The Bride Who Vanished Before the Proposal
The moment I decided to leave Vincent Graves, I did three things.
First, I recalled the pregnancy report I had been about to forward to him and replaced it with a scheduled breakup message.
Second, I called the bridal boutique and cancelled the custom order for my wedding dress. I had been measured three times for it. I had waited five months. I never wore it. I never would.
Third, I called Dr. Helena Shaw and accepted the invitation I had turned down a week ago. An eight-year medical research program. Completely sealed. No contact with the outside world.
Before he could spring the proposal he had been planning, I vanished from his life completely.
He never noticed that while he let Cora take my place at the wedding rehearsal and stayed out all night, I was quietly erasing every trace of myself, step by step.
I became exactly the wife Vincent always said he wanted: reasonable, gracious, unbothered.
But after I was gone, he lost control and asked me, "Why aren't you angry? Don't you love me anymore?"
I said nothing. I only remembered the flirtatious voice messages Cora had sent him, the ones I had heard from his phone. And I calmly dialed the number that would take me away.