My Wedding Was His Family’s Biggest Lie Chapter 06

My Wedding Was His Family’s Biggest Lie Chapter 06

During the forty minutes after the wedding descended into chaos, Ethan handled one problem after another.

First, he apologized to the stunned guests. Then he comforted his furious, trembling mother before

escorting a sobbing Vanessa to her car.

When everything was done, he stood in the parking lot behind the hotel and lit a cigarette.

He didn’t think it was that serious.

Yes, I had lost my temper and ruined the wedding, but women got emotional sometimes, right?

Once I calmed down, he would explain everything, apologize properly, and buy me a designer bag.

Then it would all blow over.

He called me.

“The person you’re trying to reach has their phone turned off.”

That was normal.

I was angry, so of course I didn’t want to answer.

He called five more times.

My phone was still off.

Then he sent me a WhatsApp message.

A failed-delivery notice appeared beside it.

The message didn’t go through.

I had blocked him.

Ethan stared at the screen for several seconds, then laughed.

Blocking him was normal too,

The last time he forgot to come with me to a checkup, I blocked him for three days. I still went back and cooked for him afterward.

He drove home.

The neat row of shoes that had always lined the entryway was gone.

Ethan stopped inside the door, his movements slowing,

The cups,

throw pillows, and decorations on the bookshelves were still there. Almost everything that

belonged only to me had disappeared.

A single key lay on the coffee table.

Mine.

It told him I wasn’t planning to return.

Ethan closed his hand around the key and sat on the edge of the bed for a long time.

Then he began calling again and again.

Even when he used different numbers, I didn’t answer.

He called the receptionist at my company and learned that I had submitted my resignation.

I had quit my job.

I had cleared out the apartment, blocked his calls, and resigned.

Ethan stared at the key in his palm until it left a pale groove in his skin.

Outside, the city glittered with light. Cars moved steadily through the streets, and everyone else continued with their normal weekend.

Only Ethan began to understand that I might not have been throwing a tantrum after all.

The next day, Ethan went straight to Maya’s office.

“Where’s Claire?”

Maya finished typing the last few words on her screen before looking up.

“She told you not to look for her, no matter what happened.”

Ethan froze.

I had said the exact same thing in the bridal suite before the ceremony.

He had smiled and called me ridiculous.

It hadn’t been her being cute.

It had been goodbye.

His throat tightened.

“Where did she go?”

Maya’s expression turned cold.

“You don’t have the right to ask.”

“She’s my…

“Your what?”

Maya cut him off.

“Your wife? You never signed the marriage license. You aren’t legally married.”

She stood and stared at him with open disgust.

“Don’t you think it’s pathetic to come here asking where she went?”

Ethan pressed her immediately.

“Then tell me where she is.”

“Why would I?”

He dragged a hand through his hair, his voice rough.

“At least give her a message for me.”

“No.”

Maya sat down again and turned back to her computer.

“Go build a life with Vanessa. She needs you to recover from her depression, remember?”

Ethan’s throat closed.

He couldn’t force out a single word.

He stood there for half a minute.

Maya never looked at him again.

His phone rang as he left the office tower.

Diane’s voice came through the speaker.

“Ethan, stop looking for her. There’s something wrong with that woman. She humiliated us in front of everyone. The Caldwell family can’t afford that kind of disgrace,”

“You should get back together with Vanessa while you still…”

Ethan hung up.

That night, he sat alone in the living room and opened the photos on his phone.

There were countless pictures of me.

One had been taken the month before after he worked until one in the morning. I had waited outside his

office with a thermos.

In the photo, I had fallen asleep against the car, my lashes long and thick and a soup spoon still clutched in

my hand.

He had taken that picture without telling me.

The next photo was from the day I tried on wedding gowns.

I had stepped out of the dressing room in white lace and smiled at the camera, my eyes crinkling with happiness.

That same afternoon, Ethan had left me alone at the bridal boutique and gone to sign the property-transfer deed.

Thad waited for him for two hours.

When he returned, I had smiled and said, “I tried on several gowns, but I picked the cheapest one to save you money.”

The cheapest one.

Yet on our wedding day, I hadn’t even been allowed to wear the real gown I chose.

Ethan placed the phone facedown on the table and leaned back against the couch. His throat tightened painfully.