My Fiance‘s Kindness To Her Was My Humiliation In A Bridal Shop Chapter 09
The words nailed him to the floor.
He parted his lips, trying to speak, yet not a single
sound escaped him for ages.
Carson straightened up from the window and
walked over, stopping beside me. His voice was
level, all business. “I can keep an eye on the rest of the hotel refund process for you.”
“And if there’s any follow–up communication on
the event planning contract, you can copy me
directly.”
He said it with nothing but professional efficiency.
Not a trace of overstep.
But it was exactly that clean, measured restraint
that made Ryker look even more wrecked by
contrast.
Ryker’s gaze cut to Carson, his expression
darkening. “This is between us.”
Carson met his eyes, tone still flat.
“Not anymore.”
“Now it’s Presley’s wrap–up.”
One sentence, and the boundary was drawn with
surgical precision.
I didn’t give Ryker another opening to escalate. I
turned and walked.
He came after me, two steps, and his voice finally cracked with something uncontrolled and raw.
“Presley, do you really have to burn it down to the
ground?”
I didn’t look back.
“I already gave you seven years.”
“Still not enough?”
At the end of the corridor was the hotel’s
floor–to–ceiling mirror.
As I walked past it, I caught my own reflection
head–on.
Face pale. Red veins threading through my eyes
from too many sleepless nights. But my back was
straight as a blade.
And I thought of the gown. The Elysian.
Until yesterday, I’d believed that because someone
else had touched it, tried it on, the future I’d so carefully built had been soiled beyond repair.
But I understood now, fully, for the first time.
The dress wasn’t what got stained.
It was the future that was never meant to be worn
in the first place. And I was finally letting it go.
My phone buzzed.
A message from Carson Vance.
[The Promenade District Centennial Gala timeline
got moved up. If you’re free next week, the project’s still yours.]
[Wrap things up here first. The rest can wait.]
I looked at those two lines, my fingers gradually
relaxing their grip.
Some people won’t realize they regret losing you
until you’re gone.
Some roads have to be broken before you can see
-there’s actually a new path ahead.
I put my phone away and pushed through the
heavy hotel doors into the open day.
The sky was bright. The wind was gentle.
And this time, I didn’t look back
