Chapter 10

ARIA

“The groom is missing.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to me, slowly.

“What do you mean the groom is missing?” Amy asked. The bearer of the news said nothing else and scurried away.

“I hope you don’t mind what that clown just said. It’s probably a prank. They do these things these days.” She rubbed my shoulders in a comforting way.

She was speaking. I could see her lips moving, but I wasn’t hearing anything. It felt like a loud drum was beating in my head, drowning out every other sound.

Margaret walked in next.

“Aria, what the hell is going on? Where is your groom? What have you done this time?”

Everyone was speaking at the same time.

“Did her husband just abandon her at the altar?”

“Psst… she didn’t even make it to the altar.”

“I feel bad for her. But what was she thinking? That a handsome, promising man would settle for an invalid who spends more time in the hospital than at home?”

“You’re right. No one wants such a burden.”

My head spun, everything blurring almost immediately. I almost lost my balance, but Amy caught me.

“Aria…”

I flung her hands away and took off. I had no idea where I was running to, but I couldn’t stop for the life of me.

I didn’t stop until I heard the loud blaring of a horn and saw bright, blinding lights. The next thing I knew, I was face down on the asphalt.

This is the day I die, I told myself.

The car sped off.

I didn’t die.

So I got up and continued running.

It wasn’t until I was standing in front of the familiar brown door with the inscription “Adrian C. Parker” that I slowed down. But that didn’t deter me.

I banged on the door, loud and repeatedly, tears and snot rolling down my face.

The silver lining on the door reflected my image. There was a fresh bruise on the side of my forehead.

It looked painful, but I felt nothing. There was no pain greater than what I was going through. It swallowed everything else, even my illness.

My eyes were shutting slowly, but I kept knocking. At some point, my head hit the door, and I kept knocking.

Until my legs gave way and I fell to my knees.

After what felt like an eternity, the door finally opened.

Cassie walked out.

Adrian followed closely behind her, with suitcases lined beside them.

“Aren’t you just a pathetic piece of shit?” Cassie spat.

I wasn’t even looking at her.

My eyes were locked on the one who should have been at the altar in an expensive black suit, saying his vows to me.

He didn’t avoid my gaze.

I wished he did.

At least it would have meant something. That he felt bad. Sorry. Guilty.

But no.

He looked me up and down like I wasn’t worth even the smallest bit of his attention.

It made me self-conscious.

I looked down at my bare feet and my white wedding dress that I had been so eager to wear, now a mess of brown mud and tears.

My forehead was bruised. So were my arms and knees. My makeup was smeared, black tears from my mascara running down my face.

“You disgust me.”

He pushed past me, still on my knees, and walked away to the car.

Cassie smiled and walked closer to where I knelt.

I lowered my head in shame.

“I told you. Adrian is mine. Now and forever,” she paused. “Now you’re going to live the rest of your miserable life alone, because no one will ever want someone as dead as you are.”

I heard a flash and lifted my head. Her phone camera was pointed at me, a broad smile on her face.

“Cas…”

She pushed me further onto the ground, spat at my feet, and walked away. The maids behind her wheeled the suitcases out.

I watched as my life ended right before my eyes.

I still couldn’t believe it.

Not when the car sped away with my dreams and my future, and definitely not when my body gave up and all I could see was black.

My eyes fluttered open when I felt my body being lifted off the cold ground that now felt so familiar.

My arms went around his neck and I caught a whiff of his scent, a mix of musk and oud.

I folded into myself when my back touched the car seat.

The entire drive, all I could feel was pain.

The one in my heart and the one in my body, both competing over who would ruin me first.

My eyes began to close again, so I forced the words out.

“Don’t… take me home… please…”

Then I drifted into darkness.