The Risk Form I Signed Alone, The Wedding I Called Off Chapter 03

The Risk Form I Signed Alone, The Wedding I Called Off Chapter 03

My third day in the hospital, his mother Patricia Whitman showed up. She walked in carrying a designer bag and said, “Elara, a wedding is not a joke.”

I propped myself up against the pillows and typed. [Neither is cancer.]

Patricia frowned. “Sickness can be treated. But canceling the wedding? How does that make the family look?”

Sasha stopped mid-slice on an apple. “You’re worried about optics more than you’re worried about cancer?”

Patricia shot her a glare. “And you are?”

“Her family.”

Patricia gave a thin smile. “She’s not even married into this family yet, and already the people around her have no manners.”

I typed. [I’m never marrying in.]

Her expression hardened. “You and Bryce have eight years together. Is this really the hill you want to die on?”

I held my phone up higher. [He read my wedding vows to his ex. Is that the story you want me to tell?]

Patricia’s mouth snapped shut. Then she recovered fast. “Hazel Voss is a girl I’ve known since she was small. She’s delicate, she overthinks everything. Bryce helps her out. So what?”

Sasha asked, “Does your husband help out his exes?”

Patricia shot to her feet. “You shut your mouth!”

The door swung open. Bryce stood at the threshold. “Mom. Leave.”

Patricia wasn’t done. “Look at the attitude she’s giving us!”

Bryce’s voice dropped low. “Leave. Now.”

Patricia threw one last line over her shoulder as she left. “This wedding is still happening.”

The door clicked shut. Bryce walked to my bedside. “Elara, I’ve set things straight with Hazel.”

I typed. [Set what straight?]

“No more one-on-one contact. I’m done with the livestream. I’m going to be here for your treatment.”

I looked at him. The pills.

He froze.

I typed. [My medication. Did you bring it back?]

Silence. That was the answer. He hadn’t.

I let out a dry smile. [See. You can’t even finish a lie.]

Bryce’s eyes went red. “I’ll go buy more right now.”

[Don’t bother.]

His voice cracked. “Elara, I know I screwed up. Please don’t cancel the wedding. Punish me however you want.”

“If you can’t speak, I’ll learn sign language.”

“Whatever you want to hear, I’ll read it to you every single day.”

I stared at him. These were the words I would have wept over before my surgery.Now they just felt like noise.

I typed. [Bryce, do you remember sophomore year of college?]

He went still.

[My grandmother died. I cried until I lost my voice. You stayed up with me all night, listening to her recordings. You said that whenever I missed her, you’d be there to listen with me.]

Bryce’s face drained of color.

I asked him. [Where’s my cassette recorder?]

He said nothing. A cold weight sank into my chest.

[Where is it?]

He forced the words out low. “Hazel has it.”

Sasha shot up from her chair. “Are you insane?”

Bryce scrambled to explain. “She needed a vintage cassette recorder as a prop for her sleep-aid series. She said she’d return it as soon as she was done.”

My fingers were numb as I typed. [It had my grandmother’s last words on it.]

“I know.”

You knew, and you gave it to her?

He squeezed his eyes shut. “I thought she was just going to use it as a background prop.”

That was when his phone rang. Hazel.

Bryce didn’t answer. A second later, she sent a voice message. The auto-transcription popped up. [Bryce, I’m ruined. I was live and the recorder started playing. Everyone’s asking who that old woman is. They’re saying I stole it. Please come. Now.]

My head went white.

Sasha snatched Bryce’s phone. “What did she play?”

Another message from Hazel. [I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to show everyone the story behind the things you gave me.]

Bryce’s face was ashen. I locked my eyes on him. I typed. [Are you going?]

He didn’t answer. I shoved the phone up toward his face. [Bryce, if you walk out that door, we are done. Completely.]

The only sound in the room was the monitor beeping. One second. Two.Three.

Hazel called again. Bryce stared at the screen.

I stared at him.

He finally spoke. “I just need to go handle this.”

Sasha erupted. “Handle her? Or handle the fact that your fiancée’s last family heirloom got broadcast to the internet?”

I reached out and grabbed his arm. The IV in the back of my hand shifted violently. Blood surged back up the tube. Bryce froze on instinct.

I forced my voice out through the raw pain in my throat. It felt like speaking through broken glass. “Don’t… go.”

Bryce’s eyes went red. He looked at me.

Hazel was crying on the other end of the line. “Bryce, everyone’s calling me a thief. If you don’t show up, I’m finished.”

Bryce closed his eyes. Then he hit answer. “I’m on my way.”

He looked back at me. “Elara, I just have to deal with this. Stop pushing me.”

The next second, I yanked the IV needle out of my hand. Blood ran down my wrist. The monitor screamed.

Sasha shrieked, “Elara!”

Bryce’s steps faltered. For half a heartbeat. Then he pushed the door open and walked out.