Max is ready to marry the love of his life, until he learns the truth. With only 72 hours until the wedding, he hatches a plan for the ultimate betrayal. As Sofia walks down the aisle, she expects the fairytale wedding she’s been planning. But Max is about to turn their marriage into a showdown.
Everything was perfect.
The venue was bathed in golden light, the floral arrangements were impeccable and the guests were all smiles, chatting and sipping champagne.
Everything was exactly as it was supposed to be. It was the kind of wedding people dreamed of, the kind of wedding Sofia had been obsessed with for months.
A beautiful wedding venue | Source: Midjourney
She had planned every detail, down to the little bag of candy to keep guests occupied if they got hungry during the ceremony.
But as much as my fiancée had planned her dream wedding, I had planned every detail of my moment.
I stood at the front, hands clasped, holding my breath. The music intensified, signaling the bridesmaids to get ready to enter.
A groom standing at the altar | Source: Midjourney
I looked around, taking in the eager faces of our guests, the carefully chosen decorations, and the warm glow of the candles. It was the perfect romantic wedding scene.
Everything was going exactly as planned.
And yet, I wasn’t nervous. Not even a little bit.
Not anymore.
Smiling guests at a wedding | Source: Midjourney
72 hours ago
I don’t remember sitting down.
One minute I was standing by my apartment window, staring at the city skyline. The next I was on the couch, head in my hands, trying to breathe.
Elena sat across from me, silent, waiting. Her words still echoed in my head. Over and over, like a song I couldn’t turn off.
“I saw her, Max. With him. I didn’t look for it, I swear! But I saw them.”
A man sitting on a couch and holding his head | Source: Midjourney
“And you’re sure? Elena, I need you to be sure.” My voice sounded thin and foreign to me.
“Max, I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t sure,” she said.
The room felt too small. My apartment, once filled with wedding gifts, table plans, and excitement, now felt like a prison cell. I wanted to run, to escape this conversation.
How could Sofia cheat on me?
“Tell me everything,” I said.
An upset woman standing in an apartment | Source: Midjourney
Elena hesitated for a moment. Then she straightened her shoulders, meeting my gaze with a sympathetic expression.
“I was at this new cafe that is thriving on veganism. I was having coffee when I saw Sofia sitting at a corner table.”
She takes a break.
“She wasn’t alone, Max.”
“Who?” I asked.
Inside a cafe | Source: Midjourney
“I don’t know his name, but he seemed so familiar. He could be one of her friends. I know I’ve seen him before. But I know how he looked at her, Max. And I know how she looked back at him.”
“That doesn’t mean much, Elena,” I said.
“Sofia touched his face, whispered something, then she leaned in first, Max. And they kissed.”
Close-up of an upset woman | Source: Midjourney
For a brief, pathetic second, I almost convinced myself it was a misunderstanding. A mistake. But Sofia wasn’t careless. She was calculating.
She wouldn’t have let a man kiss her in public if she didn’t know she wouldn’t get caught. Unless she thought she had all the power and no one who knew either of us would catch her.
“Max, I know it hurts,” Elena said. “But I took a picture. I knew you’d need proof.”
A woman holding her phone | Source: Midjourney
“Show me,” I said, feeling my heart break as I glanced at Elena’s phone.
I blinked, looking at my hands. They felt different. Detached from me.
“She said she loved me,” I whispered. “Our wedding is in 72 hours, Elena. What am I supposed to do now? Cancel the wedding?”
“No way!” Elena said. “Teach him a lesson!”
An upset man | Source: Midjourney
I looked up, and for the first time since the conversation began, I met Elena’s gaze with clear, constant rage.
“She won’t get away with it like this.”
Elena didn’t look surprised.
“What are you going to do?” she asks.
Something cold settled in my chest. I stood up and walked to the window. A deep, deadly brightness. I adjusted my tie as if I had already made up my mind.
Close-up of an upset man | Source: Midjourney
“I’ll let her have her big day,” I said. “But not the way she planned.”
A slow smirk played on Elena’s lips.
“Tell me what you need, brother,” she said. “I’ll do whatever you need.”
Close-up of a woman with a smirk | Source: Midjourney
The present
The music grew louder, signaling the first bridesmaid.
As they appeared, one after the other, a wave of unease spread through the crowd. The room, which had previously been alive with quiet conversation, was completely transformed.
The bridesmaids were dressed in black, as if they were in mourning. Some of them must have been convinced, but when they saw the proof Elena and I had brought, none of them wanted to stand behind a liar.
Bridesmaids dressed in black | Source: Midjourney
They weren’t the soft sky blue Sofia had wanted. Not the carefully chosen pastel hues that matched the invitations and floral centerpieces.
No.
They were in black.
One after the other, they came forward, their faces unreadable. Their dark dresses contrasted sharply with the delicate white petals scattered along the path.
White rose petals scattered along a wedding aisle | Source: Midjourney
That’s when the whispers started. Sofia and I both came from traditional families, so the fact that the bridesmaids wore black was a huge problem. A few heads turned to each other with confused frowns.
“This is so unusual, Max!” I could almost hear my mother scream.
“Oh, that’s a bad omen,” I imagined my grandmother saying.
A shocked old woman | Source: Midjourney
I didn’t take my eyes off him, watching my sister, Elena, as she moved to her seat in the front. She caught my eye and, so subtly that no one else would have noticed, she winked.
I exhaled slowly.
Yes.
Everything went as I planned.
A groom standing at the altar | Source: Midjourney
Then the doors at the back of the room opened.
Sofia stepped forward, beaming. I admit, she was absolutely gorgeous. A vision in white.
She took a step into the room, then froze.
For a moment, she didn’t understand. Her smile lingered on her lips as she scanned the crowd, expecting to see joy, excitement, and the warmth of a celebration.
A smiling bride | Source: Midjourney
Instead, she saw the black dresses.
And his expression changed.
Her eyes darted from one bridesmaid to the next, taking in the shadowy figures, dark energy, and whispers that spread among the guests.
His face drained of color.
A shocked bride | Source: Midjourney
Her lips parted slightly, as if to ask a question, but no words came out. Her hand closed around the bouquet. She knew something was wrong.
Hesitation crept into her movements as she resumed her walk. The usual assurance in her gait was gone. Every step down the aisle seemed uncertain.
As she reached me, her hands shaking slightly, she took mine.
His fingers were cold.
A smiling groom | Source: Midjourney
“What’s going on, Max? Why did they change their dresses? What the hell? They ruined the whole aesthetic!”
I smiled at her. But there was no warmth in that smile. I had no affection for this woman anymore.
“Wait, you mean you don’t know?” I asked, my voice just loud enough to carry.
A silence fell over the room.
Sofia’s eyes dart around the room. From me to the bridesmaids, to my sister standing next to them.
A bridesmaid wearing black | Source: Midjourney
I turned slightly, gesturing toward the line of women dressed for mourning.
“This is not a marriage, Sofia,” I said, my voice calm.
Too calm. And I was calm. I had days to control my feelings.
“It’s a funeral,” I smiled.
There was a collective gasp in the room. Our guests looked horrified. My mother looked like she was going to faint.
A smiling groom | Source: Midjourney
Sofia’s fingers tightened around mine in a desperate grip.
“What are you talking about?” she exclaimed.
I let out a small, humorless laugh.
“We’re here to bury what’s left of our love. Or, more accurately,” I said, seeing her look nervous, “what you killed.”
A shocked bride | Source: Midjourney
The silence was stifling. Then, a whisper. Someone in the second row covered their mouth with a hand.
Someone else turned to the person sitting next to him, whispering urgently.
Sofia’s face blushed.
The panic in his eyes turned into something else. Anger.
An Angry Bride | Source: Midjourney
And then, finally, she understood.
She tore her hands from mine and turned around, her fury finding a new target.
“Did you tell him?!” she said, her voice cracking through the air.
Sofia was looking directly at her bridesmaids now.
Three bridesmaids standing together | Source: Midjourney
No, she accused them.
His face twisted with rage.
“How could you do this? You’re my closest people! My closest friends! And it’s none of your business. None of your business. What’s going on?”
“At first, we didn’t want to believe Elena,” said Maddie, Sofia’s best friend. “But after she showed us the evidence…we all knew Max deserved better.”
Close-up of a bridesmaid | Source: Midjourney
Elena took a small step forward. I knew that look on my sister’s face. She was trying extremely hard to keep control. But when she spoke, her voice was calm, cold, and final.
“Sofia, this became our business from the moment we found out what kind of person you really are.”
She lifted her chin slightly.
“It became our business the moment we found out who my brother was going to spend his life with.”
Sofia clenched her fists.
“You had no right!” she screamed, her voice rising to hysteria.
A frustrated bridesmaid | Source: Midjourney
I tilted my head.
“No right? Really? To know the truth about the woman I was going to marry?”
She turned back to me, her despair clawing at her anger now.
“I can explain to you… Max!”
I shook my head. I couldn’t stand to hear his explanation. Or lack thereof. On one hand, I wanted to know everything. On the other hand, I just wanted Sofia out of my life forever.
An upset groom | Source: Midjourney
“No, Sofia,” I said after a moment. My voice was calm. Controlled. Deadly.
“You just don’t like getting caught.”
A choked sound escaped his lips. A mixture of rage, humiliation, and something close to fear. His eyes scanned the room again, searching for someone, anyone, who would stand up for him.
But no one moved. No one dared to make a sound. No one came to his aid.
Wedding guests | Source: Midjourney
The guests stood frozen in their seats, too stunned to react.
Sofia’s bridesmaids stood silently, their black dresses making them look more like pallbearers than wedding attendants.
She had never felt so alone. I could see it in her face.
Sofia’s breathing stopped.
Then she turned and ran. She spun, the skirt of her dress billowing behind her. But in her haste, she stepped on the hem.
A bride running down the aisle | Source: Midjourney
She stumbled and barely caught herself before she stumbled again. Her hands grabbed at the fabric of her dress, lifting her just enough to run away down the aisle.
No one stopped her. No one chased her. Not even her parents or her brother.
I exhaled slowly, releasing a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
Then I turned to Elena.
Back view of a bride | Source: Midjourney
She came over and held out her hand to me. I shook it in gratitude. Around me, the guests stood frozen in shock, their eyes flickering between me and the empty space where Sofia had been just moments ago.
I looked at my sister, my family, and the bridesmaids who had stood by my side today, not in a wedding, but in something entirely different.
“I know this isn’t what everyone expected,” I told the crowd. “But I’m done pretending. Go inside, eat, drink. Everything will be fine.”
An upset groom | Source: Midjourney
I walked down the aisle, needing a few moments to myself before going back in. That’s when I saw her.
She sat on the sidewalk, her white dress bunched around her like a ghost of the life she had lost.
Her hands were shaking, her shoulders were hunched, and she was no longer the radiant bride. She was just a woman who had finally exhausted her lies.
She looked up as I approached, her mascara smudged, her eyes red and pleading. She reached out, her fingers brushing my sleeve, then she grabbed my wrist, gripping it like a lifeline.
A bride sitting on a sidewalk | Source: Midjourney
“Max,” she said. “Please. I’ll do anything… just don’t let this end.”
I didn’t answer. Instead, I walked away.
“I made a mistake,” she said. “I was scared. I was stupid. But it was never real with him. It was always you, Max. It was always you…”
For a moment I looked at her.
“If it was still me,” I said quietly, “you wouldn’t have needed to say that.”
A groom standing outside | Source: Midjourney
“Please,” she begged.
“I’ll ask your mother to bring you some dinner,” I said.
I turned away and kept walking. I didn’t look back.
Instead, I went back into the room and helped myself to the buffet Sofia had provided.
A wedding buffet | Source: Midjourney
It was supposed to be a fairy tale.
But fairy tales end when the villain shows his true colors. And Sofia had just written the ending herself.
If you liked this story, here’s another one for you.
Amber was one of those little girls who planned every moment of her wedding day. So when Tim proposes, she knows exactly what she wants her day to look like. Except when her friends want to join her for coffee, they spill more than Amber ever thought possible. It turns out that Amber’s friend Ellie cheated on Tim, so Amber decides to use her dream wedding as a stage for revenge.
This work is inspired by real events and persons, but has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or to real events is purely coincidental and is not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims as to the accuracy of events or portrayal of characters and are not responsible for any misinterpretations. This story is provided “as is,” and all opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
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