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.
