I Did A Wedding Survey, And Exposed My Ten-Year-Long Love Betrayal Chapter 01

I Did A Wedding Survey, And Exposed My Ten-Year-Long Love Betrayal Chapter 01

A week before the wedding, to surprise the friends who’d watched Trevor and me fall in love over ten years with wedding favors.

I told everyone I was running a survey for the magazine and secretly pried into their preferences.

The first question: “What’s the most moving thing that’s happened to you lately?”

Everyone wrote the same answer: “My friend’s getting married.”

A warmth spread through my chest. I kept reading.

“What’s the best purchase you’ve made recently?”

Grant wrote: “Bought a pair of matching watches for the couple.”

Trevor had been wearing a new watch—he said Grant gave it to him.

But I never received the women’s version.

My heart skipped a beat. I told myself he just forgot to give it to me.

But the next question:

“What’s something that caught your eye but you haven’t bought yet?”

Paige said: “Wedding photos. Lila’s bridal portraits are stunning—but I don’t have a boyfriend as hot as Trevor to take them with!”

Lila. Trevor.

The daughter of the woman who broke my family apart. And my fiancé.

I stared at those two names and my brain went completely blank.

My eyes drifted to the final question: “What’s your biggest wish right now?”

Everyone’s answer was the same again.

“That Trevor and Lila’s wedding goes perfectly today.”

A chill crept through my fingers.

So the wedding I’d waited ten years for—Trevor had already given it to someone else.

And everyone knew. Except me.

…

By the time I tracked down the venue and arrived, the ceremony was already winding down.

All the friends from that survey were standing on stage, offering their blessings to the newlyweds.

“A beauty like her deserves nothing less than flowers—and Lila’s the only one good enough to be my sister-in-law!”

That was Dylan Hayes, Trevor’s cousin.

A month ago, he’d almost cost our magazine a million-dollar contract by filling out the paperwork wrong—I caught it and saved his ass, risking my own job.

That day, he’d been so grateful he swore I’d be his only sister-in-law for life.

“Lila’s my best little sister. If you ever make her cry, don’t blame me for forgetting we’re brothers.”

Grant Bennett—my own flesh-and-blood brother—clapped Trevor on the shoulder.

The seriousness on his face was exactly the same as the day Mom died, when he knelt by her hospital bed and swore to be my rock forever.

Just like that.

“Six years of dating, and I finally get to see you two married. Lila, I hope you’ll be happy.”

Paige, my best friend, threw her arms around Lila, her eyes even wetter than the bride’s.

Six years.

So they’d been hiding this from me for six years.

All the details I’d deliberately ignored came rushing back.

Late-night calls that went unanswered, sudden work emergencies, and all the little things I had chosen to ignore…

And every time I got suspicious, someone always had a perfect excuse ready for Trevor.

Tears burned behind my eyes. I forced them back.

I raised my hand and pushed open the ballroom doors.

Every single person in the room gasped when they saw me.

Trevor was the first to recover.

He stared at me, clearly thrown off, then jogged down from the stage.

“Clara, what are you doing here?”

He reached for me, his voice dropped low.

“This isn’t the place to talk. Come outside with me.”

“Trevor Hayes. This is your ‘important meeting’?”

This morning, he’d apologized with that guilty look:

“Clara, I’ve got a huge meeting today. I’ll have to turn my phone off. Don’t worry if you can’t reach me.”

He even asked for a goodbye kiss before he left.

And now he was holding another woman’s hand, standing on the opposite side of the room, saying nothing.

Lila stepped in front of him.

“Clara, Trevor and I really love each other—”

Her eyes were wide and wet, like a wounded rabbit.

Just like fourteen years ago, when she pushed me off a ladder and then told everyone I did it to myself.

But back then, Trevor had stood in front of me. He’d believed me without question. Now he was shielding Lila.

“Go home,” he said quietly. “I’ll explain everything later—”

“Explain what?”

I ripped my arm away from him, and everything I’d been holding in exploded.

“Explain why you chose someone else after all these years. Or explain how Lila took after her own mother and learned to take what wasn’t hers?”

“That’s enough!”

My father finally found his voice, bellowing from the side of the room.

“Clara Bennett, what are you saying?”

“Lila is your sister. It’s only right that you step aside and let her have your fiancé.”

I stared at him.

It was almost too absurd to process.

This was my father.

Fourteen years ago, he forced me to give up my place as the Bennett family’s daughter.

Fourteen years later, he was demanding I give up my fiancé.

I closed my eyes. I didn’t have the energy to fight him. I turned to Trevor.

“Is that what you think too? You want me to step aside for the other woman?”

Trevor froze. His throat moved like he wanted to say something.

Then Paige let out a sharp little laugh.

“Clara, I didn’t want to be the one to say this, but you’re being so dramatic.”

“Trevor and Lila already have their marriage certificate. The one you keep calling ‘the other woman’? That’s you.”