Seven Failed Weddings, and He Still Let Her Ruin My Marriage Shoes Chapter 06

Seven Failed Weddings, and He Still Let Her Ruin My Marriage Shoes Chapter 06

His heart hurt so badly that even breathing was painful.

In his mind, one overlooked detail after another began surfacing uncontrollably.

Every moment.

Every sign.

He finally understood why, at the seventh wedding procession, after hearing Tessa blurt out the truth, Elara had only asked him one shocked question and then stopped public execution of her dignity.

Because by then, she had already known her fate was sealed.

Creating a scene would not have changed anything.

That was why she had gone quiet.

That was why she had stopped fighting.

Even when Tessa wore the last nightgown her mother had left her, Elara had not truly fought.

She had even told him clearly that she was getting married to someone else.

But he had not believed her.

He had relied on her love for him and hurt her without restraint, blind to the sadness and disappointment in her eyes.

He had treated her honest words as lies.

He had clearly seen her preparing for her wedding, yet he had assumed she was trying to force him into marriage.

The cruelest part was that he was the one who had pushed her to that point.

Tears blurred his vision.

He pulled out his phone with shaking hands and called Elara.

Only then did he realize she had blocked his number.

His breathing grew heavy at once.

His fingers trembled so badly he could barely control them.

He opened their messaging app and typed: [Elara, where are you? I’m coming to get you.]

The moment he sent it, a “failed to send” notification popped up.

The last light in his eyes went out completely.

In the past, she had needed only a casual word from him to comfort herself.

Sometimes he had not even needed to comfort her at all.

That girl was now ignoring him.

She had not even left him a chance to apologize or make it right.

He had completely lost the right to coax her back.

“No. I have to go find Elara.”

“I can’t let her marry another man.”

After a brief collapse, after grief had swept through him, Nolan stood up from the floor. Determination flashed in his eyes.

“Elara is just angry right now. Once she calms down, she’ll forgive me.”

He ran home.

He contacted his friends and his people, telling them to find out everything they could about the Hayes family in Harbor Springs.

The information came back quickly.

When he saw the address, pain twisted through his chest.

“Elara, wait for me. I’ll bring you back.”

He packed in a hurry and booked a flight.

But just as he was about to leave, Tessa blocked his way.

“Nolan, Elara abandoned you and married another man. Why would you chase after her?”

“A woman like that won’t settle down with you even if she comes back.”

If Nolan had heard Tessa say something like that before, he would have at most replied, “Elara isn’t that kind of person.”

And he would not have felt anything.

But now, hearing Tessa speak about Elara that way only made him feel disgusted.

His attitude toward her turned cold.

“Don’t talk about Elara like that. If you hadn’t kept causing trouble, Elara wouldn’t have been heartbroken enough to marry someone else.”

“All of this happened because of you. I’m in a hurry to find her.”

“Once I bring her back, I’ll deal with you.”

Hearing that, Tessa’s spoiled temper flared, and her face turned red with anger.

“Nolan, how could you say that to me?”

“Yes, I’m part of the reason Elara didn’t want to marry you. But are you saying you did nothing wrong?”

“Every time I swapped out those bridal boots, didn’t I do it right in front of you? You never once stopped me.”

“If you had said one word, if you had told me not to touch them, I would never have touched them.”

“But you didn’t. You even let me turn your weddings into a game. Doesn’t that mean I mattered to you?”

Nolan stared at her in disbelief.

“Tessa, I always treated you like family. How could you think that way?”

He admitted that he had favored Tessa.

But he had truly never had feelings for her.

The first time he saw her, he had thought she was pitiful because both her parents were gone.

And she had happened to help him avoid disaster.

That was why he paid for her school and living expenses.

That was why he had been kind to her.

But Tessa clearly had not seen it that way.

When she saw that Nolan was determined to leave, she hugged him without thinking.

“Nolan, I don’t want to be treated like family. I don’t want you to leave me.”

“Elara is gone anyway. Why can’t we be together? You don’t even know that I’ve been waiting for you for seven years too.”

“I’m not any worse-looking than Elara. Whatever she gave you, I can give you too.”

Nolan finally lost all patience.

He shoved Tessa away hard, his voice filled with anger.

“You’re not even worth a strand of Elara’s hair. What makes you think you could ever replace her?”