Then, my phone erupted with dozens of text messages from Hudson, each one dripping with impotent rage. A smirk tugged at my lips as I powered down the device. Ignoring him felt like the best response I could muster. I chose to treat these five wasted years as a hard-earned lesson. Moving forward, I would focus on loving myself and caring for my mother.
After more than ten hours of flying, we finally touched down at our destination. Only then did I switch on my phone, and it buzzed incessantly with countless unread messages. My hands tingled from the relentless vibrations. Tossing the phone onto the table, I took a full ten minutes to unpack, deliberately regaining my composure.
I didn’t even bother opening Hudson’s 99+ unread Facebook messages. Instead, I blocked him and deleted our chat history without a second thought. But I found myself replaying the live streams sent by the small influencers, captivated by the unfolding drama.
When the moment finally arrived for the bride to make her grand entrance, I was, of course, nowhere to be found. Hudson stood at the altar, confusion etched on his face, waiting for a bride who would never come. The delivery of a black-and-white cardboard cutout of him, accompanied by an oversized portrait, shattered his illusion, revealing my clever ruse.
The guests erupted in disbelief, their murmurs echoing throughout the venue. Hudson’s parents were livid, their faces flushed with fury. Thankfully, they had a backup plan: Harper, waiting in the wings. In a desperate attempt to salvage the situation, Hudson abandoned the traditional wedding sequence and dragged Harper onto the stage.
Though Hudson’s parents were furious, they held their tongues—at least for a while. But halfway through the ceremony, the simmering tension erupted. Someone in the crowd recognized Harper and exposed her true identity. She wasn’t marrying into wealth. She was a woman discarded by a previous wealthy suitor, burdened with debts totaling two or three million. Far from being a mistress, she was merely someone left to fend for herself, using Hudson as her means of escape.