Lily’s POV

I moved my weight from one foot to the other, standing at the other end of the aisle, all alone. I had been here for an hour now. My cousin, Sophie, was supposed to walk me down the aisle as the only living member of my family, but she was nowhere to be found.

Yet, that wasn’t what bothered me.

It was Zane’s absence.

My gaze met the door for the thousandth time. It stood empty. A knot worked its way to my throat, and I tried to push it down.

I reached for the lace of my corset and tried to loosen it. I chose this dress for Zane, and he wasn't even here to see it. He loved me in the modern styles, so I changed my wardrobe, purchasing a lot of corsets, reversible tops, and halter necks.

He said it made his friends see him the right way. I did it because I wanted to see Zane happy.

So, where the hell was he?

“Hi,” I whispered to the planner. “Can I please get my phone?”

One of her attendants scurried over to me a while later with my phone. There was no missed call from Zane or Sophie. My chest hurt, but I tried to give nothing away, flashing a smile at the guests before stepping further to the side to call Zane.

His phone didn't ring. Instead, it went straight to voicemail. He turned it off.

Panic began to work its way through me as I picked the ball of my dress and returned to the planner. "We need to search in on all the hospitals around," I said in one breath, my pulse racing. "Zane's phone has been turned off. What if he had an accident and is in a critical state in the hospital while I am here, bothering about some silly wedding?"

I felt tears prick the corners of my eyes.

"What if he isn't in the hospital, too?" The planner responded in a calm tone. "Let's give him another hour. You should try calling Sophie, too."

She regarded me as if she knew something I didn't. Still, I couldn't shake off that feeling that something bad had happened to the man I was in love with.

The tears threatened to roll down my face, and I tried to sniff them in.

It felt like I’d been waiting forever when the doors to the chapel opened suddenly and Zane, my fiancé, sauntered in. When he stopped in front of me, my hands reached out to touch him, and my eyes scanned his body frantically.

“Zane,” I cried, touching his hair, his face, his chest, his arms. His suit was all rumpled, and his tie was askew, like he'd gone to bed with it. "Oh my God, Zane!"

Relief washed through me. "I thought something bad had happened to you. Did your car develop a fault? Did you have to go to the hospital? I should have been there for you. I'm so sorry, but I couldn't reach you, and they wouldn't let me leave the venue.

Zane's eyes were cold when he wrapped both my hands in his and took them off his body, allowing them to drop limply by my side.

Something breaks inside me.

“Let’s just get this over with.”

And right on cue, my cousin walked in, her hair tousled, lipstick smudged, and a bold, angry bruise at the base of her throat.

My eyes scanned her rumpled dress, the slit by the side looking unnaturally long, almost like it had been ripped higher with force. She shrugged and grabbed her bouquet from the planner, coming to stand beside me.

“Have you been waiting for long?” she drawled. “There was so much traffic on the way here. You would have died in it.”

“Traffic?” I whispered, looking back at Zane. “But there wasn’t …”

"Of course, this happened much later," Sophie continued, cutting me short. "We had to make a quick stop at a breakfast spot to get something to eat. You know how Zane can get if he doesn't have breakfast before starting his day.”

And then, my cousin paused dramatically before adding, “You should have thought about that before opting for a morning wedding."

I tried to understand what was going on, but it only left me with a bitter taste in my mouth and a building headache.

It made no sense.

“Sophie,” I breathed, my voice coming out shaky. “Why were you both together on the morning of our wedding?”

"Don't push it, Lily," Zane muttered under his breath. His hand reached for his tie, tugging gently. There was a faint smear of red on the white shirt, under the tie. It looked like lipstick.

And I didn’t own a red lipstick.

“Zane… I was….”

"You were the one who wanted a morning wedding, Lily,” Zane muttered, shaking his head. “I told you my friends were throwing me a bachelorette and that I was bound to be hungover, but you didn't listen to me."

"It was the planner, not me, remember? She wanted us to be done with this on time because you told her you had something else to do at night. Zane…"

"Oh!" His lips moved. "Then, you should have reminded me that I’m not a morning person. Sophie was kind enough to help me today while you ran around trying to be perfect for your big day."

I felt something sharp hit my chest. "Sophie …. was with you throughout the night?"

He shrugged. "Unlike you, who had to have her beauty sleep, Sophie decided to go for the bachelorette with me. Now, don't go blaming her because she was actually doing you a favour. Would you rather I'd attended with some whore?"

“My cousin…”

Sophie rolled her eyes beside me, like I was the one doing too much right now. "Don't be so dramatic, Lily. Nothing happened, okay? I was just there for your fiancé to keep him out of trouble."

"You were supposed to be with me throughout the night, Sophie. That was the arrangement we had."

“Of course, blame me for everything. It’s what you always do.”

“Sophie…”

"Stop it, Lily," Zane snapped harshly, just as the minister walked in. "Your cousin was only looking out for you. You should be thankful, rather than lashing out at her."

My lips parted, but before my thoughts could form anything coherent, the minister beat me to it. “Shall we begin?”

The orchestra started with the song that should have been used to walk me down the aisle. There was tension in the room, and I couldn't shake off the feeling that I had done something terribly wrong.

I waited impatiently for the exchange of vows, and I guessed Zane did too, because he slipped the ring onto my fingers so fast, like he had somewhere else to be.

“You have now become man and wife,” the minister announced after a couple of minutes. “You can now kiss your bride.”

I raised my face eagerly, wanting this to be the moment that melted all the tension between us. But my lips landed in thin air as he planted a chaste kiss on my cheeks before turning around to face the crowd.

I plastered a smile on my face, even though I was hurting deep down. Still, I had to make this day perfect for him.

At the entrance, while we posed for pictures, I tried to talk to Zane and Sophie, who had managed to push me to the edge of the pictures, with Sophie standing in the middle.

I didn’t mind. They had every right to be upset.

“Thank you for looking out for my husband,” I whispered when I had the chance.

She didn’t look at me. “I thought you were still blaming me for all the misfortune in your life.”

“You know if you had just told me…”

“Can we end this session?” Zane muttered suddenly. He turned around to look at me. “I’m sorry, honey, but I am going to have to run along right now.”

“But…but the reception…”

"Yeah, about that," he breathed, shaking his head slowly. "We both know parties like that aren't really my thing. And I have a meeting to attend."

"So what should I do?" I called out loud as he walked down the cobbled steps. "And where are you going too, Sophie?"

"The meeting is for both of us," she replied, waving her dainty little fingers in the air. "And you can go to the reception alone. It is the least you could do, after making him have a horrible bachelorette."