The venue was perfect. Floor-to-ceiling windows. White roses everywhere. Three hundred people in their seats, dressed like they were attending something important. Which I guess they were. Or thought they were.
I stood in the bridal suite and looked at myself in the mirror one last time. The dress fit exactly right. Hair pinned back with small pearls. Makeup flawless. I looked like a bride. I looked happy.
Diana adjusted my veil. Her hands were gentle. Careful. "You ready?" she asked.
I nodded. I didn't trust my voice.
She squeezed my shoulder. Then she left to take her place. The door closed. I was alone.
I pressed my hand against my stomach. Still flat. No one could tell. The baby was there though. A secret I was carrying down the aisle along with everything else.
The coordinator knocked. "It's time, Miss Grant."
I walked to the double doors. Through the gap I could see everyone. Faces turned toward the front. Killian stood at the altar in his tuxedo. He looked good. He always looked good. That was never the problem.
The music started. Pachelbel's Canon. The doors opened.
I walked. One step. Another. The aisle felt longer than it had during rehearsal. My mother sat in the front row. She was crying. Smiling and crying at the same time. She looked so small in that chair. So fragile. But her eyes were bright. Happy.
I kept walking. Past rows of people I barely knew. Business associates. Killian's college friends. Distant cousins. All of them watching. All of them smiling.
I reached the altar. Killian took my hand. His palm was warm. Steady. He leaned close and whispered, "You look beautiful."
I said nothing.
The officiant began. I heard the words but didn't process them. Something about love. Commitment. Partnership. All the words people say when they're pretending marriage means something permanent.
Killian was looking at me. His expression was perfect. Tender. Devoted. Like he meant every second of this. Maybe he did. Maybe he really believed he could have both of us. That this was fine. That I would just accept it.
The officiant smiled. "And now, the vows. Killian, if you'll begin—"
The doors exploded open.
The sound was massive. Wood slamming against stone. Every head in the room turned.
Selena stood in the doorway. She was wearing white. A long white dress, fitted, expensive. Her hair was down. Perfect. She looked like a bride. She looked like she belonged here more than I did.
"KILLIAN!" Her voice cut through the room like a knife.
I felt Killian's hand go rigid in mine.
She walked down the aisle. Not fast. Not slow. Deliberate. Her heels clicked on the marble. Every eye followed her. No one moved. No one breathed.
She stopped ten feet from the altar. She looked at Killian. Just him. Like I wasn't even there.
"Killian," she said again. Softer this time. Her voice broke. "How could you?"
Then she crumpled. Just folded in on herself and collapsed onto the floor in a perfect heap of white fabric. Her hand reached toward him. Her eyes fluttered closed.
For one second, no one moved.
Then Killian dropped my hand.
He didn't look at me. Didn't say a word. He just let go and walked away. Down the steps. Across the space between us. He knelt beside her and lifted her head into his lap.
"Selena," he said. His voice was raw. Desperate. "Selena, I'm here."
I stood at the altar. My hand was still extended where his had been. I stared at the empty air.
The room erupted. Voices. Gasps. Someone shouted for a doctor. Chairs scraped. People surged forward. I heard my mother's voice—high, confused, calling my name.
Diana was suddenly beside me. "Aviana—"
The crowd pushed closer. Bodies everywhere. Someone's elbow caught my shoulder. I stumbled. Another shove from behind—harder. I felt myself falling forward. I tried to catch myself but my heel caught in the dress. I went down.
My abdomen hit the marble edge of the altar step.
The pain was instant. Blinding. White-hot and catastrophic. It radiated out from my stomach in waves that made my vision blur. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. I pressed my hand against my dress and felt something warm and wet spreading beneath my palm.
No. No no no.
"AVIANA!" Diana's voice. Distant. Panicked.
I tried to push myself up. My arms wouldn't hold me. The pain was everywhere now. Consuming. I looked down. Blood. Dark and spreading across the white silk.
Someone screamed. I think it was me.
I heard my mother. Her voice cutting through everything. "AVIANA! MY BABY—"
Then another sound. A crash. A thud. More screaming.
I turned my head. My mother was on the floor. Collapsed between the chairs. People were surrounding her. Someone was shouting about calling 911.
I tried to crawl toward her. I couldn't move. The pain was too much. Everything was red and white and noise.
Diana was beside me. Her hands on my shoulders. Her face pale. "Stay still. Don't move. Help is coming."
I looked past her. Killian was still on the floor with Selena. Still cradling her. He hadn't looked up. Hadn't noticed.
I closed my eyes. I felt the blood pooling beneath me. I felt everything inside me breaking apart. And I understood, with perfect clarity, that I had just lost everything.
The baby. My mother. My dignity. My future.
All of it. Gone.
In the distance, sirens.
