My Fiancé Married My Best Friend Chapter 03

My Fiancé Married My Best Friend Chapter 03

I held that journal all night. Two years. Over a hundred flights. Every page was filled with her name.

At dawn, I stood outside Chloe’s Upper East Side townhouse. Liam’s Italian loafers were kicked carelessly by the door.

Laughter drifted from the kitchen. The kind I rarely heard at home.

I saw him. Liam Russo. The man who claimed he couldn’t boil water. He was wearing an apron. Stirring something on the stove. Chloe wrapped her arms around him from behind, her cheek pressed to his back.

“Liam, you should go see her. She must be hurting. All alone.”

His voice was flat. Cold. “Why? When you needed her, she couldn’t even be bothered to take care of you. Now she expects me to chase after her?” He paused. “Chloe… honestly, I don’t think I ever really loved Nina. Not the way I should’ve. Not the way I love you.”

Every word was a shard of glass shredding what was left of my heart. Five years. I’d stood by him when he was a nobody with ambition. I’d laundered money through my boutique and looked the other way when his “collections” went wrong. I’d built his legitimate front with my own hands.

And he had never loved me.

I walked in. The slap echoed across the tiled kitchen.

“Liam Russo. We’re done. You’re free.”

Chloe jumped between us. “Nina, wait, please, it’s not—”

I hurled the prenatal report and the open journal at her face. “No explanation needed! You’re both garbage!”

Liam bent down slowly and picked it up. His expression hardened. “So what if it’s true, Nina? The wedding’s next week. You want to cancel now? What would your precious family think? Your colleagues?” His voice dropped. Calm. Menacing. “People talk. It’s bad for the family name.”

Chloe sobbed. “Nina, I’ll fix it! I’ll get rid of it!”

Liam yanked her into his arms. “You won’t.” He looked back at me. “You should be thanking her, Nina. Think about your body. Your doctor said you’d never carry a child? Chloe gave us a gift.”

Chloe tried to cover his mouth. Too late.

The world flipped upside down.

At nineteen, I’d gotten pregnant by my college boyfriend. I went through a botched illegal procedure. The phantom whispers had followed me ever since. Gold digger. Slut. Whore. There were nights I wanted to end it.

Chloe was my lifeline. She brought me soup. Killed the rumors. Then… she introduced me to Liam Russo. This up-and-comer from her old neighborhood. Dangerous smile. Not afraid to get his hands dirty. He was like my knight. Every time someone whispered, Liam’s guys paid them a visit. The rumors died.

He’d cupped my face and said, “Nina is the purest thing in my life. I’d burn this city down for her.”

I believed him.

Now the man who’d pulled me out of the gutter was shoving mud right back in my face.

“You told me you never believed any of those lies,” I whispered. My voice cracked. “You said it didn’t matter.”

He said nothing. But that cold, dismissive look in his eyes said everything.

Chloe saw me crumbling and reached for me. “Nina, please, he didn’t mean it, he’s just angry—”

I yanked my arm back. I didn’t push her hard. But she stumbled, her heel catching on the rug. She fell with a scream, clutching her stomach.

“Liam… the baby… it hurts…”

Before I could react, Liam lunged. He shoved me. Hard. I crashed into the glass breakfast table. It shattered. A sharp shard drove deep into my palm.

Bright red blood welled up and splattered across the white marble.

Liam scooped Chloe into his arms and whirled on me. “Nina. If so much as a hair on my child’s head is harmed, I will destroy you. The wedding? Canceled! You’ll never be Mrs. Russo!”

He carried her out.

I knelt in the wreckage. Blood pooled around me.

He didn’t know.

The wedding was still happening. Just not with him.