She Got the Marriage License and I Got 99 Broken Promises Chapter 10

She Got the Marriage License and I Got 99 Broken Promises Chapter 10

Just as the officiant was about to pronounce us husband and wife, the chapel doors flew open. 

Nolan stumbled into the aisle, his voice a jagged, desperate rasp. “Stop! She’s mine. Tessa belongs 

with me.” 

He was soaked through, rainwater dripping from 

his clothes. 

Damp strands of hair hung over his eyes. 

His face was hollow, his eyes bloodshot, and he 

looked worn down to the bone. 

There was nothing left of the polished, 

unstoppable man he used to be. 

He stared at me desperately, then fumbled out a 

velvet box with shaking hands. 

It was the same diamond ring I had refused 

before. 

Hope burned in his eyes. “Tessa, I’m here to keep 

my promise.” 

It was still the same ring, but time had dulled it. 

A thin layer of dust coated the velvet, a testament 

to how long he’d been holding onto a dead dream. 

“Tessa, I’m sorry. I know I came too late, but 

please, just give me one more chance. I have nothing now. You’re all I have left.” 

“Sabrina lied to me. The baby was never mine. I’m sorry, Tessa. Please forgive me.” 

I pressed my lips together, then snapped the ring box shut. 

“Mr. Hayes,” I said evenly, “unless I misplaced the facts, you already have a wife. You signed those papers with Sabrina.” You got the marriage certificate with her.” 

He choked on the words he wanted to say and dropped his eyes, too guilty to meet mine. He swallowed hard, clearly trying to explain, but I cut him off before he could speak. 

“I already know what you’re going to say.” 

I looked at him calmly. 

“No, Nolan. I don’t want this. Every time you chose Sabrina over me, every time you left me behind for 

her, whatever I felt for you wore away piece by 

piece. By the time I walked away, there was 

nothing left.” 

I paused, then said the truth as plainly as I could. 

“I don’t hate you anymore. But I don’t love you 

either.” 

He froze there, stunned into silence. 

For a second, the broken man standing in front of 

me overlapped with the boy I’d fallen for a lifetime 

ago. The one who lived in a basement studio and 

promised me the world while sharing a $1.00 bar 

of soap. 

Back then, his eyes had held light. 

And me. 

Now they held nothing but regret and exhaustion. 

Miles stepped forward and pulled me into hist 

arms, protective and steady. 

He gave Nolan a slow appraising look, then let out 

a short, humorless laugh. 

“You still don’t get it, do you? A woman who had 

the courage to struggle through seven hard years. 

with you was never the kind of woman who’d look. 

behind her once she crossed the finish line.” 

“Just because you decided to check the rearview mirror doesn’t mean the road stayed empty.” 

After the wedding, Nolan finally accepted that I 

was never coming back. 

He disappeared from my life completely. 

I never saw him again. 

Life was full of choices, and every choice came with consequences. 

I chose Miles. 

The only thing I regretted now was teasing him. too much that morning just because I felt playful. 

I ended up so thoroughly exhausted I spent the rest of the day in bed. 

Which only proved one thing. 

The first time, he’d been holding back.