CHAPTER 3 — THE MOMENT EVERYTHING BREAKS
We returned to the hall.
The wedding music had completely stopped now.
No one tried to restart it.
Rachel walked beside me, her voice dropping into something softer, more desperate.
“You’re ruining everything we built.”
I laughed once.
Not because it was funny.
Because it finally made sense.
“What we built?” I repeated.
I turned toward her.
“And where was Chloe in that ‘we’?”
She didn’t answer.
That silence was louder than the crowd.
Then she said it.
“She changes things. She makes everything about her.”
A murmur spread instantly through the guests.
I looked at my daughter.
She looked down.
Trying to disappear.
That was the moment something inside me stopped negotiating.
I stepped to the microphone again.
Rachel grabbed my arm.
“Don’t you dare—”
I gently removed her hand.
Not violently.
Just final.
Then I spoke.
“This wedding is over.”
Gasps.
Shock.
Stunned silence.
Rachel’s face drained of color.
“You can’t do this,” she whispered. “Not for her.”
I looked at Chloe.
May you like
And corrected her softly.
“I’m doing it because of her.”
