish, he wrenched my hand off and walked away without looking back.

I lay there on the floor, cold sweat pouring down my face from the pain ripping through me, and with the last bit of strength I had, I pulled out my phone and dialed 911 before everything went black.

When I opened my eyes, I was in a hospital bed.

The nurse making rounds noticed me awake and gave my blanket a gentle pat.

“Bed 32, you're up.”

“What happened to me.”

My voice was raw.

“You miscarried at home yesterday and passed out. But don't worry, the D&C is done. The doctor says if everything looks fine over the next two days, you can be discharged.”

My fingers clenched the bedsheet until my knuckles ached.

“I……miscarried?”

“Yes. You were over two months along. But you're young, sweetheart. There'll be other chances.”

The nurse sighed, eyes soft with pity.

After she left, I pulled the blanket over my head and let myself cry.

Maybe it was better this way. Now there was nothing left tying me to Nolan James.

Two days later, I signed myself out.

In those two days, Nolan hadn't asked about me once. The only thing he'd posted on social media was a single photo.

Lisa's knee with a Band-Aid on it. The caption—

“Heartache.”

When I got home, Nolan was kneeling in front of Lisa, dabbing ointment on her knee.

The scrape was the size of a grain of rice, already scabbed over, yet he couldn't have been more careful.

I touched my own stomach and let out a quiet, bitter laugh.

Only after he'd finished applying the ointment, after he'd leaned down and blown gently on the spot, did he notice me standing in the doorway.

The tenderness dropped off his face like a mask. He stood up, irritation hardening into open disgust.

“Where have you been for two days? You push Lisa down, she gets hurt, and you just take off and enjoy yourself?”

Not a trace of concern in his voice. Only blame.

I didn't have the energy to fight him. I answered flatly.

“I didn't push her. She fell on her own.”

“That's right, it wasn't her fault.”

Lisa sat on the couch, looking up at Nolan with wide, wounded eyes.

“I fell by myself……please don't blame her anymore.”

Head bowed, voice small, she played the part of someone defending me while looking every inch the victim.

I turned to look at her and let out a cold laugh.

“Disgusting.”

That one word struck a nerve. His expression twisted, and he shoved me, hard. I wasn't braced for it and hit the floor.

“Lisa sticks up for you, and instead of being grateful, you call her disgusting?”

“Where do you get the nerve to call anyone disgusting, Augusta? Don't forget what you did at that bar.”

I stared at him in shock, and what little color was left in my face drained away completely.

When Nolan was starting his company and money was tight, I'd taken on extra work to ease the burden — wedding planner by day, bar waitress by night.

One night I was serving drinks to a table of men when they blocked my way and insisted I sit down and drink with them.