Oops, Wrong Bride? Fine. No Wedding. Chapter 04

Oops, Wrong Bride? Fine. No Wedding. Chapter 04

I rushed to the office. A few coworkers I’d always gotten along with saw me, and their faces changed. I said hi like I always did, but the moment they heard my voice, they went stiff, mumbled something back, and hurried off.

I stood there, confused.

In his office, my boss, Grant Meyers, slammed a folder onto the desk, and his face was thunderous. “As of today, you’re fired! This company has no room for someone with your morals!”

I had no idea what he meant. It wasn’t until I opened the company group chat that I understood.

Someone had recorded the entire wedding on the sly and uploaded it to the chat. The video captured every second of me screaming and demanding answers, which made me look unhinged.

Megan: [Pretty obvious who the other woman is, right?]

Tyler: [Should someone like that even be working here? She seemed nice before, and then this…]

Brooke: [Everyone there was standing up for the real bride, and she still had the nerve to make a scene.]

My fingers trembled around the phone, and my whole body shook. “But…”

Grant cut me off. “Your personal conduct has done serious damage to this company’s reputation. Pack your things and go.”

I walked out the front doors with a box in my arms while everyone watched. Before I left, I looked back at my coworkers, and I saw the mockery and the contempt in their eyes.

I swallowed the bitterness down.

I was standing on the curb about to call a cab home when the hospital called. “Ms. Jennings, your mother’s condition is critical. You need to get here right away!”

My hand went slack. The phone hit the pavement, and the screen shattered.

I grabbed it, left the box where it was, and flagged down a taxi. “The hospital! Please, drive as fast as you can…”

My heart was slamming against my ribs, and I was so frantic that I broke down sobbing. The driver tried to comfort me from the front seat, but none of it got through.

The car stopped outside the hospital, and I ran like a madwoman, with my collar soaked through.

A crowd of doctors and nurses filled Mom’s room. The door wasn’t fully closed, and through the gap I caught a glimpse of her ashen face. A doctor was calling out, paddles in his hands. “Charge to 200!”

My legs gave out, and I clung to the railing in the hallway with tears streaming down my face.

When I lifted my head, Wendy was standing off to the side, whimpering in Ethan’s arms. “Iris, I didn’t mean to…”

I hauled myself up and stared her down, and my voice came out in a hoarse roar. “What did you say? What did you do to my mom? The doctor said she was getting better. What did you do to her?”

She flinched at my bloodshot eyes and cried even harder. “I only wanted… to apologize to her… I didn’t think she’d see me and…”

She was still holding the wedding photo they’d all taken the day before.

Mom must have seen that photo. That was what set off the attack.

I couldn’t take it anymore, and I raised my hand.

Someone grabbed my wrist hard.

I looked up. Ethan was silent for a few seconds, and then he said quietly, “Iris, Wendy meant well. Calm down.”

Calm down.

I turned those two words over and over, and every time they went through my head, it felt like a blade dragging across the same wound.

I raised my hand again.

My palm cracked across his face.

A bright red handprint bloomed on Ethan’s cheek, and he stared at me, dazed.

“Get out! All of you, get out!” I screamed it with everything I had, and my voice cracked and gave out halfway.

Patients wandering the hallway turned to look at the source of the noise.

Ethan wrapped his arms around me and held on, and no matter how hard I fought, I couldn’t break free. “Iris, it’s okay. She’s going to pull through. I’ll wait with you. I’ll stay with you…”

“Ethan…” Wendy was crying, and she started gasping in big, ragged breaths. “Ethan, I feel awful. I think it’s happening again. I can’t breathe…”

Ethan hesitated for a second, and then he slowly let me go. He scooped Wendy up in his arms and spoke haltingly. “Iris, wait for me here. Wendy’s having an asthma attack and she doesn’t have her inhaler. With her condition… it can’t wait. I’ll come back for you.”

Whatever he said after that, I couldn’t hear it.

I’d lost count of how many times he’d dropped me for something else at the last second. I’d stopped trusting him a long time ago. I sat there in a stupor, staring at Mom’s door and waiting for news.

The attending physician pushed the door open.

“Doctor, how’s my mom?”

His face was grave. “She’s stable for now, but from here on, she can’t be exposed to any kind of shock.”

I nodded over and over. When I stood up, my legs were still weak.

My phone buzzed. It was a message from Ethan.

Ethan: [Iris, I can’t make it back today. Wait for me.]

I didn’t reply.

Once Mom was stable, I went into her room and asked her softly, “Mom, let’s go home. How does that sound?”

She was struggling for breath, and her trembling fingers closed around mine. I broke down crying.

Over the next few days, I booked a one-way ticket back to Riverton, arranged her transfer to another hospital, and then I got in touch with a legal team.

I was done playing their game.