On our wedding day, I saw the truth with my own eyes. I saw Aiden with another girl, and my whole world fell apart like a house made of cards. I could not believe what I was seeing. My heart felt like it was breaking into a thousand tiny pieces of glass. I turned around and ran back to my room as fast as my heavy dress would let me. I felt completely lost. I did not know where to go, who to talk to, or what to do next.
I finally reached my room and slammed the wooden door shut. I leaned my back against it and tried to take a deep breath, but it was so hard. It felt like the air was too thick to breathe. My eyes were full of hot, stinging tears that spilled down my cheeks. I looked at myself in the big mirror. I saw my beautiful, expensive white wedding dress, and I felt sick to my stomach.
"How could I be so stupid?" I whispered to the empty room. "Why did I believe him again? Why did I think he changed?"
The pain was so much worse this time. After months of being apart, I had finally started to trust him again. I thought his sweet words and his soft voice were real. I thought the man who knelt in the rain was the real Aiden. But now I knew they were all just clever lies. Every time he looked into my eyes and said, "I love you," he was laughing at me on the inside.
"I was a total fool," I said to the quiet walls. "I thought a monster could turn into a prince, but he is still a monster. I wanted a fairytale ending, but I am living in a terrifying nightmare."
I felt so embarrassed. Outside in the garden, I could hear the happy music playing. I could hear the hundreds of guests laughing and talking. They were all waiting for a wedding that was nothing but a big, ugly lie. I stood in the middle of the room, and my whole body was shaking like a leaf in the wind. I did not have a plan, but I knew one thing for sure: I could not stay in this house for one more minute.
Suddenly, the door flew open. My father stepped inside. He did not look worried about his daughter. He did not look gentle or kind. Instead, he looked frustrated and very, very annoyed. He looked around the room and stared at me with eyes as cold as ice.
"Zara, what on earth are you doing in here?" he asked sharply. "The guests have been waiting for twenty minutes. Everyone is whispering and asking why the bride is late. You are making us look bad."
I took a slow, shaky breath and looked away from him. I stayed silent for a long time. The only sound in the room was my own uneven breathing and the distant sound of the wedding band playing a happy song.
"Zara! Answer me right now," he demanded, raising his voice.
I lifted my head and looked him in the eye. My voice was soft, but it did not shake. "I am not coming downstairs, Dad."
His face tightened until he looked like a statue. "What do you mean? This is your wedding day. You should be downstairs at the altar right now. The ceremony is supposed to be starting."
"I cannot do this," I said. My voice was getting stronger with every word. "I will not marry him. I won't do it."
My father looked shocked, and then he looked very angry. "What is this nonsense, Zara? Have you lost your mind? The most important people in the city are out there sitting in the sun waiting for you! You cannot just decide to stop now."
I stood up slowly from the chair. I had to hold onto the edge of the table so I would not fall over. "I cannot marry him. That is my final answer. I am staying here."
He walked closer to me until he was standing right in my space. His voice became hard and dangerous. "Give me a reason. Why are you saying this now? What could have possibly happened in the last ten minutes to change your mind?"
My throat felt like it was closing up. I wanted to tell him. I wanted to scream that I saw Aiden kissing the dance teacher. I wanted to say that Aiden was a cheater. But I could not find the words. I felt so much shame. I felt like I was choking on my own heartbeat.
"I just cannot," I whispered. I shook my head over and over.
"This is not enough!" he snapped, throwing his hands up. "You cannot stop a giant wedding just because you feel a little bit sad or nervous. You must tell me exactly what happened. Did you two have a fight? Did he say something mean to you?"
"No," I said, looking down at the white rug on the floor.
"Then what is the problem?" he shouted. The walls seemed to shake. "If there is no reason, then fix your hair, wipe those tears off your face, and come downstairs this instant. I will not let you embarrass the Thorne family in front of everyone."
I squeezed my hands into tight fists. I could not tell him the truth about Aiden, but I knew in my soul that I could not marry that man. I stood my ground. My heart felt like it was drowning in deep, dark water.
My father's face was like a mask of cold anger. He did not ask why I was crying. He did not ask if I was okay or if I was hurt. He didn't care about my feelings at all.
"Do you even have any idea how much money has been spent on this wedding?" he said. His voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. "Do you think this is just a party?"
I looked at him, confused.
"I signed a massive business deal with Aiden last night," he said. "Our companies are joining together into one giant power. If you don't go downstairs and say 'I do,' the deal will be canceled. Everything I have worked for my whole life will fall apart in one afternoon."
I could barely breathe. The room felt like it was spinning. "A deal?" I whispered. "You... you sold me? You arranged this whole marriage just for a business deal?"
"It is a partnership for our future!" he snapped, as if that made it okay. "Aiden is the perfect partner for this family. He is smart, he is famous, and he has a lot of money. He is going to help me make our family empire bigger than ever before."
This truth hurt me so much that it felt like he had actually punched me. Now, finally, I understood everything. I saw the real reason why Aiden came back to me in the rain.
It was not because he loved me. It was not because he missed the time we spent in the mountains. He came back because he was greedy. He wanted my father's money, my father's land, and our famous family houses. He didn't care about my heart. He wanted to use the Thorne name to become the most powerful man in New York.
He had played a cruel game with me twice. The first time, he did it to show he could control me. This time, he did it for wealth. He used my love like a key to open my father's bank vault.
"He does not love me, Dad," I said. My voice was shaking with a mix of sadness and hot anger. "He is using us. Both of us. I saw him just now with another girl. They were... they were together, Dad. In the rehearsal room."
My father didn't even blink. He didn't look surprised. He just cut me off and shouted, "I do not care what you saw! Feelings and romance have no place in our world. This is about business, Zara!"
He stepped forward and looked deep into my eyes. His voice was as cold as a grave. "You will get ready right now. You will fix your makeup, and you will come downstairs. I do not want to hear one more word about your feelings or what you saw."
I looked at him and realized I didn't recognize the man standing in front of me. The father who was supposed to protect me was talking about me like I was a piece of property or a car in a trade. I wiped my tears away and kept my voice very low.
"And if I don't do it?" I asked. "What if I say no?"
My father stepped even closer. He was very tall and looked very scary in the dim light of the room. "If you refuse this marriage, Zara, you are no longer my daughter. I will take everything away from you. You will be kicked out of this house with nothing. No money, no name, no help. I will not let you ruin my business and my reputation."
"You are forcing me to marry a monster," I whispered.
He said coldly, "You have five minutes. Fix your face. Don't make me come back up here to drag you down."
He turned on his heel and walked out, slamming the door behind him. The sound of his hard shoes hitting the floor outside sounded like a clock counting down to the end of my life.
I was all alone in my white dress. The room was full of expensive jewelry and beautiful flowers, but it felt like a cold, iron cage. I looked at myself in the mirror one last time. I saw a girl who had no one left to trust. The two most important men in my life—my father and my future husband—had both betrayed me for money.
I was trapped. On one side was Aiden, the man who cheated on me and used me. On the other side was my father, the man who was willing to sell me to keep his business alive. I had five minutes to decide: Should I give up and live a lie, or should I lose everything to be free?
Zara is trapped between two men who only care about money! What will she do when the five minutes are up? Will she walk down the aisle, or will she find a way to escape the golden cage?
Don't miss the next episode—the story is about to take a turn that no one expects!