Chapter 13: The Price of Your Prank

Six months later, London no longer felt like a place I had escaped to.

It felt like home.

I had been promoted to director of the international division at my company.

The project that had once been suspended was finally restored, and my name was removed from every complaint connected to Tatum's campaign.

My life was no longer something I was trying to survive.

It was something I was finally building.

One Saturday morning, I received an email from my lawyer.

The subject line was simple.

Case Closed.

I opened it quietly.

Tatum had accepted responsibility for the fabricated messages, the harassment campaign, and the financial arrangements behind the wedding-day pranks.

My mother had also admitted to helping orchestrate the campaign against me.

Both of them had faced the consequences of their actions.

My father had filed for divorce from my mother.

Hudson had testified on my behalf.

I stared at the screen for a long time.

Then I closed the laptop.

I expected to feel victorious.

Instead, I felt peaceful.

That was all I had ever wanted.

Not revenge.

Not an apology.

Just peace.

That afternoon, I walked through the city alone.

Rain began falling softly, turning the streets silver beneath the afternoon lights.

For a moment, I remembered that terrible morning at the airport.

The wedding dress.

The hurricane.

The laughter.

The humiliation.

The moment I realized that the people I trusted most could turn my pain into entertainment.

Back then, I thought my life was over.

Now I understood that it had only been ending in one direction so something better could begin.

My phone buzzed.

It was Hudson.

[I'm moving away next month.]

I stared at the message.

Another appeared.

[I won't bother you again. I just wanted to thank you for giving me the chance to tell the truth.]

I typed a short reply.

[Take care of yourself.]

He responded almost immediately.

[You too, Briar.]

That was it.

No promises.

No second chances.

No dramatic reunion.

Just two people finally accepting that some love stories end because they were never meant to last forever.

I slipped my phone into my coat pocket.

Across the street, a small flower shop had just opened.

Its window was filled with white roses and pale pink tulips.

I stopped to look.

For some reason, I smiled.

I walked inside and bought a bouquet for myself.

The florist wrapped it carefully and handed it over.

"A special occasion?" she asked.

I looked down at the flowers.

"Yes."

"What are you celebrating?"

I smiled.

"My life."

That night, I placed the flowers beside my bedroom window.

Then I opened my suitcase.

The wedding dress was still inside.

I hadn't touched it since leaving home.

For months, I couldn't decide what to do with it.

Tonight, I finally knew.

I carried the garment bag downstairs and placed it beside the recycling bins.

I didn't burn it.

I didn't tear it apart.

I simply let it go.

That dress belonged to the woman who had spent years begging to be chosen.

I wasn't her anymore.

I went back upstairs, opened my laptop, and accepted a new assignment in Paris.

A new city.

A new project.

A new beginning.

I stood by the window and watched the rain fall over London.

Once, I had believed happiness meant having Hudson choose me.

Then I believed it meant having my family love me the way I wanted.

Now I knew better.

Happiness wasn't being chosen by someone else.

It was choosing yourself when everyone else had decided you weren't worth choosing.

I had lost a wedding.

I had lost a family I thought I could trust.

I had lost the man I once believed I would spend my life with.

And I had lost a child I never got the chance to hold.

Those losses would always be part of me.

But they would never define me.

I turned off the lights.

For the first time in years, I went to sleep without waiting for anyone to call.

Without wondering whether I was too sensitive.

Without forcing myself to laugh at jokes that hurt.

Without asking anyone to choose me.

Because I had finally chosen myself.

And that was worth more than any wedding I could have had.

THE END