Chapter 4 Public Scars - The Bride They Replaced

Ivy was standing by the foot of my bed. The expensive mermaid wedding gown was pooled on the floor next to her. She was wearing a sheer, silk slip dress.

William was standing directly in front of her. He was shirtless, wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. Both of his hands were firmly resting on Ivy’s bare waist, sliding slowly upward.

Hearing the door open, they both stopped.

Slowly, they turned their heads and looked straight at me.

"What are you doing?" My voice was quiet, but it cut through the room like shattered glass.

William yanked his hand back from Ivy’s neck. Panic flashed in his eyes for a split second before his usual arrogance took over. "Don't start, Charlotte. Ivy saw a mouse. She was terrified. I just got out of the shower and grabbed a towel to come help her."

It was a pathetic excuse.

I didn't say a word. I walked past them, went straight to the walk-in closet, and pulled my suitcase off the top shelf. I started throwing my clothes inside.

"Are you seriously going to make a scene over this?" William marched over. "Stop being so damn paranoid."

He didn't bother keeping his voice down. The footsteps of our guests echoed on the stairs. A crowd of family and friends clogged the hallway, peering into the master bedroom.

Ivy immediately shrank into William’s chest.

William shielded her. He pointed his free hand right at my face. "You are just a maid. You don't have the right to trespass in the master bedroom. Get out right now, or I'll have you thrown out!"

The whispers ignited instantly.

I knew she was just the maid.

"First she causes a scene at the rehearsal, now she's barging into the owners' bedroom? Unbelievable."

I stood there in the center of the room, stripped of my dignity.

Liam pushed his way through the crowd. He marched over, snatched my dresses off the hangers, and jammed them into my suitcase. He gripped my arm and dragged me toward the stairs.

"Go stay at a hotel for a few days until this blows over," Liam hissed under his breath. "Ivy is fragile. If rumors get out about today, her reputation is ruined. She can't handle that kind of stress."

He pulled me all the way down to the foyer. As he reached the front door, he let go with a hard shove.

My heels slipped. I crashed hard against the marble entryway. My clothes scattered all over the floor.

Two years ago, William held my hand as we walked through these exact doors. Welcome home, Charlotte, he had smiled. Our new home. Just you and me.

Now, I was being swept out like garbage.

I pushed myself up off the cold stone. My phone buzzed in my pocket. A video message from Ivy.

I tapped the screen.

The video showed Ivy curled up on the living room sofa, wiping wet tears from her cheeks. A circle of guests hovered around her.

William was kneeling beside her, rubbing her arm. "Don't be scared, Ivy. This little drama is nothing."

"You didn't know this, but back in college, Charlotte was sexually harassed by a guest professor. Creep shots of her half-dressed were plastered all over the campus forum. Everyone saw her like that."

"And look at her now—she's totally fine. This is nothing. Be a good girl, don't cry."

Liam’s voice chimed in. "He's right. She even developed severe anxiety, but Mom and Dad hid it so you wouldn't feel burdened. You can probably still find that thread if you search it up. She survived that. You've got nothing to worry about."

In the background of the video, several guests actually pulled out their phones, typing into their search bars.

My ears were ringing.

I remembered that year. I remembered William rushing into the office and beating that professor bloody, holding my shaking body as he promised me, "It's not your fault."

I remembered my brother recording the evidence and taking me to the police station to file a report.

They were my only light during the darkest time of my life.

And now, they ripped that scar wide open. They paraded my worst nightmare in front of a room full of strangers.

I quietly put my phone away. I picked up my scattered clothes, my passport, and my laptop. I stuffed them into my broken suitcase and walked out the door without looking back.

I caught a cab on the corner.

"Logan Airport," I told the driver.

As the plane lifted off the runway, I blocked every single number on my phone.

On the day of the wedding, outside Trinity Church in Boston.

William stood on the steps in a custom suit, alongside my brother and Ivy, but they were stopped by the staff outside the doors.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hale. This wedding was canceled by the person who booked it last week."

William's face drastically changed. "Canceled? Impossible! Did you make a mistake?"

He immediately pulled out his phone and dialed my number, but it went completely unanswered.

In a panic, he called the HR director at my architecture firm. He was almost roaring into the phone, "Where is Charlotte Bennett? She's getting married today. Where did she go?"

As he heard the answer on the other end of the line, his pupils shrank instantly...