The Night Before Our Wedding, I Replaced Myself With My Best Friend Chapter 07

The Night Before Our Wedding, I Replaced Myself With My Best Friend Chapter 07

The sun was bright over Cape Haven, carrying a light, salty breeze off the ocean.

I walked along the beach with my parents, and for the first time in what felt like forever, I could

breathe.

“Elena, this seafood is way fresher than anything back home.”

Dad held up a bag of crabs he’d just bought off the dock, beaming from ear to ear.

“When we get back to the inn, I’ll make you your favorite, grilled lobster tails.”

I smiled and nodded, linking my arm through Mom’s.

After dinner, I poured my parents some tea.

Watching their relaxed faces, I took a deep breath and decided it was time to come clean.

“Mom, Dad.” My voice came out calm, almost detached. “Nathan and I broke up.”

Dad’s teacup jerked in his hand. Mom shot to her feet, her face a mask of shock. “Broke up? The wedding was days away, how did this happen?”

I didn’t hold anything back.

I told them everything, the five years of coldness, Molly’s involvement, the

eighteen-hundred-dollar bridesmaid dress versus my five-hundred-fifty-dollar gown, the flower shop scheme to drain their retirement savings.

To prove it, I pulled out photos I’d taken of Nathan’s notebook and screenshots I’d saved from their

chats.

Dad’s face went dark as he read through them. He slammed his teacup onto the table so hard the veins on his hand bulged.

“That animal!” His whole body shook with rage. “I thought he was just quiet and reserved, I never imagined he was a snake in the grass.”

Mom pulled me into a fierce hug, tears streaming down her cheeks. “My poor girl, why didn’t you tell me sooner? All those years, all that hurt you carried alone…”

I patted her back gently, my own eyes stinging. “Mom, I’m okay now. I’ve really let it go.”

That was when the wooden gate to the inn’s courtyard burst open.

Nathan stood in the doorway. He was still wearing the custom suit from the wedding, but now it hung on him, wrinkled and ruined.

Stubble covered his jaw, his eyes were bloodshot, and his face was etched with exhaustion and desperation. He’d tracked me down through the shipping addresses on my online orders

“Elena!” His eyes lit up the moment he spotted me. He lunged forward. “I finally found you!”

He reached for me, but Dad stepped between us and shoved him back. Nathan stumbled, catching himself on the doorframe.

“Don’t you touch her!” Dad’s voice thundered.

Nathan’s head snapped up, blood welling at the corner of his mouth where he’d bitten his lip. He stood there, stunned, clutching his jaw as he stared at Dad in disbelief.

“Dad-”

“Don’t you call me that!” Dad jabbed a finger at Nathan’s face, his voice thundering.

“You ungrateful snake! My daughter gave you five years, cooked for you, took care of you, and you treated her like trash?”

“You took her devotion and threw it at another woman, you tried to con us out of our retirement savings to fund a flower shop for your mistress! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

Nathan’s face went white. He looked at Dad’s furious expression, then at me, standing off to the side, completely cold and unmoved.

And in that moment, it finally sank in.

Every clever scheme he’d thought was foolproof, I’d already seen through.

His pride, his cunning, it had all become the punchline of a cruel joke.