Chapter 3
That night, I left the Foster residence early and sat in my car to call Chloe.
Chloe was one of my college roommates, and now she worked at a law firm.
"Chloe, I need you to help me look into something," I said.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Whose name is on the purchase contract for our matrimonial home with Alex?" I replied.
"Wait, you don't know?" Chloe hesitated.
"I paid seventy percent of the down payment, but Alex's mom took the contract the day we signed. She said she'd keep it for us," I explained.
Chloe was quiet for a few seconds. "Haley, wait for me."
The next afternoon, Chloe sent me the results.
Only Alex's name was on the purchase contract.
I paid 500 grand out of the 700 grand down payment, but my name wasn't anywhere on the deed.
I always thought both our names were there, because I saw Alex fill in my name on the contract when we signed.
What did Mary really do after she took the contract for "safekeeping"? I had no idea, but I could make a pretty good guess.
That night, I couldn't fall asleep. It wasn't anger or sadness keeping me awake. It was the one thing I couldn't stop thinking about.
Had they been plotting against me all along? Was it from the moment Alex met me through Ellie?
At 2 a.m., I was scrolling through three-year-old messages on my phone.
Back then, Ellie was super excited, introducing Alex to me. [Haley, I know this senior who's perfect for you. He's good-looking, his family's well-off, and he's an analyst at a finance company.]
The timestamp on that message was three years and seven months ago.
And the activation date for Ellie's backup SIM card, which I'd checked yesterday, was three years and nine months ago.
That meant their scheming started two months before Alex and I even got together.
So Alex was actually dating Ellie before he ever met me through her.
And Ellie set me up with her own boyfriend. Why would she do that?
The answer was hidden in the first transaction on the supplementary card I gave Alex.
Three years ago, the first charge on that card was at a high-end club. The note read: [Welcome dinner for Mr. Reed].
That was my dad.
This whole relationship was nothing but a transaction from day one.
On the eighth day, I made my decision.
The wedding would go on as planned.
Not because I still wanted to marry Alex, but because I wanted all 320 guests to witness their true faces.
That afternoon, I met Chloe at a café near her law firm.
I spread all the evidence out on the table.
Bank transfer records, property documents, Maple Garden's property registration, that supplementary card's spending records, and even screenshots from the print shop's security cameras.
After Chloe finished going through everything, she looked up at me. "Haley, this is more than enough to sue Alex."
"I don't want to sue him," I said.
"So what do you want to do?"
I took a sip of my coffee. "Can you check for me—if only Alex's name is on the deed, is there any way I can get my 500 grand down payment back?"
"You can. You've got the transfer records and bank statements. If you go through the legal process, you should at minimum get your down payment back."
"Good."
"And then?"
"And then, I need you to do something for me," I said.
I slid my phone across the table to her, and the screen showed the quote from the wedding audio company. "I want to change the audio plan for the wedding."
Chloe stared at it for a moment, and then looked up at me. "Haley, are you sure about this?"
"I'm sure."
"Once you go through with this, there's no turning back."
"I know," I replied, setting my coffee cup down. "I've already passed the point of no return."
*****
From that day on, I started planning two weddings.
One was the official wedding—the one I was planning with Alex, Ellie, and Mary.
The other was the secret one—just Chloe and I were in on it.
On the ninth day, I met with Jake, the guy in charge of the wedding audio.
Jake was a college classmate of Chloe's and had been working in wedding sound for six years.
I treated him to dinner and explained what I needed. "Jake, you know I'll give my bridesmaid a wireless lapel mic on the wedding day, right?"
"Yeah, for the speech," he replied.
"Right. I need you to switch that mic's signal to the main speakers during the twenty-minute break in the ceremony."
"But the bridesmaid won't be up on the stage during the break."
"I know."
Jake looked at me, hesitating for a long while. "Ms. Reed, this isn't a usual audio setup."
"No, it's not."
I slid an envelope across the table. Inside was 15 grand in cash.
"All you need to do is keep the mic on for those twenty minutes. Don't worry about anything else," I said.
Jake glanced at the envelope, and then at me. Finally, he pushed it back.
"Ms. Reed, I don't want the money," he said, taking a sip of his beer. "Chloe has filled me in. People like that need to be taught a lesson."