Bride Number Ninety-Nine: My Groom Married Her First Chapter 05

Bride Number Ninety-Nine: My Groom Married Her First Chapter 05

There was no one in the bed.

Just one spare wedding dress folded neatly on the mattress.

In the closet, every piece of clothing that belonged to me was gone.

The skincare on the vanity, the half-finished book on the nightstand, even the toothbrush that had sat beside his in the bathroom for seven years-all of it had been cleared away, spotless.

As if I had never lived there at all.

Grant stood in the middle of the bedroom, his face gone terrifyingly still.

The housekeeper stepped in carefully.

“Sir. Mrs. Calloway left the key before she went. She said you don’t need to wait up for her anymore.”

Grant let out a cold laugh.

“She’s just trying to force me to go after her. She pulled this exact move seven years ago.”

He took out his phone and dialed my number.

An automated voice, again and again, informed him the phone was off.

By the eleventh call, his patience finally broke. He turned to his assistant.

“Find out where she is.”

The assistant came back quickly.

“Miss Ashwood boarded a flight at eleven forty tonight. Destination: Florence.”

Grant’s hand tightened around the phone.

“Alone?”

“Yes.”

At that answer, the tension in his shoulders eased slightly.

“Book her a return flight for tomorrow morning.”

“And tell her-ethe wedding stuff ends here. If she comes back, I won’t hold her leaving in the middle of the ceremony against her.”

The assistant hesitated.

“Sir. Miss Ashwood has blocked every way to reach her.”

Whatever had been left in Grant’s expression finally went cold.

He didn’t believe I would really leave.

Seven years ago, when his startup failed and creditors cornered him at the warehouse, I was the one who

pulled out my mother’s jewelry and covered the first gaping hole in his debt.

When he was hospitalized with stomach bleeding, I slept on the bench outside his room, keeping watch for

five straight days.

The first time he secured funding, he held me and spun in circles in the rain.

That night he kissed my eyes and swore, his voice cracking:

“Eleanor. Once I can give you the biggest, most extravagant wedding in the world, I’ll marry you.”

For that one sentence, I had waited seven years.

How could he possibly believe I would leave him on the very day of our wedding?

Footsteps sounded outside the door.

Hazel had already changed out of the dress, wrapped in his suit jacket, and walked in.

“Grant, has Eleanor left?”

The redness still lingered around her eyes from crying, but her voice couldn’t quite hide her delight.

“I knew it. Someone as proud as her couldn’t stand tonight’s little shock.”

Grant turned his head sharply.

“What do you mean, shock?”

Hazel’s expression shifted slightly.

“I just think she’s overreacting. You’re already legally married anyway. She’ll cool off and come back.”

She reached out to hug him.

Grant stepped back, avoiding her touch for the first time.

“The wedding’s over.”

He took the jacket off her shoulders, his voice cold.

“You should go.”

Hazel froze in place.

“But you said you’d stay with me and complete the dream tonight.”

“When did I ever say that?”

“You said if I wanted to get married, today’s bride would be me!”

Grant went quiet for a moment. Then his brow drew tight.

“That was only to comfort you. You know exactly who I actually intend to marry.”

Hazel’s tears fell instantly.

But Grant didn’t wipe them away the way he used to.

He pulled the broken ring from the flower’s center on the wedding dress, and told the housekeeper quietly:

“Contact the best jeweler we know. It needs to be fixed by dawn.”

But when the jeweler arrived and looked at it, he only shook his head.

“The band can be repaired.”

“But the engraving was severed by the cut. It can’t be restored to what it was.”

Grant lowered his head.

The break ran exactly through our two names.

On one side: Eleanor Ashwood.

On the other: Grant Calloway.

They’d never connect again.