Chapter 3
"I love you, and I'm going to marry you," Wayne said, sounding so sure of himself.
As I listened to his vows, all the details from the past seven years came rushing back. Turns out, he had been keeping tabs on Mabel the whole time.
He suddenly started investing overseas, flying out more than a dozen times a year like clockwork.
He even kept up with every single update Mabel posted online.
Looking back, I was such a fool.
As Wayne kept babbling his excuses, a sudden idea popped into my head.
Wayne had put me through so much humiliation.
Well, I'd give him a wedding he'd never forget.
With that thought, I nodded with a smile. "I believe you."
Wayne's tense expression finally softened, and he pulled me into a hug.
"Thank you for understanding, Isabel," he said.
"You're the one who truly knows me," he added.
A few days later, after hearing the wedding was still on, Mabel tracked me down while Wayne was out, a smug smirk plastered on her face.
"You're such a pathetic doormat. Wayne doesn't even care about you, but you just keep clinging to him." She sneered.
I looked at her coolly and chuckled.
"So what if he doesn't like me? At the end of the day, he still agreed to marry me," I replied.
I continued, "As long as I'm here, you'll always be the despised mistress everyone looks down on."
Mabel's face kept shifting, her eyes full of malice as she glared at me. "There's no way your wedding will go smoothly."
"Just wait, Isabel," she added.
I watched her stomp away, seething, while I continued sorting through my evidence.
"Go on, make a spectacle. The crazier, the better," I muttered.
Two weeks later, the wedding went ahead as planned.
As a rising entrepreneur, Wayne wasn't about to miss a chance to schmooze with big shots. He had invited a bunch of top execs, hoping to make some useful connections.
The elegant wedding march filled the venue.
I sat in the dressing room, dressed in my white wedding gown, checking the time. There was still an hour before the ceremony officially began.
Without hesitation, I took off my wedding dress and slipped into some casual clothes.
While my friend, Jocelyn, ran interference for me, I jumped into the car I had set up in advance and made a beeline for the airport.
In the car, Jocelyn let out a sigh of relief and patted her chest.
"Thank goodness everything went off without a hitch," she said.
She continued, "I was honestly worried you'd get all lovey-dovey and chicken out at the last minute!"
I grinned. "No way!"
I continued, "My parents always said, 'You have to love yourself before you love anyone else.'
"Wayne already stabbed me in the back. No way I'd stick around after that."
"Totally. Isabel, you're a catch. If Wayne loses you, that's his problem," Jocelyn grumbled.
Seeing Jocelyn stick up for me, I felt all warm and cozy.
After Mabel came back, my uncles all tried to convince me to stay with Wayne.
"Which guy isn't a little bit of a player? You've stuck by Wayne for seven years, and now that he's successful, you'd be throwing it all away just because of some other woman?" one of them said.
"Wayne's the best you'll ever get. Don't be so stubborn," another added.
Everyone figured Wayne was loaded and just had a little fun on the side, like it wasn't anything serious.
Only Jocelyn would stick up for me.
After saying goodbye to Jocelyn at the airport, I hopped on a flight heading south. Four hours later, I landed in Thornwick.
As soon as I turned on my phone, Jocelyn's call came through, and she was practically yelling at the phone.
"Isabel, you have no idea. That wedding was a total circus," she shouted. "Mabel is seriously nuts!
"After you left, Wayne realized you were gone right away. He totally lost his mind, frantically searching the whole venue for you.
"And then, Mabel actually showed up in a wedding dress to crash the ceremony. Right in front of everyone, she screamed that if Wayne dared to marry you, she'd kill herself.
"Wayne looked absolutely furious and had her kicked out on the spot.
"Mabel went totally nuts, screaming at Wayne and calling him a scumbag, airing all his dirty laundry for everyone to hear.
"By that point, the wedding was already a total mess.
"When Wayne realized you were missing, he just pulled his secretary up to take your place on the spot. Then, halfway through the ceremony, all those photos you had prepared blew up for everyone to see.
"So funny, and today was packed with all those company bigwigs Wayne was desperate to impress."