Gwyneth covered her face and ran out crying.
Oscar's eyes went frantic. He shot to his feet and chased after her.
At the door he still couldn't resist turning back to leave me with one last threat.
"Lucille, keep running your mouth if you've got the nerve. I don't mind swapping in a new bride at the wedding!"
But I never expected that two hours later, Gwyneth would come to see me alone.
There was a triumphant glint in her eyes.
"Lucille, do you know when Oscar and I started? The very day you introduced us."
That was the first month after Oscar and I made things official.
"At first, when he forgot about you now and then, it really was a coincidence."
"Every time you complained to me about him, I'd arrange a 'chance encounter' and slip into your place. He started out resisting it, and little by little, he came to enjoy it."
"And after that, he'd ditch you on purpose every time, just so the two of us could be alone together."
"Even this wedding shoot? We planned the whole thing ages ago."
"Oscar said the only thing he couldn't give me was a wedding. Everything else, though, was mine for the taking."
My face stayed blank, but inside, everything churned like a storm tearing loose.
"Why are you telling me all this?"
She gave me a radiant smile.
"Lucille, I just want you to face the truth. The one Oscar loves is me. Not you."
"Everything he gave you, the wedding he promised you, it was all guilt. Nothing more."
"I know your company is transferring you to France."
"As long as you promise never to come between Oscar and me again, I'll sign the release and let you walk."
I was quiet for a moment, then nodded.
"Fine."
Gwyneth drove me to the airport herself and watched me board the plane.
Not until the moment the wheels left the ground did the unease in her chest finally settle.
Over the next six days, Oscar threw every resource and connection he had into cleaning up the story circling online about Gwyneth.
The two of them ate and slept inside her studio, losing all sense of day and night.
Then, in the small hours of the seventh day.
Oscar jolted awake to the sudden ring of his phone.
"Mr. Weiss, the makeup artist has been waiting at your front door for half an hour. No one's answering, and we can't reach Ms. Simmons either."
"Is the wedding still happening today? Or have you made other arrangements?"
His foggy mind snapped clear.
Only then did he remember that Lucille was still locked up in custody.
"The wedding goes ahead. Push everything back two hours."
He hung up and drove straight to the police station to get her.
Irritation prickled at him as he went. He hadn't expected her to dig in this stubbornly.
But when he reached the station, he froze.
"Lucille Simmons? She was released seven days ago."
