Chapter 4

I never showed up for our wedding.

At nine that morning, Yvonne called me for the first time.

No one answered.

At ten, the wedding cars pulled up outside the hotel. Her father could not find me, and he threw the bridal bouquet onto a table.

"Who does he think he is? Yvonne, you're not going to pick him up. Give in today, and he'll walk all over this family after this!"

Ernie wore his best man's suit. My wedding ring was still on his finger. "Don't get upset. Alex is definitely hiding nearby, just waiting for Yvonne to beg him to come out."

Yvonne stared at her phone. Our conversation was still suspended on that single word.

[OK.]

Her anger flared again as she said, "He promised he would come. Let everyone wait."

By eleven, all the guests had arrived. At eleven thirty, the officiant asked for the third time when the groom was arriving.

Yvonne sent me more than a dozen messages.

[Are you still throwing a tantrum?]

[You have until noon.]

[Come over right now, and I'll pretend none of this happened.]

The last was a voice message.

"Alex. You tried to dupe me by working with the hospital, and I can let that go. I can forgive you for showing up late on purpose, too. But if you miss the wedding, there's no one to blame when I leave you."

After she sent it, Ernie clapped his hands and said, "Get ready. Time for round two."

Their friends locked the wedding hall doors and changed the text on the large screen to announce that the wedding was canceled.

They waited for me to rush in.

To cry.

To beg Yvonne to marry me in front of everyone.

At noon sharp, the wedding music began. Still, nobody was outside the doors.

Yvonne grew angrier by the minute. "I can't believe he has the guts to bail on me today!"

Ernie put an arm around her shoulders. "Why don't I walk down the aisle in his place? It's just a rehearsal, anyway."

He stepped onto the red carpet without waiting for her answer.

The guests kept cheering them on.

"Ernie and Yvonne look more like a couple anyway."

"The groom had better get here. Someone's really about to steal his bride!"

"Yvonne, kiss him! See if that brings the groom out of hiding!"

Yvonne didn't push Ernie away. She kept watching the entrance, as if she expected me to burst through the doors.

Instead, two police officers came into the hall.

Yvonne recognized one of them. Three days earlier, he was the one who had told me she had fallen into the river and gone missing.

Everyone in the hall immediately fell silent.

The officer approached Yvonne and said, "Ms. Gomez, Central City Hospital has been trying to reach you since the day before yesterday."

Yvonne's fingers tightened around her phone. "Did he call the police again? Tell Alex the wedding has already started. If he comes out now, I can still forgive him."

The officer said nothing as he simply took out a clear evidence bag. Inside was a phone with a shattered screen. The case had a picture of Yvonne and me on the back.

Yvonne's angry expression froze.

Ernie laughed. "That smashed phone looks so convincing. Don't tell me Alex imitated Yvonne and faked his death too."

"Where's Alex?" Yvonne stared at the phone. "Tell him to come here himself."

The officer watched her for a few seconds. "Mr. Alex Shaw passed away the night before yesterday. The medical team at Central City Hospital couldn't save him. He passed away at twenty-seven minutes past ten."