Scandalous bride

Isabella’s pov

The words hit me like a hammer, shattering my chest into a thousand jagged pieces. I froze, unable to breathe. My legs and hand felt weak and numb. He was standing there, calm in his resolve, cold in a way that made my heart ache more than the physical pain of seeing him turn away.

“No, Sebastian… please. You’re… you can’t just—” I tried to reach for him, but he didn’t flinch.

Sebastian moved toward the corner of the room where his luggage sat waiting. My heart plummeted. That suitcase, sleek and dark, now… it would carry Sebastian out of my life.

Camila stepped forward, her voice shaking as she tried to intervene. “Sebastian, wait! Please! She didn’t know what she was doing. You can’t just end this now. We can fix this—maybe nothing happened in the room…maybe you were just overthinking.”

I clutched her arm, tears streaming down my cheeks. “Camila… tell him! Please! You know me! You know I would never hurt him. The love i have for him wouldn’t let me do that!”

Sebastian’s gaze never left the suitcase as he zipped it up. But the moment he heard what Camila said he turned and said”What do you mean by we can fix this?” He uttered, voice low and laced with venom. “How exactly do you intend for this to be fixed, Camila? Do you want me to pretend I didn’t see what I saw? Do you want me to ignore the man coming out of that room and the way she… she looked?”

“She just went to the room, Sebastian. She didn’t do anything,” Camila pleaded. Her voice cracked, shaking as though the words themselves might crumble under the weight of truth. “I didn’t see her do anything. I just… I just showed her the room and left. She didn’t—”

Sebastian’s lips pressed into a thin line, a soundless growl vibrating through his chest. “You want me to believe nothing happened in that room? That I imagined what I saw? I literally watched her come out, after her, half naked, and you expect me to just… believe she didn’t… I’m done, Camila. I am done. There’s nothing to fix. Nothing. I can’t believe I… I trusted her. I can’t.”

He lifted the suitcase with a single motion, the sound of the handle clicking echoing like a death knell in the room. He didn’t wait for another word or even glance back. The door clicked behind him as he left, leaving me in a hollow silence, a vacuum that swallowed me whole.

I collapsed to the floor, my body folding under the weight of my heartbreak. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t form coherent thought. My tears flowed unchecked, hot and suffocating, blurring the room into streaks of gray and white.

“Bella…” Emily’s voice trembled as she knelt beside me, pulling me close. “It’s okay… breathe… it’s okay… we’re here.”

Camila’s arms wrapped around me from the other side. “Shhh… it’s going to be okay… we’ll get through this… I promise.”

But it wasn’t okay. Nothing was okay. My chest ached with a weight that felt like it would crush me. Every heartbeat screamed Sebastian’s name, every sob tore through me like fire. I had loved him. I thought what we had can’t be abandoned just like that, but now… he was gone.

The shrill ring of my phone cut through the silence, making me flinch. Camila answered quickly, and I saw her face fall as she listened. My heart thudded painfully.

“They’ve called off the wedding, Bella,” she said quietly, hanging up the phone. “The event planner just called to confirm… everything’s canceled. They… we… we can’t proceed with the preparations. Just… breathe. Try to breathe.”

I pressed my hands to my face, sobbing harder. “No… no, you don’t understand… he has to know… he can’t just leave me like this… he has to believe me… he has to understand… I love him… I love him so much… I can’t live without him… please… please don’t let him leave me…”

Emily held me tighter. “Bella… calm down… we’ll find a way. Maybe he just needs time… a little time to cool off… then we can try to make him understand…”

Camila added softly, “You should let him go for now. He’s too angry, too hurt. We can’t force him to listen while he’s like this. Just… give him some space. Let him process. Then… then we’ll see.”

I shook my head violently, my tears still falling in rivers. “No! You don’t understand! He can’t leave me like this! I… I love him! He is my life! I can’t live without him! He is… everything!”

Emily’s hand cupped my cheek, wiping away some of the tears. “I know, Bella… I know. And he knows too, deep down. You just have to be patient. Just… breathe. We’ll get through this together.”

I sobbed into her arms, feeling the warmth of her presence, but it was a poor substitute for Sebastian’s arms, his voice, his touch. Nothing could fill that void.

After what felt like an eternity, my tears slowed to a steady stream. My chest heaved, and my body trembled from the emotional exhaustion. Camila and Emily helped me to my feet. Slowly, we gathered our belongings, each movement feeling surreal, like I was moving through someone else’s life.

We stepped outside, the villa’s morning light harsh and unforgiving. The world continued as if nothing had happened, indifferent to the collapse of my world.

The first guests were already arriving. Some were friends, others family, and they had clearly already heard the news. Whispers floated through the air, twisting like daggers.

One of my so-called friends, a girl I had laughed and cried with, turned her head toward me and said, loud enough for me to hear, “So… she slept with a man the night before her wedding?”

I froze, the words stabbing into me sharper than any blade. Heat rushed to my face, my stomach twisted violently. I wanted to disappear, to sink into the earth beneath me, to vanish entirely.

Another voice joined in, sneering, “I can’t believe she did this. On her wedding day… how shameful!”

Tears streamed down my face as I clutched Emily’s hand, trying to anchor myself to something real, something solid, anything that would stop the room from spinning. The murmurs and pointed fingers felt like a thousand tiny knives, cutting through every ounce of pride, dignity, and hope I had left.

“You… you should be ashamed,” someone else spat, voice dripping with disgust.

I could barely breathe. My chest tightened, my vision blurred with tears. The villa felt like it was pressing down on me, suffocating me mercilessly. My heart screamed for Sebastian, for a listening ear, but all I could feel was the raw, burning sting of humiliation.

Emily’s voice whispered in my ear, steady but tinged with anger, “Ignore them, Bella… they don’t understand… none of them do… it’s not true.”

But the words could not penetrate the storm of shame and heartbreak inside me. I wanted to shout, to scream, to cry until the world itself listened. But the whispers, the sneers, the judgment—they all wrapped around me like chains.

I pressed my hands to my face again, shaking. “Sebastian… please… you have to know… I love you… I never… I would never… don’t leave me… please…”

But there was no answer. No comfort. No Sebastian. Only the whispers and the stares and the unbearable weight of knowing my wedding, my love, my life, all had been ripped from me in a single moment of misunderstanding.

And in that moment, as the insults continued to fall like daggers, I realized…. Nothing is the same anymore. My dignity has shattered, my heart is in pieces, and my future is uncertain.

I closed my eyes, trembling, sobbing, and silently whispered into the emptiness, “Sebastian… please… come back… I love you… I can’t live without you…”

The voices around me continued, relentless, unfeeling, and the chapter of my life I had once imagined as perfect lay in ruins at my feet.