After My Groom Chose His Ex Over Me

The penthouse smells like lilies. I ordered them myself two weeks ago—three hundred stems for the centerpieces, because Sebastian said white flowers photograph best. Now they're wilting in their crystal vases, petals browning at the edges, and the scent makes my stomach turn.

I'm surrounded by spreadsheets. Guest lists. Seating charts. The final RSVP count came in yesterday: four hundred and seventy-three confirmed attendees for what Manhattan's elite are calling the Wedding of the Century. Sebastian Wright, CEO of Wright Enterprises, marrying his devoted fiancée of five years in a ceremony that cost more than most people's houses.

Except Sebastian hasn't been home in twenty-four hours.

His phone goes straight to voicemail. The last text I sent him—asking if he wanted salmon or beef for the rehearsal dinner—sits there with a single gray checkmark. Not delivered. I've called his office three times. His assistant, Caroline, sounds increasingly uncomfortable each time she tells me he's "in meetings."

I should be panicking. I should be calling hospitals, filing missing persons reports, imagining car accidents and muggings. Instead, I'm scrolling through Instagram with my thumb moving on autopilot, searching for something I don't want to find.

The notification appears at 11:47 PM.

Sebastian Wright liked a video.

My finger hovers over the screen. The username makes my chest constrict: @FayeLawson. Sebastian's ex-girlfriend. The woman he dated before me, the one he claimed was "ancient history" when I asked about her two years into our relationship. The one whose name he said in his sleep once, then swore he didn't remember doing it.

I tap the video.

The frame is intimate—a hotel room, judging by the generic beige walls and the corner of a king-sized bed. Faye sits on the edge of the mattress, her dark hair falling over one shoulder, mascara streaking her cheeks. The camera shakes slightly, handheld. Then Sebastian enters the frame.

He's wearing the navy Tom Ford suit I helped him pick out last month. His tie is loosened, top button undone. He sits beside her, and she turns into him like a flower seeking sun. He takes both her hands in his.

"I can't do this," Faye whispers, her voice breaking. "I can't watch you marry someone else."

Sebastian's thumb strokes across her knuckles. The gesture is so familiar it steals my breath—he does that to me when we watch movies, when we're in the back of cars heading to charity galas, when he wants me to know he's present even when his mind is elsewhere.

"You're the one who left," he says, but there's no accusation in it. Only longing.

"I know. I was stupid. I thought—" She breaks off, pressing her free hand to her mouth. "I thought I wanted something else. But it's always been you, Sebastian. It's always been you."

He pulls her into his chest. She sobs against his shoulder, and his hand comes up to cradle the back of her head. The camera catches his face over her shoulder—his eyes are closed, his expression something between pain and relief.

"If you ever change your mind," he murmurs into her hair, "my door is always open."

The video ends.

The timestamp reads 9:23 AM. This morning. While I was confirming the final flower delivery and texting him about dinner options, he was in a hotel room with his ex-girlfriend, promising her an open door.

I watch it again. Then a third time. I'm searching for context that will make this make sense, some angle that will transform betrayal into misunderstanding. But the video is only forty-seven seconds long, and every second is damning.

The cold starts in my fingertips and spreads inward. Not the hot, chaotic feeling of heartbreak—something else. Something crystalline and sharp.

I set down my phone with deliberate care. The RSVP list stares up at me, four hundred and seventy-three names in alphabetical order. I've spent five years building a life with Sebastian Wright. Five years of being the perfect partner, the understanding fiancée, the woman who never complained when he worked late or canceled plans or forgot anniversaries because "the company needs me right now, Nat."

Five years, and his door is still open for someone else.

I pick up my phone and dial Marcus Chen. He answers on the second ring, his voice bright with the manic energy of a wedding planner three days out from his biggest event.

"Natasha! Please tell me this is about the napkin fold, because I've been having nightmares—"

"Cancel everything," I say.

Silence. Then: "I'm sorry, what?"

"The venue. The caterers. The florist. All of it." My voice is steady. Calm. "Unforeseen circumstances."

"Natasha, the wedding is in three days. The deposits alone—"

"I'll handle the money. Just cancel it."

Another pause. When Marcus speaks again, his voice has shifted into something gentler. "Are you okay?"

"I will be."

I end the call before he can ask more questions. Then I open my contacts and scroll to a name I haven't touched in years but never had the heart to delete: Apollo Williams.

We met in Switzerland during my study abroad year, before Sebastian proposed, before I convinced myself that devotion and love were the same thing. Apollo was brilliant and intense and looked at me like I was the only person in the room. But I was already with Sebastian, and I was loyal. I've always been loyal.

My thumbs move across the screen.

*I'm cancelling my wedding to Sebastian. If you're still the man I met in Switzerland, would you like to take his place next Saturday?*

I hit send before I can second-guess myself.

The reply comes in less than thirty seconds. My phone vibrates, and Apollo's name fills the screen. I answer.

"Tell me where to be," he says, his voice steady but carrying an undercurrent of something fierce, "and I will give you the world."

Outside the penthouse windows, Manhattan glitters with a thousand lights. Somewhere in this city, Sebastian is with Faye, his door wide open. But I'm done walking through it.

"There's a café on Fifth," I say. "Lucienne's. Tomorrow at noon."

"I'll be there."

The line goes quiet, but neither of us hangs up. In the silence, I can hear him breathing, can almost feel the weight of all the years he's waited.

"Apollo," I say softly.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet, Natasha." There's a smile in his voice now, dark and promising. "We're just getting started."