“That you’re a cheating liar?! That my own sister betrayed me?!”
Lauren’s face was pale, but she didn’t say a word. She just clutched the sheets to her chest, avoiding my gaze.
Ethan, however, dared to look me in the eye and say, “I love her.”
The words knocked the air out of my lungs.
I wanted him to deny it, to say it was a mistake, but instead, he looked relieved—like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
I couldn’t believe this was the same sweet man I had wanted to walk down the aisle with after he became my husband!
It was like he was two different people—the man I had gotten to know and this guy in bed with my sister.
“You love her?!” My voice cracked. “Then why the hell did you propose to me?!”
He exhaled like he was explaining something painfully obvious.
“I thought I loved you. But things changed.
Lauren and I… we’ve been seeing each other for a while.”
For a while…
My stomach turned.
This wasn’t just a one-time thing. They had been sneaking around behind my back for who knows how long!
I turned to Lauren. “How could you do this to me?!”
She finally spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.
“I didn’t mean for it to happen, sis.”
I let out a hollow laugh.
“Didn’t mean for it to happen?! You didn’t trip and fall into his bed, Lauren!”
Ethan stood up, wrapping an arm around her.
“Look, I get that you’re hurt, but we didn’t want to keep lying to you.”
My hands clenched into fists. “Oh, you didn’t want to keep lying?
That’s rich!”
I stormed out, shaking with rage and heartbreak.
I thought that was the worst of it. I was wrong.
A few days later, my parents called me over to talk. I had been bawling my eyes out since I made the discovery.
My friends and bridesmaids came to comfort me, but I hadn’t heard from my parents until then.
I foolishly believed they would be on my side for a change.
Instead, I walked into an ambush.
“We understand you’re upset,” my mom said, her tone patronizing.
“But Ethan and Lauren are in love,” my dad added. “You wouldn’t want to stand in the way of true love, would you?”
I stared at them in disbelief.
“True love? Are you serious?!”
Mom sighed.
“Sweetheart, you’ve always been independent.
You’ll move on. But Lauren… she needs stability. And Ethan makes her happy.”
I felt like I was drowning.
“So, what?
Are you just replacing me with her?! Pretending like none of this even happened?!”
“We’re not taking sides,” my dad said, though his tone made it clear they already had.
Then, the final blow.
“They’re still having the wedding,” my mom said.
“And, well, Lauren will be the bride.”
I blinked. “You can’t be serious.”
“It’s already paid for,” she said as if that made any of this acceptable.
“It would be a shame to let all those plans go to waste.”
I stood up so fast the chair screeched against the floor.
“Unbelievable.”
“We’d like you to be happy for them,” Dad said.
I laughed bitterly. “You actually expect me to celebrate this?!”
Lauren had taken my fiancé, and my parents had taken her side—like they always did. They had always treated her better, and now they wanted me to smile as they supported her relationship with my fiancé?!
I walked out of that house and didn’t look back.
When the wedding came, I obviously wasn’t invited.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to be there.
I decided not to cause a scene. I wasn’t going to scream or throw cake.
I just wanted to sneak in and wait until the officiant asked for objections.
Then, I’d get up and tell their guests and our mutual friends that the man Lauren was marrying had been my fiancé first! I planned to embarrass them and make their “special day” the worst one ever!
But when I arrived at the banquet hall, things were… off.
There was no music.
No laughter.
Just silence, thick with tension. Guests stood frozen in place, and at the front of the room, uniformed officers swarmed.
“What’s going on?” I asked the nearest cop.
Before he could answer, I spotted my sister—still in her wedding dress, tears streaming down her face. My parents sat at a table, looking utterly shell-shocked.
But Ethan was nowhere to be seen.
The cop turned to me.
“Are you a guest?”
I hesitated before nodding.
“Sort of. I was supposed to be the bride today.”
He sighed.
“We came here to arrest the groom, but he wasn’t here. He was caught at the city bus station trying to leave town.”
I blinked.
“What?!”
The officer gestured toward a group of detectives speaking to guests.
“Turns out, he’s been running a long con. He’s a scam artist. He never planned on marrying anyone.”
I felt my heart race.
“What did he do?”
The cop’s expression darkened.
“He’s done this before—to three other women in the city. He took off with all the wedding gifts, the deposits, decorations, and whatever money he could get his hands on.
He’s currently on the run.”
“He even lied about having family coming from Europe. He has no family.
No guests.
Nothing,” the policeman informed me.
Shock rippled through me. My parents were still frozen in disbelief. Lauren—the woman who had betrayed me—was now abandoned at the altar, sobbing while her last-minute bridesmaids comforted her.
And for the first time in weeks, I smiled as I stood there, taking in the chaos before me.
Justice had been served!
As the guests started leaving, one of the officers approached me.
“Hi, I saw you arrive.
I hear Officer James say you dodged a bullet.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “Yeah.
Guess I did.”
He gave me a small smile. “Would you like to grab a coffee sometime?
You know, with someone who isn’t a criminal?”
I glanced at his name tag—Officer Matt.
For the first time in a while, I felt something other than anger and betrayal.
Maybe a fresh start wasn’t such a bad idea.
That was a year ago.
And tomorrow? I’m marrying him!
Life has a funny way of working out.
Sadly, Ethan’s first bride wasn’t the only woman ditched on her wedding day. In this story, the bride’s groom fails to arrive on time and instead, she discovers he’s been cheating.
The heartbroken woman stands up tall and makes the most of the day.
