My Best Friend Took My Man. I Gave Her the Whole Ceremony Chapter 06

My Best Friend Took My Man. I Gave Her the Whole Ceremony Chapter 06

“And one more thing. If anyone in this room says a word about tonight, I will personally make sure the Albright family crushes every business you own.”

The pain was rolling through me in waves now, so tangled between my chest and my stomach that I couldn’t tell which one was killing me.

Nobody argued. They scattered. No goodbyes, no small talk. Just gone.

When the room emptied out, Ethan came toward me.

I turned to face him, and he slapped me hard across the face before I even saw it coming. The crack echoed through the empty room.

I’d thought I’d already hit the floor. But this broke through the last wall I didn’t know I had, and everything behind it came flooding in. I couldn’t breathe.

Valerie screamed. She launched herself at Ethan, slapping him across the face. Once, twice, then again.

“Have you lost your mind? That’s Clara!”

His face was already swelling, but he didn’t move. Didn’t block a single hit. He just stood there and took it.

“How did he know, Clara? About what happened that year?”

The air went out of me. I looked up at him. “You think I told him?”

“The only people who knew what happened to Valerie were you, me, her, and her family.”

He didn’t have to finish the sentence. I sucked in a breath so hard it hurt my ribs.

“Ethan. Do you hear yourself right now?”

“Clara…”

“It wasn’t me.” The words came out shaking, forced through clenched teeth.

“It was me.” Valerie’s voice cut through from behind us.

Ethan went still. His eyes locked on her. “You?”

“Yes.” Valerie’s voice was raw, tears already spilling. “Because I wanted to punish myself. I deserve to be ruined after what we… Clara, the truth is, Ethan and I…”

Ethan cut her off. “Valerie. Stop. Right now.”

All at once, I had nothing left. I looked at the two of them, the man I loved and the girl who’d been my whole world.

“I’m tired. I don’t want to see either of you until the wedding.”

I backed away from them. Ethan reached for me, and I sidestepped his hand.

The pain had spread everywhere, my arms, my legs, deep into my bones. I looked up at him one last time. “Goodbye, Ethan.”

Something in the way I said it sent a bolt of dread through him that he couldn’t explain.

A thought surfaced, half-formed and terrifying, then disappeared before he could name it. It left him with nothing to hold on to.

“Clara…” He ran after me, but I was already in a cab outside, door shut, pulling away.

He told himself to stop spiraling. One week. In one week, Clara would be his wife.

He would make it up to her. He’d love her the way he should have been loving her all along.

Whatever had happened with Valerie, it was over. He’d never let it happen again.

Clara would always come first. For both of them.

If they had a boy, that kid was going to adore her just as much as he did. If they had a girl, he’d protect them both.

No. Maybe no kids at all. Clara hated pain too much.

While Ethan was building a future in his head, I was already on a plane to Oakhaven.

The three of us had always planned to come here together, a trip we’d promised each other when we were still kids.

I just never thought I’d be the only one who showed up.

I ate everything I wanted, reckless and greedy, like I was daring my body to keep up. I went to the ocean and stayed until my legs gave out.

At night the pain was bad enough that I bit into the pillow to keep from screaming. I held on anyway.

Valerie and Ethan called. Dozens of times, then hundreds. I didn’t answer once.

On the last day, I picked up Valerie’s call.

Her voice hit me before I was ready. “Clara, damn it, where the hell are you? I’ve been losing my mind.”

I wanted to say something. Anything. But the medication was already pulling me under. My eyelids were so heavy.

Her voice kept going, far away now, warm and frantic. “The wedding’s in three days, you hear me? I’m going to be the best maid of honor you’ve ever seen.”