Chapter 3
Jonathan and I exchanged rings, recited our vows, shared a kiss, and the crowd erupted in applause.
I followed every step flawlessly.
I kept a smile on my face the entire time.
In every group photo, my smile was on point.
It wasn't a fake smile.
I felt at peace since I knew that I had everything under control.
During the toast, I noticed something else.
Isabella wasn't drinking.
Every time we clinked glasses, she touched her lips to the rim.
Back in college, she could easily handle half a bottle of strong liquor.
Now, she didn't touch a drop.
It was because she was pregnant.
When we reached Jonathan's relatives' table, I spotted his older sister, Ashlynn.
She walked over with her glass and clinked it against mine.
"Now that you've married my brother, we're family," Ashlynn said with a smile.
Then she leaned in and lowered her voice. "Don't worry, Jonathan's a good guy, but he's a bit of a pushover."
I thought, 'He's a pushover.'
I kept that in mind.
There was a three-hour gap between the ceremony and the dinner.
I went back to the bridal suite.
I locked the door.
I opened Jonathan's credit card app.
The password was my birthday. He'd never changed it.
I started checking from three years ago.
The first suspicious charge appeared in March 2023.
The location was at the Grand Hotel.
Date was March 17, 2023.
That was my birthday.
That night, I treated Jonathan and Isabella to dinner.
Isabella had returned from another city, and I wanted them to get to know each other.
"Hey, Isabella, this is my boyfriend, Jonathan Lewis. Jonathan, meet my college roommate," I said.
After dinner, I got pretty drunk.
Jonathan took me home.
I thought he went home too.
But his credit card showed otherwise.
At 11:47 PM that night, there was a 100 dollar charge at the Grand Hotel.
It was for a standard room for one night.
It turned out that after dropping me off, he went out again.
He went to a hotel.
I wondered who he went out with.
It could only have been the one other person he met that night, Isabella.
It was the first day I brought them together.
I was the one who brought him right to her.
I kept scrolling through the records.
For the past three years, he went to that hotel two to three times a month, but then, he stopped going there.
It wasn't that they stopped.
They'd settled on a single place now.
Starting in February, I began getting notifications about huge transfers.
There was a transfer of 150,000 dollars.
The recipient was Isabella.
The memo read: [Monthly support.]
My hand shook.
That was this February.
It was the same month I sent Jonathan 230 thousand dollars for the house down payment.
At that time, I said, "Go take care of the paperwork. I trust you. Let's put the house under your name."
He said, "Don't worry, honey. This place belongs to us."
230 thousand dollars.
He took 150 thousand dollars and wired it to Isabella.
It was for her to buy a property.
I pulled out my phone and called Irene.
I said, "Irene."
"I found something," she replied.
Her voice sounded heavy.
"Go on," I said.
"Isabella has a property under her name. The transfer went through this March. The address is Emerald Lake Gardens, on the east side of the city," Irene said.
"How much was the down payment?" I asked.
"150 thousand dollars," she replied.
"And the mortgage?" I pressed.
"Monthly payment's 2400 dollars. The mortgage account is under Jonathan's name," Irene answered.
The down payment was 150 thousand dollars.
The mortgage payments were all linked to Jonathan's credit card.
He was using my money.
I scraped together that money over the last five years, working in marketing.
Every month, I pinched pennies to save.
I did not buy designer stuff, did not go on vacations, and did not buy new phones.
I saved up 230 thousand dollars.
It was for the house we were supposed to share for our marriage.
And he used the money to give another woman a home.
"There's more," Irene said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I looked into that neighborhood, Emerald Lake Gardens," she said.
"Yeah?" I replied.
"Jonathan owns another place there," she said.
"What?" I blurted out.
"Same building. One is right above the other. He bought them using his housing benefits," Irene explained.
Two properties were in the same building.
One is right above the other.
One was for Isabella.
The other was his.
He was setting up a new home with Isabella with my money.
"Irene," I said.
"Yeah?" she replied.
"Can you check one more thing for me?" I asked.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Does Isabella have any prenatal checkup records?" I asked.
There was a three-second pause on the other end.
"You think she's pregnant?" Irene asked.
"I found a pregnancy test in the bathroom of room 1808. It was positive," I said.
Irene didn't say anything.
She was quiet for a bit, then finally spoke. "I know someone at the women's hospital. I'll check for you."
"Thanks," I replied.
"Elsie," Irene said.
"Yeah?" I replied.
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
I stared out the window.
The sun hadn't set yet.
The dinner was set for seven.
There were still over two hours left.
"Can you get something ready for me?" I asked.
"What is it?" she replied.
"The paperwork to freeze his assets," I said.
She hesitated for a moment.
"Are you sure?" Irene asked.
"I'm sure," I said.
"Okay. I'll have it ready by tonight," she replied.
"And one more thing. I want the divorce papers. I want to divorce, return my assets from before the marriage, and get back anything he moved during the marriage," I said.
"Elsie, you got married today," Irene said.
"Yeah," I replied.
"So you're getting the divorce papers ready on your wedding day?" she asked.
"Yeah," I said.
"Do you realize what that means?" Irene asked.
I replied, "It means I'm filing for divorce the same day I got married.
"It means I'm not letting him get away with it even for another day."
Irene didn't try to talk me out of it.
"I'll start drafting it now," she said.
"Thanks," I said.
"Don't thank me. Isabella was my roommate too. I can't help but feel like what she did is partly on me," Irene said.
"It's not your fault," I said.
Irene said, "I've had a bad feeling about her for a while.
"Last year, she suddenly started asking all these detailed questions about the house you two bought. I didn't think much of it at the time."
She paused.
"Now that I think about it, she was running the numbers for herself," she added.
"Having you on my side is enough," I said.
"I'm not doing this for free," Irene said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You owe me a wild night out. We will drink till we drop," Irene said.
I couldn't help but laugh.
That was the first real laugh I'd had all day.
I hung up.
Then I opened the banking app.
I took screenshots of all Jonathan's bank transfers from January to June.
I recoreded every payment Jonathan sent to Isabella.
In January, he sent her 6 thousand dollars. There was no memo.
In February, he sent her 150 thousand dollars. The memo read: [Mortgage payment.]
In March, he sent her 19 thousand dollars. The memo read: [Prenatal checkup.]
In April, he sent her 4000 dollars. There was no memo.
In May, he sent her 6 thousand dollars. There was no memo.
In June, he sent her 10,000 dollars. There was no memo.
For six months, he had sent her a total of 195 thousand dollars.
However, he had not given me any money during that time.
He said, "I changed jobs. My income's not steady yet. Once things are stable, I'll start giving you money."
I actually believed him.
I didn't only believe him.
I paid the rent, bought groceries, and covered all the bills with my own paycheck.
Every dollar he had ended up in her hands.
I gave him 230 thousand dollars.
All he gave me back was a wedding that was nothing but a lie.
I saved all the screenshots.
I took out a USB drive.
I copied all the evidence onto it.
Then, I picked up my phone and made a call.
It went to the hotel's security manager.
"Hello, I'm a guest who had my wedding here today. I need to check some security footage," I said.
"Which area do you need?" the manager asked.
"The hallway on the 18th floor, outside room 1808. From 8 PM last night to 7 AM this morning," I replied.
"Ma'am, there's a procedure for that..." the manager started.
"I'm staying in that room. I have the key, and it's booked under my husband's name," I said.
He hesitated for a moment.
"Please come to the security office," he said.
Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting in the security office.
The monitor showed the hallway on the 18th floor.
There were three key moments.
At 9:02 PM last night, Jonathan walked toward room 1808 with a woman.
His arm was around her waist. Her face was hidden by her hair, but her figure and hair, brown with highlights, were unmistakable.
At 11:38 PM, the woman stepped out of room 1808, wearing a white men's shirt, which was Jonathan's size.
She headed to the ice machine at the end of the hallway. On her way back, she turned her face toward the camera.
It was Isabella.
At 6:40 AM, Jonathan walked out of room 1808, looked back at the door, flashed a smile, and straightened his tie.
That was the tie he had switched out.
It was navy blue.
He walked out of room 1808 wearing it, then went back to the bridal suite and changed into a new one.
I asked the security manager to send the three screenshots to my phone.
"Thanks," I said.
"You're welcome," he replied.
He glanced at my wedding dress.
He looked like he had something to say, but stopped himself.
"It's okay." I flashed him a quick smile. "Just looking into something."
Back in the bridal suite, my phone buzzed.
Irene had sent me a message.
Irene texted: ["Got the prenatal records. Isabella's registered at the city women's hospital. She's twelve weeks pregnant.
[The companion's signature...
[It belongs to Jonathan.
[Registration date is March 11th of this year.]
March 11th.
On March 8th, I was nine weeks pregnant. I fell at home.
I lost the baby.
Then, I was admitted to the hospital.
I stayed there for seven days.
Jonathan only visited me twice.
The first time, he stayed half an hour, saying he had something urgent at work.
The second time, he barely lasted twenty minutes before taking a call and walking out.
My mom came all the way from our hometown and stayed with me the whole week.
But on March 11th, three days after I lost the baby, I was still lying in the hospital bed.
He was off with Isabella at her prenatal checkup.
Jonathan signed as Isabella's companion during the registration.
I lost my baby.
Three days later, he went to help another woman at her prenatal checkup.
I stared at my phone screen.
I didn't cry.
It wasn't because I was strong.
It was because my anger had burned all the tears away.
I opened up Jonathan's family group chat.
I searched for "Isabella."
I scrolled through the messages one by one.
Then, I found it.
It was from May.
Eliza had posted a photo.
It was a fully furnished apartment.
The living room was spacious, and the bedroom had a bay window.
There was a cozy little room with deer wallpaper.
It was a nursery.
Eliza wrote: [The place looks amazing! Isabella has great taste. We'll move in once the baby's born.]
Jonathan replied: [Mom, don't say that in the group chat.]
Eliza: [Oh, right.]
Then she recalled the message.
But the message was still cached in the chat.
I took a screenshot.
She recalled the message, but it didn't change a thing.
I kept scrolling to even earlier records.
In January of this year, Eliza had sent Jonathan a private message. Jonathan's phone was logged into my tablet, so all the chats were synced.
Jonathan: [Mom, I want to break things off with Isabella.]
Eliza: [Are you out of your mind? She's pregnant with your kid!]
Jonathan: [I wanted to dump her way before she got pregnant.]
Eliza: [If you break up now, what about the money Elsie gave us for the down payment? We still haven't got the house.]
Jonathan was speechless.
Eliza: [Get married first. Once we get the down payment, we'll figure it out. I'll deal with Isabella.]
I stared at their conversation.
In January, he told Eliza that he wanted to break up with Isabella.
Eliza told him to wait until he got the down payment.
So in January, he actually wanted out.
But Eliza wouldn't let him.
It was because she was still after my down payment.
I stared at the screen for a long time.
If I'd seen this six months ago, maybe I would've gone soft.
He really tried to end things. He struggled with it. He wasn't playing me from the very start.
But now, things were different.
I was still in my wedding dress, staring at a positive pregnancy test that belonged to another woman in my bathroom.
Jonathan sent 150 thousand dollars of my money to Isabella, and Eliza was already making plans for their baby's one-month celebration.
There was no way I would feel sorry for them.
Jonathan tried to end things.
But he never did.
He picked his mom, the cash, and Isabella over me.
Then he looked me in the eye, grinned, and said, "I've been waiting for this day forever."
The last bit of sunlight faded outside.
The dinner was about to start.
I gripped the USB drive in my hand.
There were twenty-one screenshots on it now.
It included the lipstick stains, strands of hair, a positive pregnancy test, hotel check-in records, credit card statements, bank transfers, and security camera screenshots.
There were also pictures of the prenatal records, family group chat logs, and messages between Eliza and Jonathan.
Twenty-one pieces of evidence.
Every single one was a bullet.
I texted Irene: [The dinner's at seven. Can you make it?]
Irene replied: [Yeah, I'm already on my way.]
I wrote: [What about the asset freeze paperwork?]
Irene: [All set. I'll submit it first thing in the morning.]
I asked: [And the divorce papers?]
Irene replied: [They're ready.]
I said: [Bring them with you.]
She replied: [Will do.]
There was one more thing I need to do.
I called the wedding emcee.
"Trenton, about the last part of the dinner, which is the newlyweds' speech," I said.
"Yeah," Trenton Guerrero replied.
"I'll handle it myself. No script, no background music," I said.
"No problem. You're the bride. Whatever you say goes," he said.
I hung up.
I stood up.
I straightened my wedding dress.
The USB drive felt solid and cold in my palm.
It was time to step out.
The dinner kicked off.
There were two hundred guests. They filled twenty tables.
The lights were warm, the flowers were gorgeous.
Jonathan sat right next to me.
Isabella was sitting at the bridesmaids' table.
Eliza was at the head table.
Everyone was smiling.
So was I.
We made the rounds, toasting, taking photos, and chatting with everyone.
I handled every part of the night without missing a beat, keeping my composure and confidence.
Jonathan had his arm around my waist as we clinked glasses with the guests.
"Thank you all for coming to our wedding," he said.
His smile was genuine.
Or maybe, after three years of faking it, he couldn't tell what was real and what was not anymore.
The emcee stepped up to the stage.
"And now, the final part of the night, the newlyweds' speech," he announced.
The crowd erupted in applause.
Jonathan picked up the microphone.
He thanked his parents and the guests.
And then he looked right at me.
"Elsie, thank you for marrying me. From now on, I swear I'll treat you right," he said.
The room filled with applause.
He handed me the microphone.
I took it.
I stood up.
"Thank you all for coming to Jonathan and my wedding," I said.
I looked out at the crowd.
"I'd like to take this chance to share something with everyone," I said.
I kept smiling.
"This morning, I went to the front desk to pick up the key to our bridal suite," I said.
I kept my tone light, like I was telling a funny story.
"The receptionist told me, 'Mrs. Lewis already picked up the key half an hour ago,'" I said.
The hall went quiet for a second.
I said, "I was standing there in my wedding dress, and I said, 'I am Mrs. Lewis.'
"The receptionist said, 'No, another lady already picked it up.'"
Some people laughed, thinking it was a funny wedding story.
I said, "I asked the receptionist, 'How many rooms are registered to Jonathan?'
"She told me, 'Two.'
"'Room 1888, the bridal suite. And then there's room 1808.'"
I paused.
I said, "Room 1808 had a note. 'For Mrs. Lewis only.'"
The laughter died down.
The hall went quiet.
I said, "I didn't book room 1808.
"And I wasn't the one who picked up the key.
"But the name she used was Mrs. Lewis."