The Same Wedding Dress, Two Different Brides Chapter 05

The Same Wedding Dress, Two Different Brides Chapter 05

Even the bathroom had two toothbrushes sitting side by side, one pink and one blue.

Seeing Elliot’s other home with Vivian for myself shattered the last bit of foolish reluctance I had to let him go.

I went home and stayed in bed the entire day.

By the next morning, the cramps were so bad I could barely stand.

On the way to the hospital, my mom could tell how much I was hurting. She spoke gently, telling me not to be afraid.

I was about to answer when another car slammed into us from behind.

The impact threw me forward. My stomach hit the back of the front seat hard, and blood began running down my legs.

I clutched my stomach, the pain draining the color from my face.

The driver’s door of the black car behind us flew open.

Vivian came running over, white as a sheet.

“Elena, I’m so sorry.”

“I happened to see you and wanted to apologize for what my parents did yesterday, so I followed you.”

She grabbed my hand, crying in panic.

“I was scared you wouldn’t forgive me. I wasn’t paying attention and hit your car. I’m sorry…”

The world swam before my eyes.

With the last of my strength, I yanked my hand free of hers.

When I woke again, I was in a hospital bed.

My mom sat beside me, looking as though she’d aged ten years overnight.

“Elena,” she said, “we lost the baby.”

I stared at the ceiling for a long time.

Then I picked up my phone and called the police.

At ten that night, Elliot called and told me to come home.

“Elena, come back and sign the request for leniency over the crash.”

Pain tore through me.

“Why should I?”

He sounded exasperated. “It was just a minor rear-end collision, Elena. You didn’t lose anything. Why are you taking this so far?”

You didn’t lose anything.

I repeated the words softly.

Then I told him, very clearly, “Elliot, I’m not signing it.”

I heard Vivian crying in the background.

“Elliot, I know this is all my fault. I’ll pay for the damage.”

“But if Elena really reports this and it turns into a reckless-driving charge, it could trigger a bar disciplinary review and put my law license at risk. If I lose my career over this, my life is over.”

Elliot fell silent.

A few seconds later, he sent me a video.

He was taking a box out of the safe.

He lifted one of the photographs from inside. A lighter burned in his other hand, the flame close enough to catch the photo in an instant.

My voice shot up.

“Elliot, those are the last photos I have of my dad!”

“Then the choice is yours.”

Elliot’s voice was terrifyingly steady.

“Sign the request, Elena. I’ll put the box back, and nothing between us has to change.”

Vivian cried into the phone.

“Elena, you’ve always been so understanding. Please forgive me just this once. I can’t have something like this hanging over my career.”

One of them was using the last mementos I had of my father to force my hand.

The other was using every compromise I’d ever made against me.

They acted as though I were the one doing something unforgivable.

Neither of them had once asked what the crash had cost me.

Elliot checked the time.

“You have one minute.”

I was shaking so hard I could barely hold my phone.

“Elliot, you promised me you’d keep my father’s things safe.”

“I know. But I can’t let this leave a black mark on Vivian’s career.”

The man who had once promised to protect me forever had finally cornered me until there was nowhere left to go.

Another video arrived.

In it, the first old, faded photograph was already burning.

Elliot’s voice never wavered.

“Elena, don’t make me do this.”

He was fighting for someone else without caring that he was destroying me.

A few seconds of silence passed before another video came through.

The photo of my father holding my hand when I was little slowly blackened and crumbled into ash.

I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood.

“Elliot, stop.”

“I’ll sign.”

He sent over the leniency request, ready for my electronic signature.

“Sign it.”

Tears fell onto my phone as I signed my name with a shaking hand.

Elliot finally exhaled in relief.

“Elena, I know this hurts. Once things settle down, I’ll take you somewhere and we can get away for a while—”

I cut him off.

“Elliot, we’re done.”

He went silent.

“What?”

My voice was calm.

“I said the baby is gone, Elliot. And this time, I’m really done with you.”