My Wedding Dress And Ring Were For My Best Friend Chapter 04

My Wedding Dress And Ring Were For My Best Friend Chapter 04

Ethan did not come home that night.

There was not a single call or message from him.

The next morning, I called my parents.

“Mom, Dad, I’m marrying someone else.”

They did not question me at all.

“We knew something was going on between Ethan and that Paige. You should’ve dumped him a long time ago.”

“If you hadn’t been so crazy about him, we never would’ve approved of a man who treated every woman like she was his girlfriend.”

They were right.

My parents had seen in an instant what had taken me years to understand.

No wonder Paige had sent me a photo that morning of her and Ethan lying close together in bed, their heads pressed side by side. She had followed it with a mocking message.

Paige: [Guess what happened between us last night?]

I took a deep breath and turned off the screen.

The moment I stepped out of the elevator at work, the Director of HR tagged me in the company-wide Slack channel.

Director of HR: [Due to allegations that Nora Bennett plagiarized work and claimed another designer’s contributions as her own on the company’s flagship project, company leadership has terminated her employment effective immediately. She is not eligible for rehire.]

The announcement was not long, but I stared at it for several minutes.

Laughter erupted around me.

“So much for calling herself a team lead. Turns out she’s a serial plagiarist. Her own best friend reported her, so it’s probably true.”

“And Mr. Parker was actually planning to marry her. Why would anyone marry a thief like that? Disgusting.”

I listened to the contempt and insults around me, my feet rooted to the floor.

Paige pressed a cup of water into my hand, her eyes red.

“Nora, it’s over now. I won’t hold the plagiarism against you. Nothing has to change between us.”

She claimed everything could stay the same, but the smile tugging at her lips was almost impossible to contain.

I held my breath and stared directly at her.

“Why?”

She leaned toward my ear with a smile and lowered her voice.

“I told you to get out of New York and give up the man, the project, and the wedding. This is what a loser deserves.”

“What makes you think you’ve won?”

She gave a quiet, mocking laugh.

“Don’t believe me? Just wait.”

Someone suddenly spoke up and accused me.

“Nora used her friendship with Paige to steal her designs. Firing her isn’t enough. She needs to apologize in front of everyone!”

“Exactly! A thief like her is a parasite. She should be blacklisted across the entire industry so she can never find another design job!”

I was about to defend myself when Ethan emerged from the software engineering department and stepped in front of me as if he intended to protect me from everyone there.

A flicker of warmth stirred in my chest. I had just opened my mouth to say, “I didn’t do it,” when he abruptly turned around and grabbed my wrist.

“Nora, apologize. You stole the work, so admit it. As long as you genuinely regret what you did, Paige won’t hold it against you.”

“Our wedding can still go ahead as planned.”

The warmth in my chest disappeared before it had fully formed.

Sunlight from the window fell across his handsome features, making him look both familiar and strangely unfamiliar.

When I first joined the company, the senior designer who had trained me tried to take credit for one of my designs. Ethan had marched straight into the CEO’s office, ready to turn in his badge and lose his job if that was what it took to make sure I got the credit I deserved.

Back then, he had no influence and no title. He was only a senior software engineer.

Now he was a company executive whose words carried real weight, yet he was telling me to confess to something I had never done.

I yanked my wrist free and instinctively stepped back.

My lips trembled.

“I didn’t do it.”

He fell silent for a moment before lowering his voice.

“I know. But since you refused to give Paige the official lead-designer credit, this was the only way.”

A roar filled my ears.

My throat closed so tightly that I could not force out a single word.

When Ethan saw me trembling with rage, a flicker of pain crossed his face. He stepped closer and stared intently at me.

“Even without a job, you still have your parents and me. We can take care of you.”

“Paige has nothing. All you have to do is admit to the plagiarism, and she’ll be appointed Director of Product Design.”

Those lips had kissed me countless times and whispered endless promises of love.

Now every word that came from them cut deeper than the last.

I pried his fingers from my wrist one by one, my voice hoarse.

“I will not confess.”

“You have to!” Impatience flashed across Ethan’s eyes as he pointed at Paige. “When you had appendicitis in college, she saved you. You could have died without her. You owe her.”

His expression was cold, and every word landed like a blade.

Paige pretended to look hurt, but triumph gleamed in her eyes.

All around me, voices demanded that I apologize.

I closed my eyes.

“All right. I’m sorry. I plagiarized the design. I’m a thief.”

Then I bowed to Paige, who looked utterly triumphant.

With that, I had repaid the debt I owed her for saving my life.

When I walked out of the building carrying a cardboard box, a Maybach was already waiting at the curb.

I looked back once at the thirty-fifth floor before ducking into the car.

Almost immediately, a text from Ethan appeared.

Ethan: [I’ll be waiting for you at the wedding venue the day after tomorrow.]

I typed a reply.

Me: [Don’t bother. You’re not the man I’m marrying.]