Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Kate tuned them out, her attention caught by movement at the altar. Seris had pulled out his phone.

At his own wedding.

She watched his expression shift—just slightly, just a micro-expression that most people would miss but Kate had known him long enough to read. Surprise. Then something else. Something that might have been relief.

He tucked the phone away and leaned over to whisper something to Julian, who's eyes widened.

Kate's stomach dropped. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

The organist, clearly growing impatient, played a few experimental notes. The guests started shifting, murmuring. The ceremony was supposed to start ten minutes ago.

Kate checked her phone. No messages from Silver. No messages from Seris.

She opened her text thread with Silver and typed: *Everything okay?*

No response.

Around the cathedral, the murmuring was getting louder. Kate could hear snippets of conversation:

"—never known a Winters to be late—"

"—maybe she's just nervous—"

"—remember the Jessica situation—"

Kate flinched at Jessica's name. God, if people were already comparing this to that disaster...

Seris's mother, the formidable Patricia Ashford, stood from her seat in the front row and made her way to the altar. Kate watched her lean close to Seris, speaking in tones too low to hear. Seris's expression remained carefully blank, but he nodded once.

Patricia returned to her seat, her face tight.

The organist stopped playing. The silence was deafening.

And then the cathedral doors opened.

Every head turned. The organist, clearly on autopilot, began the bridal march. The guests stood, a wave of rustling fabric and anticipation.

Kate rose with everyone else, her heart pounding. This was it. Silver would appear, beautiful and radiant, and whatever weirdness Kate had been feeling would dissolve. Everything would be fine.

But the figure silhouetted in the doorway wasn't Silver.

It wasn't even a woman.

It was a young man, slight and nervous-looking, wearing an ill-fitting suit and glasses that kept sliding down his nose. He clutched a piece of paper in both hands and looked like he might vomit at any second.

The murmuring exploded into full conversation. People were half-standing, craning their necks, confused.

The young man walked down the aisle—not with any kind of ceremonial grace, but with the shuffling gait of someone who desperately wanted to be anywhere else. His face was bright red. He was visibly shaking.

Kate felt ice settle in her stomach.

No.

No, this wasn't happening.

The young man reached the altar. Seris looked at him with an expression Kate couldn't read—too many emotions at once, all of them carefully suppressed.

The young man cleared his throat. Tried to speak. Failed. Cleared his throat again.

"I, um." His voice was barely audible, high and stuttering. "I'm... I'm Th-Thomas. I work for the W-Winters family. As an assistant. I was asked to... to deliver a m-message."

The cathedral had gone completely silent. Even Silver's nephew had stopped fidgeting.

Thomas's hands trembled as he unfolded the paper. "Miss Silver Winters has asked me to inform you all that—" His voice cracked. He cleared his throat again. "That the wedding is c-cancelled. She apologizes for any inconvenience and... and wishes everyone well. She's, um, she's already left. For Paris. On a flight. This m-morning."

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, as if someone had released a pause button, everything happened at once.

"OH!" The shout came from multiple directions simultaneously. Kate's six brothers all reacted in unison, their voices overlapping in a chorus of shock and what might have been vicarious pain.

"JESUS!" That was Darius.

"Holy shit!" James, earning a scandalized gasp from their mother.

"DID HE JUST SAY CANCELLED?" David, apparently needing confirmation.

From the Ashford side, Seris's brothers had similar reactions:

"OH HELL NO!" Julian, usually the most composed, looked genuinely stunned.

"Did she—did she actually—" One of the cousins couldn't seem to finish the sentence.

But it was Patricia Ashford's face that Kate would remember later. The way her perfectly composed expression cracked, just for a moment, into something that looked like pure fury before she smoothed it back into icy calm.

On the bride's side, the Winters family had gone completely still. Silver's mother had a hand pressed to her mouth. Her father looked resigned as if he knew this was going to happen..

Skylia, still in her bridesmaid dress, had started laughing. Actually laughing, her hand over her mouth, shoulders shaking. The sound was slightly hysterical but also genuinely delighted.

Kate felt her eye twitch. Actually twitch, like something had short-circuited in her brain.

Silver was worse than Jessica.

The thought appeared fully formed, undeniable. Jessica had at least had the decency to cheat in private, to let the relationship implode before a wedding was planned. This—this was public humiliation on a scale that made the Jessica scandal look like a minor embarrassment.

Seris hadn't moved. He stood at the altar, still as a statue, his expression completely blank. Only his hands betrayed him—clenched at his sides, knuckles white.

Thomas, apparently realizing he was still standing there like an idiot, stuttered out, "I'm s-sorry. I'm so sorry. I should—I'll just—" He practically ran back down the aisle, his footsteps echoing in the shocked silence.

And then chaos.

Guests erupted into conversation. People were standing, gesturing, pulling out phones. The whispers turned into a roar.

"—can you believe—"

"—left him at the altar—"

"—always thought she was odd—"

"—poor Seris—"

"—the humiliation—"

"—worse than Jessica, at least Jessica had the decency to—"

Kate felt frozen, her mind racing. Silver had texted her this morning. Had apologized. Had said all those nice things about wanting to be friends.

While planning to humiliate Seris in front of three hundred people.

"Katie." Her mother's hand on her arm. "Katie, breathe."

She was breathing. Wasn't she? Her chest felt tight, her eyes were stinging. She wasn't crying. She was furious.

At the altar, Seris finally moved. He turned to his groomsmen, said something too quiet to hear, and walked toward the side exit. Not running. Not showing any emotion at all. Just... leaving.

Julian started to follow, but Cameron caught his arm, shaking his head.

Kate didn't think. She just moved, pushing past her family, past other guests, making her way toward the side door. Her mother called after her, but she ignored it.

She caught up to Seris in the vestry, where he was standing with his back to the door, hands braced against a table.

"Seris—"

"Don't." His voice was flat. "Just... don't, Kate."

"She left you at the altar. She's worse than Jessica. She's worse than—"

"I said don't." He still hadn't turned around. "Go back to your family."

"You're my family too!" The words burst out before she could stop them. "You're my best friend, and she just—she humiliated you in front of everyone, and I—"

"She called it off." Seris finally turned, and his expression was so carefully controlled it made Kate want to scream. "She sent a message. It's done. That's all."

"That's all? THAT'S ALL?" Kate's voice rose despite herself. "Seris, this is—this is a disaster! This is worse than anything Jessica did! How can you just stand there and—"

"Because." He cut her off, his voice sharp enough to make her flinch. "Because I knew, Kate. I've known for months that this was a mistake. And maybe—" His jaw tightened. "Maybe she just had the courage to do what I should have done from the beginning."

Kate stared at him. "What are you talking about?"

But Seris just shook his head and walked past her, back toward the chaos of the cathedral, leaving Kate standing alone in the vestry, her heart pounding and her mind reeling with one thought:

Nothing about this made sense.

Nothing at all.