Chapter 1: The Ruined Bride
"Miss Lara, you may leave now. The groom has chosen someone else."
The words rang out across the church hall like a gunshot.
For a moment, Lara stood frozen...still in her wedding dress, her bouquet trembling in her hands.The room was packed, yet the silence was suffocating, all phones were out and the guests were already whispering.
Her groom, Ethan Vale the man she had loved for seven years stood at the altar.
Next to him was her sister, Maya, clinging to his arm in a white gown nearly identical to hers.
"I'm sorry you had to find out this way," Ethan said, not sounding sorry at all. "But it's better this way. Maya's the one I truly love."
Lara couldn't breathe.She looked at her parents but they wouldn't look her in the eyes. Not even her own mother.
Her lips parted, but no sound came out. What was there to say? That she sacrificed her career for this man? That she endured his coldness, thinking he'd come around.
Lara blinked again not once not twice. Her vision blurred, but not from tears because there were none....not yet. Her chest felt hollow, like someone had scooped her heart out and left the rest of her to watch the funeral of her own love.
"Is this some kind of sick joke?" she asked, her voice steadier than expected.
Ethan sighed. "It's not a joke. We didn't want to hurt you"
"Hurt me?" she repeated, laughing without humor. "On my wedding day?"
He stepped forward. "Try to understand"
"No, Ethan." She stepped back. "You try to understand. I gave up everything for you. My job in New York. My startup. My life. I've stood by you while you built this company, while you pushed me away over and over. I thought.....God, I thought I was being patient. I thought you'd come around."
"Lara," Maya said softly. "Don't be dramatic"
"Don't," Lara snapped. "Don't you dare speak to me."
Her mother stood in the front row, stiff as a statue. Her father rubbed his temples like this was a minor inconvenience, like he wasn't bothered at all. Not one person rushed to her side, not even the friends who once swore they'd have her back.
She was alone....Completely utterly alone.
She dropped the bouquet to the floor. The petals scattered like pieces of her dignity.
The silence in the church was deafening as she turned and began to walk.... there was no screams, no begging, no breakdown just the click of her heels against marble and the slow unraveling of a dream.
Every step away from the altar felt like another nail in the coffin of the girl she used to be.
Outside the church…
The sunlight was harsh. Reporters swarmed, already holding cameras. The news had leaked.
"Lara Alden, abandoned at the altar!"
"Ethan Vale seen holding hands with the bride's sister right after dumping her!"
Flashes blinded her.
One reporter stepped forward. "Miss Alden, any comment on being publicly replaced?"
She stopped. Turned slowly. Her veil whipped slightly in the wind.
"Yes," she said, voice clear. "Tell the world this isn't over."
Later that night…
She sat alone in her hotel suite, makeup still intact, but her soul was shattered just then her phone buzzed....It was a message
From Ethan.
"I hope one day you'll forgive me. This was never personal."
She stared at the screen.
Personal?
No. This was war.....!!!!
She deleted the message and stood..."No more crying! No more waiting...Tomorrow, I would rise from these ashes...not as Ethan's bride, but as his nightmare" She yelled wiping her tears.
And when she would come for him, it wouldn't just be for revenge.
It would be for everything he stole...
her love, her dignity, and her future.