Fifteen Years Wasted, Now I’m Done Chapter 01

Fifteen Years Wasted, Now I’m Done Chapter 01

The day I married Ryan Cartwright.

His buddies howled with laughter. “Hailey’s a huge influencer. Let’s go live! Share the joy with her fans!”

I smiled. Said yes. Held up our signed marriage certificate to the camera.

Hadley Mills—Ryan’s precious childhood friend—wheeled out the cake. She and Ryan traded a look. Quiet. Knowing.

The moment Hadley opened her mouth to offer a wedding blessing, a brute force slammed my head straight into the cake.

Pain exploded. The cake stand’s metal support stabbed into my forehead. Blood mixed with buttercream. It smeared across my face.

“Surprise!”

The room erupted in laughter. The camera locked onto me—drenched in frosting, humiliated. The livestream chat went wild.

Ryan pinched Hadley’s cheek. Adoring. “Happy? Everyone helped pull off your little adventure.”

“Used my wedding too. Haddie, you see now who loves you most, right?”

Only then did his gaze drift toward me. Casual.

His voice was the kind you use on a child.

“Relax, babe. It was just a prank. Don’t be such a buzzkill.”

I stared at the wreckage around me.

Didn’t say a word. Tore the marriage certificate in half.

***

Buttercream plastered my face.

The suffocating feeling surged. Wave after wave.

Laughter. Catcalls. Shutter clicks. Chaos.

The livestream imploded.

Within minutes, my ruined wedding photos were everywhere. TikTok. Twitter. Trending hard.

My phone blew up. My agency wouldn’t stop calling.

And the one who started it all hid behind Ryan. Her voice was soft. Her face showed zero remorse.

“Hailey seems mad…”

“It’s my fault. I lost the dare. Everyone just felt sorry for me and wanted to help…”

Cake covered my body.

Ruined the makeup I’d woken up at 3 a.m. for. Destroyed the wedding dress that had taken six months to arrive.

It felt like a bucket of ice water dumped over my head.

All my joy. Nothing left but grief.

Ryan draped his suit jacket over my shoulders. Covered some of the mess. Then he saw my eyes. Swollen. Red.

He froze.

“You cried?”

“If it bothers you, we’ll do another ceremony. Okay?”

“Bigger than this one. I promise.”

The old Ryan wasn’t like this.

The broke eighteen-year-old who’d scraped together every dollar and taken me to try on dresses. Carefully smoothing the skirt for me. Saying he’d give me a proper wedding someday.

The successful twenty-eight-year-old who’d bought me a gown. Held me tight. Said once work settled, he’d give me a lavish wedding.

Now, at thirty-three, Ryan destroyed our promise. Betrayed his own vows.

And gave me a wedding soaked in humiliation.

Smack—

I slapped him. Hard.

Silence swallowed the room.

His friends killed the livestream. Stumbled over apologies. Explanations.

“Hailey, we’re sorry.”

“We just wanted to make Haddie happy…”

Ryan wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. His eyes held a hint of exasperation.

“Why are you being so serious?”

“The ceremony was boring. Letting Haddie play around livened things up. Don’t be mad at her. She’s just a kid.”

“You weren’t like this before…”

Before.

Hadley always loved tormenting me.

She trampled the flowers and gifts Ryan gave me. Ruined our anniversary dates.

Spread rumors in my comments section. Cost me over a hundred thousand followers.

Laced my perfume with poison ivy. Left me covered in rashes. I missed a brand event.

Every time, Ryan soothed me. “I’ll scold her! She’s so out of line!”

Every time, it was just words.

Never real action.

“Ryan! George Mills saved your life. He didn’t save it so you could spoil his daughter rotten!”

“She’s a spoiled, entitled brat!”

Hadley buried her face in his chest and sobbed.

“I miss my daddy…”

“Hailey!” Ryan snapped. “That’s enough!”

“Since when does poking at someone’s deepest wound make you any better?”

I held back tears.

Never imagined he’d defend her with zero limits.

“You think she did nothing wrong?”

Ryan opened his mouth. Instinct. Defend.

“Fine,” I cut him off. “If you can’t tell what matters and what doesn’t.”

“Then there’s no reason to keep this going.”

“We’re done!”