He Had a Secret Wedding, I Had a Final Goodbye Chapter 01
During a night out with friends, we were playing a round of Never Have I Ever.
My boyfriend drew a card that read, “I’ve never betrayed a close friend.”
The second he read it aloud, the whole table went dead quiet. Everyone looked at me.
Three seconds later, they all picked up their shots and knocked them back.
I was the only one who didn’t have to drink, so I won the round. That meant I could make the losers answer one truth question or take one dare.
“What did all of you do to betray a friend?” I asked without hesitation.
To my surprise, no one said a word.
Just as my best friend reached for her shot, my boyfriend covered her hand with his to stop her. He’d been silent until then, but now he looked at me.
“Don’t put them on the spot. I’ll tell you.”
“The truth is, I’ve been with your best friend, Vanessa Quinn, for five years.”
“She’s pregnant. I need to make things official for the baby.”
Vanessa’s eyes went glassy, and she couldn’t meet mine.
Then someone I’d grown up with admitted, “Actually, everyone already knew. They held a private wedding ceremony back home last year, and all of us were there.”
“Your adoptive parents know too. They accepted it. They just asked us not to tell you yet.”
The room blurred around me as one confession followed another.
So this was what my seven-year relationship had been: one long betrayal.
***
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. It took me a long moment to force out the words.
“Last year’s wedding?”
No one answered.
Every face around that table was familiar. We’d eaten together, gone out together, and we even exchanged gifts on birthdays and holidays.
But now every one of them was staring down, unable to look at me.
Finally, Colin Parker spoke.
“Yes.”
I stared at him, unable to process it.
My cousin Colin and I had grown up together. When we were kids, he would step in whenever someone picked on me, and if a teacher scolded me, he would buy me candy on the way home.
I had always believed anyone in the world could lie to me except Colin.
But he had chosen their side.
So when Adrian Prescott said he was away on a business trip for a few days last year, he’d actually gone off to have that private wedding ceremony with Vanessa.
I felt like an idiot. I’d been worried he was working himself too hard, so I’d even had a late-night meal delivered to his office.
I had felt sorry for him and told him not to push himself so hard.
Thinking about it now gutted me.
I looked at Colin.
“What do you mean my adoptive parents knew?”
He still wouldn’t look at me.
“They knew,” he admitted quietly. “They thought you couldn’t handle it, so they kept it from you.”
My fingers went numb, and I could barely stay in my seat.
My adoptive parents knew too.
So Adrian wasn’t the only one who had lied to me.
Even the people closest to me had helped them keep me in the dark.
Now I understood why everyone had been so calm tonight.
They had known this day was coming all along.
Adrian looked at me, his voice so even it bordered on cold.
“Leah Warren, I know this isn’t fair to you.”
My eyes stung as I stared at him.
“You knew it wasn’t fair, and you still did it?”
He frowned, as if he didn’t like me talking to him that way.
“It’s already happened. Making a scene won’t change anything.”
Vanessa sighed too.
“Leah, Adrian has done plenty to make it up to you over the years.”
“Your sister’s medical care, your job transfer, even the place you live—Adrian was behind all of it. Everyone’s been tiptoeing around your feelings too. You should really think about that.”
Someone nearby chimed in.
“Exactly. If anyone’s had it good, it’s you.”
The words left me cold.
In their eyes, I was the one who didn’t belong—and somehow also the one who had gotten the best deal.
So lying to me was supposed to be for my own good.
And I was supposed to be grateful.
Adrian leaned back in his chair, looking almost relieved now that the secret was out.
“Vanessa and I already had a private ceremony,” he said flatly.
“I can give you one too. That makes it fair, doesn’t it?”
The idea of fairness nearly made me laugh.
“So you really think you get to have both of us?”
Adrian’s expression darkened.
“Leah, I’m trying to leave you with some dignity.”
I scoffed.
Everyone knew about him and Vanessa. And now those same people were supposed to come to our wedding, and he called that dignity?
Hadn’t they already made enough of a fool out of me?
Vanessa started crying, her voice soft and hoarse.
“Leah, I know you hate me.”
“But the baby is innocent.”
I looked at her, barely able to contain the hurt.
“What about me?”
“Wasn’t I innocent too—all seven years of it?”
All the color drained from Vanessa’s face. Her lips parted, but no words came out.
I grabbed the glass beside me and threw the drink in Adrian’s face.
It ran down his jaw.
Vanessa shot to her feet and screamed my name, but I didn’t look away from Adrian.
“Keep your idea of dignity. I don’t want it.”
“And I’m not giving either of you your happy ending.”
“I hope you two cheating assholes live happily ever after.”
With that, I grabbed my bag and walked out.
Chaos broke out behind me.
I heard Colin calling my name, someone trying to stop me, and someone else accusing me of going too far.
I never looked back.
