World-class Wedding

Chapter 1: World-class Wedding 

Leah 

The boyfriend I’ve been with for three years is actually in love with his stepsister. 

~~~~~

“I still cannot believe you didn’t punch him in the face for cheating on you.”

Megan was still raging about my ex two weeks later like the betrayal had happened this morning and she’d personally witnessed the whole disgusting performance. 

She paced behind the glass counters of the jewelry store, heels clicking a little too aggressively for a Tuesday afternoon.

I smoothed my hand over my skirt. “Biggest regret of my life,” I said politely. “Might still get another chance. I’m keeping the option open. Hope is a beautiful thing.”

Megan marched right up to me. “When that opportunity comes, you take it. Hard. After you sheltered and fed that parasite for three years? He suddenly springs this surprise on you like he’s doing a magic trick?”

Magic trick was generous. Bryce had basically lied his way into my heart, my apartment, and my bank account with the skill of a professional con artist who specialized in mediocre men. 

Shortly after we started dating he “couldn’t keep up with rent,” so of course I let him move in. Then he needed help with living expenses. Then he needed a little cash here and there. 

Then he needed money for a birthday gift for his “stepsister.”

I was in love with the idiot. Don’t judge me. We’ve all been there. Some of us just stayed longer than was medically advisable.

He’d claimed he was a struggling intern at Royce Industries, the biggest automobile company in the country. 

Turns out the only thing he was struggling with was the weight of his own entitlement. He’d had a fallout with his wealthy family and gotten cut off by his wealthy uncle. 

The whole living-with-me phase was apparently his punishment. I had just made the punishment extremely comfortable. Like five-star-prison comfortable.

One week ago I’d come home early because my cramps were staging a full coup. I opened the door to the sound of grunts and moans coming from my own bedroom. 

My bed. My sheets. My very expensive pillows that I had specifically told him not to use for anything weird.

Turns out my boyfriend was fucking his stepsister. In my bed. Under my roof. And the worst part? They weren’t even apologetic. Not a single “oops.” Not even a weak “this isn’t what it looks like.”

Bryce had walked toward me completely naked, pointed a finger at my forehead like he was about to scold a child, and informed me that I was the worst lay of his entire life.

That sentence still lived rent-free in my head.

“Leah. Snap out of it.” Megan tapped my shoulder. “You’re thinking about that bitch again.”

“Not in the way you think,” I said. “If I get another chance of seeing Bryce again—”

The glass door swung open.

Two people walked in looking like they’d been photoshopped into real life. Wrapped around each other. Laughing. Glowing. Disgustingly in love the way only people who have never paid their own electric bill can glow.

Bryce and Greta. The reptiles I'd just been talking about.

I stepped forward on pure muscle memory. “Welcome to—” The rest of the sentence died a quick, undignified death.

Bryce’s smirk when he said my name told me this visit was not accidental. This was a scheduled performance. “Shouldn’t you welcome each customer warmly?”

I balled my hands into fists. “Get out. I’m working. Take Greta and leave.”

“That’s how you treat a VVIP?” He puffed his chest out like a pigeon. “Don’t you know who my uncle is?”

“VVIP?” I scoffed. “Who made you that?” 

Greta smiled triumphantly. “Bryce was just being disciplined by Uncle Preston when you met him.” She said. “You should be honoured that he let you help him.” 

“What?” 

“There was a little incident at the mansion involving Bryce.” She folded her arms, rolling her eyes. “Uncle Preston blamed Bryce and decided to punish him by freezing his bank accounts for three years.” 

My heart dropped. “You… truly never loved me?” I asked, already knowing the answer. 

He didn't. This bastard had no heart. 

It was Bryce's turn to mock me. “Love you? Who would ever love you when you dress and look like that?” 

They both laughed. 

“You should feel lucky that I picked you.” He said. “Now serve me as you should. Or I bring your manager here.” 

My manager, Louise, was the kind of woman who could fire you with a single raised eyebrow and then make you thank her for the opportunity. Any scene in this store and my paycheck would feel it for months.

I swallowed the hurt, glanced at Megan who was already vibrating with the desire to commit a felony, and exhaled. “What would you like to buy today, sir?”

Bryce’s smile went nuclear. “A ring. For my one and only. Show me your best designs. The most expensive in this store.”

I gestured toward the sofa like a well-trained hostage. “Right this way. I’ll fetch our finest jewels.”

This bastard had never gifted me anything in three years. Not on my birthday. Not on our anniversary. Not even on the day I paid his phone bill for the fourth month in a row. 

I had always understood. I had never pressured him. I had simply bought him gifts and then bought myself something so I wouldn’t cry in the bathroom.

I clutched the ring case so tightly my knuckles went white as I walked back. His eyes followed me the entire time, corners crinkling with pure entertainment. 

He was enjoying this. He liked kicking people who were already on the floor.

“These are the finest and most expensive rings we have,” I said. My voice came out sharper than intended. Sue me.

“What do you think, baby?” he asked Greta, all soft and loving like he hadn’t used the same tone on me last year when he needed money for “car repairs.” “Do you like anything here? Or do we go to another store?”

Greta took one look at rings that cost more than my entire existence and rolled her eyes so hard I briefly worried they’d get stuck. “They look cheap and dull. Just like her. Let’s go to a higher store, babe.”

Something in my chest cracked open. “Are you both crazy?” I hissed.

They were on their feet in a second.

“Mind how you talk to us,” Greta said, chin high. “Uncle Preston is going to make Bryce his successor. He can crush you and this store.”

Uncle Preston this. Uncle Preston that. I was two seconds away from developing a lifelong allergy to the name Preston.

I marched toward them. “I don’t give a damn about your uncle. I don’t know who he is and I don’t care. All I care about is my job. Never show up here again.”

Megan pointed at the door with the energy of a woman who had already planned the alibi. “Get out.”

Bryce smirked at Greta. Some silent signal passed between them. She opened her purse, pulled out a thick card, and handed it to him.

My heart dropped so hard I felt it in my knees. That was an invitation.

They were getting married.

After three years of stringing me along with zero plans, zero rings, and zero effort, he was marrying the stepsister he’d been sleeping with in my bed.

“Came to invite you to the wedding, Leah,” Bryce said, voice dripping with satisfaction. “You’ve been my sponsor for three years. You even kept my bed warm even though your skills were laughable—”

My cheeks flamed so hard I was surprised the store sprinklers didn’t go off.

“You’re invited to our world-class wedding,” he announced proudly. “Be happy. If I wasn’t grateful I wouldn’t be giving you this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness something this glorious.”

I stood there frozen while he took my hand and pressed the card into my palm. It felt cold and expensive.

“We hope you’ll make it. My uncle will be flying in too. You’ll finally get to meet him and realize what I meant when I told you you’d only embarrass me in front of him.”

Anger tore through me so violently I could taste it. Every instinct screamed attack. Scratch. Claw. Bite. Make them bleed the way I was bleeding on the inside.

But my eyes stayed clear. No tears. They had already done the worst. There was nothing left for them to take.

“We’ll reserve a special seat for you—”

“Thank you,” I said. “I will be there. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

They both stared at me for a second like I’d grown a second head. Then Greta yanked on Bryce’s arm. “Let’s go, babe. She’s crazy.”

The door closed behind them. The store went quiet except for the soft classical music Louise insisted on playing because she thought it made diamonds feel more expensive.

I kept staring at the door long after they left. The invitation sat in my hand like it weighed ten pounds.

Megan finally spoke. “You’re really going?”

I looked down at the card. Deep maroon. Gold lettering. Extremely extra. Exactly the kind of invitation that screamed “we have money and zero taste.”

“If they wanted me at their wedding,” I said, “they’re going to get me. But I’m coming with a man.”

Megan raised an eyebrow. “A man?”

“A hotter man than Bryce. Significantly hotter. The kind of hot that makes people question their life choices.”

“Where are you gonna find him? You don’t exactly have a roster of male friends. Bryce made sure of that.”

She wasn’t wrong. Bryce had slowly isolated me from every guy friend I used to have under the excuse of “I just get jealous, baby.” 

At the time it had felt romantic. Looking back it felt like a red flag the size of a small country.

I turned the invitation over in my hands and smiled for the first time that day. It was not a nice smile.

“Everyone has a price, Megan. I’ll find the most expensive escort in New York. And we’re crashing that wedding.”

Megan stared at me for a long second. Then she grinned. “That’s my girl.”

Bryce thought he had won.

He had no idea I was about to make his wedding the most entertaining disaster of his entire entitled life.

And I was going to look fabulous doing it.