ONE

My hands trembled slightly as I smoothed out my gown to help calm the butterflies in my stomach. In less than an hour, I would be walking down the aisle and making my way to marry the man of my dreams.

“Wow,” my Maid of Honor, Sarah, said from behind me. “You look absolutely stunning. Logan is going to lose his mind when he sees you.”

I smiled, hoping she was right. Logan and I had been together for three years, and while things hadn't always been perfect, I loved him. He was charming, successful, and he'd chosen me. Sometimes I still couldn't believe someone like Logan wanted to marry someone like me.

The door to the bridal suite opened and Logan himself walked in wearing his tailored black tuxedo.

“Logan!” I squealed, my heart jumping at the sight of him. “You’re not supposed to see me yet. It's bad luck.”

“That’s just superstition,” he said grinning at me. His eyes roamed over my dress. “You look amazing baby.”

As I gazed into my soon-to-be husband's eyes, I could feel that usual fluttering sensation in my chest. He really was handsome, with those flirty hazel eyes that had first caught my attention in college.

He leaned in and gave me a gentle kiss on the cheek. He was being extremely cautious so as to not mess up my makeup. “My boss will soon arrive. I need to get ready to welcome him. You know how important this is for the promotion.”

“Oh my god, I can't believe you were able to get him to come," I said, shaking my head. 

“Pretty impressive right,” he grinned. “After all, this is going to be the wedding of the century, babe. All of the most important people in business will be attending.”

I sighed as he left, glancing at my phone for the tenth time in the past hour. Dad still hadn't texted to say he'd arrived. He'd promised he'd make it, even though the drive from his place was over two hours. I knew he wasn't feeling well lately, but he'd insisted he wouldn't miss walking me down the aisle for anything.

Sarah handed me my bouquet of white roses and peonies. "You ready? It's almost time."

"As ready as I'll ever be," I said, taking a deep breath.

I stepped out of the bridal suite into the hallway. The hotel was even more crowded than I'd expected.

I needed to use the restroom one more time before the ceremony started. My nerves were getting the best of me, and I didn't want to be fidgeting throughout the vows.

As I walked down the corridor toward the private restrooms near the back of the venue, I heard voices that sounded intimate and one of them sounded suspiciously like Logan. 

My stomach tightened as I turned the corner. No…it couldn't be. 

Logan had his body against the wall, and he was kissing a woman. Her hands were in his hair and his were around her waist. 

“Logan?! What the hell?!" I yelled. My flowers slipped out of my grip and fell to the floor. 

Logan pulled away from the woman, his eyes getting very big. I briefly saw fear in his expression. But it changed, and became immediately hard.

“Breanna, Jesus, relax," he said, using the back of his hand to wipe his mouth. 

“Relax?" My voice was shaking and I disliked how weak it sounded. "Who is she, and what are you two doing?"

The woman mumbled, and still didn’t look at me, “Logan, I should go.”

"No, stay," he said firmly, and my stomach dropped even further.

"Are you insane?" I took a step toward them, my hands balling into fists. "We're supposed to be getting married in twenty minutes!"

"And we still can, if you'd just calm the hell down and stop being so dramatic," He said coldly as he straightened his tie. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Not that big of a deal?" The corset of my dress suddenly felt too tight, crushing my ribs. "You were kissing someone else right before our wedding!"

"It was just a kiss, Breanna. Don't blow this out of proportion."

I stared at him, searching his face for any sign of remorse but all I saw was annoyance, like I was the one being unreasonable.

The woman shifted uncomfortably beside him, and I saw red. I lunged toward her, my hand raised, ready to slap that guilty look right off her face.

Logan grabbed my arm, yanking me back so hard I stumbled in my heels.

"Don't you dare touch her," He snarled and the venom in his voice made me flinch. I'd never heard him sound like that before.

"Are you seriously protecting her right now?" Tears streamed down my face, ruining the makeup Sarah had spent an hour perfecting. 

"You need to get yourself together," Logan said through gritted teeth. He glanced down the hallway where I could hear voices getting closer. "People are going to see you losing your mind like this."

"Losing my mind? You're the one who—"

"Enough!” He shouted. “I knew you'd overreact to something eventually. You've always been so insecure, so needy. Do you know how exhausting that is?"

Why was he speaking to me this way?? I tried to fight the tears that were threatening to spill. 

"You should be grateful," he sneered. "Grateful that someone like me is willing to marry someone like you. You think you have better options? You think anyone else is going to want your worthless ass?"

I felt like I'd been slapped. Actually, a slap would have hurt less than hearing those words come out of his mouth. 

A small crowd was starting to gather at the end of the hallway. 

"Look what you've done," Logan hissed, noticing the audience. "You're making a scene and embarrassing both of us."

"I'm making a scene?" My voice rose, cracking. "You're the one who was kissing another woman right before our wedding!"

"See?" Logan turned to address the growing crowd, his voice going eerily soft. "She's being completely irrational. I was just talking to an old friend, and she tried to attack her. She's always been jealous and aggressive like this. I've tried to help her work on it, but..."

He shook his head sadly. The crowd murmured. I saw people exchanging judgmental glances. They were believing him??! They actually thought I was the crazy one.

"That's not what happened!" I protested, but no one seemed to care what I had to say. "He was kissing her…I saw it!"

"Breanna, maybe we should go somewhere private and talk," Sarah said gently, trying to guide me away.

But I couldn't move.

"I'm done," Logan said coldly. "I'm not marrying someone who would try to physically assault someone over nothing. The wedding is off."

He turned to leave, Melissa following him, and the crowd parted to let them through. 

I stood there, frozen, as everyone slowly left. Sarah was saying something, her hand on my arm, but I couldn't hear her over the ringing in my ears.

"I need a minute," I told Sarah, pulling away from her.

"Breanna, wait—"

I ran towards the bathroom at the end of the hall. Locking myself in a stall, I sank to the floor and let out a big sob. I cried like a newborn. How had everything gone wrong so quickly? Logan never loved me. All of it was a lie.

My phone buzzed in the small purse I'd been holding. I wiped my eyes and pulled it out, expecting Sarah or maybe one of the bridesmaids checking on me.

"Hello?" I said in a shaky voice.

"Is this Breanna Jones?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"This is St. Mary's Hospital. I'm calling about your father, Robert Jones. He's been in a car accident."

I immediately sat up.

"What? Is he....is he okay?"

"He's alive but in critical condition. He's being prepared for emergency surgery. You're listed as his emergency contact. How soon can you get here?"

"I'm coming. I'm coming right now." My hands were shaking so hard I could barely hold the phone. "What happened?"

"There was a collision on Route 7. He was headed into the city when another vehicle—"

"I'll be there soon."

I hung up and burst out of the stall, not caring about my tear-stained face or ruined makeup. 

I had to get to my father. The one person who cared about me.