Betrayed Bride's New Life

The afternoon sun streamed through the stained glass windows of Château Marmont's chapel, casting rainbow prisms across my $15,000 Vera Wang gown. Two hundred guests filled the pews behind me, their whispered conversations creating a gentle hum of anticipation. I stood at the altar, my hands trembling slightly as I held Roman's, gazing into his dark eyes that had captivated me for three years.

"Do you, Lauren Franklin, take Roman Bishop to be your lawfully wedded husband?" The officiant's voice seemed to echo from a great distance.

My heart hammered against my ribs as I opened my mouth to say the words I'd dreamed of saying since Roman first proposed on the beach in Malibu. "I do—"

A voice, clear and haunting, cut through the sacred silence like a blade.

"I'm going under and this time I fear there's no one to save me..."

The melody of Lewis Capaldi's "Someone You Loved" filled the chapel, but it wasn't coming from the hired string quartet. My blood turned to ice as I recognized the voice—Reina Garcia, my childhood friend, rising from the third row like a specter from my past.

Gasps rippled through the congregation. Roman's hands went rigid in mine, his eyes widening as he turned toward the sound. The officiant's mouth fell open, his prayer book forgotten.

"This all or nothing really got a way of driving me crazy..." Reina's voice cracked with raw emotion, tears streaming down her face as she stepped into the aisle. Her emerald bridesmaid dress—the same dress I'd chosen for her, paid for with my own money—seemed to mock me as she moved closer to the altar.

"What is she doing?" I whispered, my voice barely audible over the pounding of my heart. But Roman wasn't looking at me anymore. His gaze was fixed on Reina with an expression I'd never seen before—wonder, longing, something that made my stomach plummet.

"I need somebody to heal, somebody to know, somebody to have just to know how it feels..." Reina's voice grew stronger, more desperate, as she reached the front of the chapel. "Roman, I've loved you since we were teenagers. I've loved you through every moment, every breath, every heartbeat. I can't watch you marry someone else when my soul belongs to you."

The chapel erupted in shocked murmurs. My father half-rose from his seat in the front row, his face a mask of fury and disbelief. Emerson Mills gripped the pew in front of her, her knuckles white.

But Roman... Roman was staring at Reina like she'd just offered him salvation.

"Roman," I breathed, squeezing his hands desperately. "Roman, look at me."

He turned, and the man I thought I knew—the man I'd elevated to Regional Manager at my father's company, the man I'd bought a house for, given a car to, planned a future with—was gone. In his place stood a stranger whose eyes held no recognition of the woman he'd been about to marry.

"I'm sorry, Lauren," he said, his voice thick