My Best Friend Took My Man. I Gave Her the Whole Ceremony Chapter 07

My Best Friend Took My Man. I Gave Her the Whole Ceremony Chapter 07

I could hear her, but I couldn’t answer anymore.

I hope that’s enough, Valerie. I hope I finally gave you enough.

A white light swallowed everything. And then I saw us, all three of us, the way we were at eighteen.

Ethan on my left. Valerie on my right.

Ethan said, “Clara, I love you.”

Valerie said, “The three of us. Forever. No matter what.”

I said, “Okay.”

I’m sorry. I broke my promise.

I just ran out of time.

Once I was gone, everything was weightless. I floated over the water and across the distance until I found them.

Valerie was in her bridesmaid dress, knocking softly on my bedroom door. “Don’t oversleep. The makeup artist’s coming soon.”

Her hand hovered over the doorknob. Then she pulled it back.

“Let her sleep. She’s always been impossible to wake up.”

The makeup artist arrived at dawn.

Valerie tried to go get me, but the artist waved her into the chair first. Valerie assumed it was bridesmaid makeup, so she sat still.

But when the artist stepped back, Valerie’s smile faltered, then died.

The look was too polished, too dramatic. This wasn’t bridesmaid makeup. This was bridal.

“This isn’t right. You did the wrong look.”

The artist looked confused. “No. You’re the bride, aren’t you? Your friend sent me your photo. She said you liked classic, polished glam.”

The blood drained from Valerie’s face. Terror, real and gutting, slammed through her.

“What… what friend?”

The artist held up her phone. My name. My number. “Clara? She’s the one who booked me. She’s not your friend?”

Valerie was out of the chair before the artist could even finish, already running for the stairs.

She tripped on the landing and hit the floor hard, but she was up again in a heartbeat, still running.

Faster. Faster.

Because if she was even a second too late, the dread screaming in the back of her head would be real.

She threw open my door. The room was still. Dust drifted up in the light, disturbed by nothing but the rush of air.

The bed was made. My things were gone. I was gone.

Her knees buckled. She hit the floor, fumbling for her phone, and called Ethan.

She tried to speak, but the only sound that came out was a raw, ragged scream. No words, just pure noise, over and over.

Ethan’s voice was sharp on the other end. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

It took her a long time to force the words out. “Clara’s gone.”

The line went dead silent. Then: “What do you mean, gone? I’m coming. Right now.”

Valerie had already tried everything—every number, every app, every person who might know where I was.

None of it mattered. I was never going to answer again.

The phone call from a few days ago came back to Valerie all at once. I hadn’t said a single word. Just breathing, heavy at first, then slower, then nothing.

She couldn’t let herself follow that thought to its end. By the time Ethan walked through the door, she was barely holding on.

I’d never seen him like this. His hair was a mess, his eyes hollow, his tie hanging loose around his neck like he’d forgotten how to finish dressing.

“Where is she?”

Valerie was crying so hard she could barely get the words out. “She’s gone, Ethan. Does she know? About us? Did she leave because of us?”

Ethan was already tearing through the house. “Don’t. Don’t say that.
She’s just upset. She’s here somewhere.”

“Clara, come on, come out. We’re getting married today. Please, come out.”

He checked under the bed. The bathroom. Every room.

Then he opened the closet, and his whole body locked.

Valerie came up behind him.

Inside the closet, there was a wedding dress. The dress. The one she’d tried on that day at the shop.