Bride Number Ninety-Nine: My Groom Married Her First Chapter 01

Bride Number Ninety-Nine: My Groom Married Her First Chapter 01

On my wedding day, Grant Calloway stopped me outside the ballroom.

He handed me a pink mystery box, smiling like this was all just part of the fun.

“We added a little game to the ceremony,” he said. “Whoever pulls the Bride Experience card gets to walk in first, ahead of you.”

Before I could even react, Hazel Doyle—the girl he’d always called his little sister, the one he’d grown up with—was already standing beside him in my custom wedding gown, eyes red, cheeks flushed.

Grant bent down and adjusted her veil, his hands gentle.

“Haze doesn’t want to get married,” he said. “She just wants to know what it feels like to be blessed by an entire room, just once.”

“She drew number one. You’re ninety-nine. Long and lasting—it’s good luck.”

The doors to the ballroom swung open.

The officiant’s voice rang out: “Please welcome today’s luckiest bride—Hazel Doyle!”

Applause filled the room. Grant took her hand and led her toward the aisle.

I stood outside the doors, and I laughed.

Number ninety-nine.

So in his heart, I wasn’t even worthy of being the first bride he ever led into his own wedding.

I pulled off my veil, dropped my wedding ring into the mystery box, and turned to leave.

I didn’t want him anymore.

—

Someone caught my wrist from behind just as I reached the elevator.

Grant opened his palm.

The ring I’d thrown away sat quietly in his hand.

“What does this mean?”

I tried to pull back. He didn’t let go.

“You like games, don’t you?” I said, and laughed softly. “I made one for you too.”

“Guess why I took off the ring before the wedding ends. If you figure it out, you win.”

Grant stared at my reddened finger, brow furrowing.

Then, without warning, he dropped to one knee and slid the ring back onto my hand.

“You’re throwing the ring away over something so small?”

His voice dropped low.

“Eleanor. You waited seven years. Is twenty more minutes for Haze really too much to ask?”

The cold metal touched my skin.

I curled my fingers, refusing to let him fasten it.

“If I let some other man wear your suit, take your vows, accept the guests’ blessings for you—would you call that just a game too?”

He froze.

Before he could answer, a glass shattered somewhere inside the ballroom.

“Grant!”

Hazel Doyle came running out barefoot, her veil half fallen, tears streaming down her face.

“The officiant told me to take my father’s arm down the aisle. But my father never even showed up.”

“Everyone’s laughing at me. Saying no one wants me…”

Grant let go of me instantly.

When Hazel collapsed into his arms, her elbow caught my shoulder. I staggered back two steps, my spine slamming into the fire cabinet.

Grant didn’t even look back.

My heart clenched so hard I couldn’t breathe.

Seven years together, and I had never once won against his favoritism.

He bent his head, wiping her tears, his voice as soft as if he were soothing a child.

“Who said no one wants you?”

“I’ll walk you down again in a minute.”

Hazel nodded through her sobs—then hesitated the moment she saw the ring in his hand.

“Eleanor looks really upset. Maybe… maybe we should just forget it. I don’t want to ruin your wedding because of me.”

Only then did Grant turn his head toward me.

“She won’t mind.”

Three simple words. Delivered with total certainty, without a shred of doubt.

Seven years—no matter how long he made me wait, no matter how much I swallowed, I always forgave him in the end.

So he assumed this time would be no different.

Hazel’s face suddenly went pale. She clutched her stomach and doubled over.

Grant immediately pulled a grapefruit candy from his pocket, unwrapped it, and pressed it into her mouth.

That was my favorite brand.

I have low blood sugar. He kept two of those candies in every jacket pocket, just for me.

Last week, while I was trying on my dress, he’d pinched my cheek and laughed.

“My wife has to make it down that aisle in one piece. Not a second less.”

But now the last candy had gone into Hazel’s mouth.

She sucked on it, laughing through her tears.

“Grapefruit. My favorite.”

Grant ruffled the top of her head.

“If you like it, it’s all yours.”

Hazel laughed again and peeled the wrapper open, then looked up at me deliberately.

“Eleanor won’t mind, will she? I’m just really nervous today. I can barely stand.”

Only then did Grant fully turn to face me.

His eyes landed on my pale lips. His brow creased.

“Why do you look so awful?”

I didn’t answer.

He stepped closer, as if about to touch my forehead.

Behind him, Hazel drew a sharp breath.

“Grant. The officiant’s still waiting on us.”

His hand stopped mid-air.

Something flickered in his eyes—irritation, like he resented me for distracting him at a moment like this.

Then, the next second, he bent down anyway and picked up the ring, wiping it clean with his cuff.

When he reached the inner band, where our initials were engraved, his movements slowed.

“Go wait in the lounge.”

“I give you my word—let Haze have the opening, and then the rest of the ceremony is all yours.”

The ballroom doors closed again.

I opened my palm and looked at the ring, still warm from his body heat.

Then I called my lawyer.

“Get the divorce paperwork ready. Today.”