Chapter 5: I Finally Chose Myself

My fiancé had hung up on me, pulled my security detail, and spent the day at a music festival with another woman.

The doctor looked at me, his expression grim.

“This was a miscarriage. If you’d gotten here just half an hour earlier, the baby might have had a chance.”

I still remember the crushing despair of that day.

I called Hollis over and over again.

After dark, my parents arrived, having driven hundreds of miles.

But the one person who lived less than five miles from the hospital never came.

From that day on, my faith in him was broken.

Afterward, I went home with my parents to recover.

Hollis followed me there. He stood outside our house in a snowstorm all night, repeating again and again that he would never, ever pull my security detail again.

I softened.

My father told me that if I chose to go back to Hollis, they would not attend the wedding.

They refused to sit among a crowd of people who saw me as an outsider and pretend that I was safe in that world.

Thinking of that, I opened my chat with my closest cousin, Chloe.

Before the wedding, she had sent me a message.

[Willa, is the wedding about to start?]

A few minutes later, another one.

[Don’t be too upset. Even though your parents said no one in the family should attend, they’ve been regretting it.]

[I think you’ll all make up someday.]

She had also sent me a video.

When I saw my parents’ faces in the preview, I hadn’t dared to open it.

Now, I hit play.

The video showed Chloe’s living room.

My parents were sitting on the couch, both with red-rimmed eyes.

My mother kept wiping away tears.

“Why is Willa so stubborn? I told her a long time ago—that man’s protection only exists when he feels like giving it.”

“What kind of man pulls the guards away from his own fiancée while she’s miscarrying to go have fun with another woman?”

“Then he stands outside our house in the snow all night, nearly freezes to death, says a few nice things, and she goes right back to him.”

My father hadn’t said a word.

My mother turned to him.

“You shouldn’t have been so harsh, either. You said we would never stand at that wedding, and now she really doesn’t dare invite a single member of our family.”

“Do you think she believes she can’t come home anymore?”

When I saw the new threads of white in their hair, my tears splashed onto the phone screen.

After a long silence, my father pulled a bank card from his wallet and handed it to Chloe.

“When you have time, take this to Willa.”

“There’s fifty thousand dollars on it. I don’t want her stuck out there with no way out if something happens.”

I covered my face and finally let myself sob.

There was only one thought left in my head.

I want to go home.

I didn’t bother packing neatly. I just grabbed whatever I could and shoved it into my suitcase.

I didn’t want to wait for a flight. I called a long-distance rideshare instead.

Just as I snapped the suitcase shut, Hollis called.

“Why haven’t you been replying?”

I said nothing.

He let out an impatient sigh and didn’t press. He just said casually, “Things got a little wild earlier. A lot of the decorations in the main ballroom were damaged. A few of the long tables with the family name cards got drenched in champagne, too.”

“I had the hotel prepare a smaller room. The officiant and the witnesses will go there. We’ll finish the ceremony there.”

The main ballroom was enormous, capable of holding hundreds of guests.

Gianna had had her fun in the entire ballroom.

By the time it was the real bride’s turn, all that was left was a small, hastily prepared room.

And the way Hollis said it, it sounded like nothing at all.

But I couldn’t be bothered to argue anymore.

I answered calmly, “Okay.”

Hearing no argument from me, Hollis actually paused.

Two seconds later, he sounded relieved.

“That’s more like it.”

“The hotel is setting it up now. A new cake has been ordered, and we’ll get the signet ring back from Gianna. This won’t affect your position.”

Then his voice lowered.

“Willa, you’re about to be my wife.”

“The ceremony starts at nine. Be on time.”

The call ended.

I took the diamond ring off my finger and set it on the bedside table.

I placed the hotel keycard beside it and left the unsigned marriage papers on the desk.

Then I turned off my phone, picked up my luggage, and got into the car that would take me home.