My Fiance‘s Kindness To Her Was My Humiliation In A Bridal Shop Chapter 07
I laughed.
Of course. Even at this stage, the thing he hated
parting with most was the word “liability.”
“You think this looks bad?” I stared at him. “Yesterday at the bridal shop, when you were
adjusting the back necklace on my gown for Willa Sterling, did that not look bad to you?”
Maya took a sudden interest in her water glass.
The hotel manager leafed through papers that didn’t need leafing. Nobody in that room said a
word.
Which only made Ryker’s face burn hotter.
His throat worked, like he was swallowing
something down.
I wasn’t about to give him a buffer.
“Yesterday you rushed into the group chat to tell everyone I was some pre–wedding emotional
wreck.”
“Now you want the liability statement written nice and vague, because you’re still afraid of anyone
knowing the truth–that I didn’t destroy this
wedding. You did.”
“Ryker, you’ll cover the money. And you’ll own the
blame.”
I wasn’t speaking fast. Every word came out
steady.
“You don’t get to weasel out of either one.”
Beside me, my mother spoke up.
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it landed harder than
anything else in the room.
“My daughter isn’t unmarriable. But right now, she
needs this wrong set right.”
“You Ashfords want to talk about appearances?
Fine.”
“First, pay back every cent you owe her. Then we
can talk.”
My father followed right behind her. “One more
thing.”
“This broken engagement, whoever caused it
carries it.”
“Don’t even think about pinning it on my daughter.”
The two statements landed, and Margaret’s face completely crumpled.
It was dawning on her, I think, that my parents
hadn’t come to patch things up. They’d come to back me with their full weight.
She forced out a thin smile. “In–laws, young
couples quarrel all the time. There’s no need to be
so final about it.”
“Who are you calling in–laws?” My father lifted his eyes to her, ice–cold. “The engagement is off. Don’t go claiming ties that aren’t there.”
The conference room dropped into a silence so deep you could hear a pin drop.
Piper, sitting in the back row, nearly let a laugh
escape.
But my own nose stung, sudden and sharp.
It wasn’t hurt.
It was finally having someone say what I’d needed
said out loud.
Ryker clearly got hit by the “don’t go claiming ties”
line too. He went rigid.
He stared at the settlement breakdown on the
table. After a long beat, his voice came out
scraped raw. “The liability statement. How do you
want it written?”
I slid the page I’d prepared in front of him.
“Already drafted it.”
“Cause: the groom’s pre–wedding misconduct led
to the dissolution of the engagement, cancellation
of the wedding banquet, and associated
settlement of costs, to be repaid by both parties.
proportionate to actual outlay.”
“If you’re uncertain, you can have someone else
look over the wording.”
“But the substance doesn’t change.”
The hotel manager read it through and nodded.
“This phrasing works. At minimum, the liability
direction is clear, and it’ll make our cancellation
documentation easier downstream.”
Margaret panicked the moment she heard that. “This is unfair! It’s blatantly putting Ryker on the
hot seat!”
“What’s the alternative?” I asked. “Should I be the
one to burn instead?”
She had nothing.
