Chapter 3
Nadia’s POV
The days before the wedding blurred together.
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Mera
The Calloways got busy. The ceremony. Serena’s upcoming award gala. Their smiles got bigger with every passing day.
Mine got smaller.
3y the night before the wedding, I couldn’t even get food down. I sat at the table and watched everyone else eat.
Diane set down her fork and looked at me. “Nadia, you should stay home tomorrow. You can barely move. Once things get hectic, 10 one’s going to have time to watch over you.”
Russell nodded along. “I found a specialist. Flew him in from overseas. You can see him tomorrow instead.”
opened my mouth.
Serena slammed her palm on the table.
Mom. Dad.” Her voice went sharp. “Stop it. Nadia is my sister.” She looked at me, eyes soft and perfect. “You have to be there. I need you there.”
smiled at her.
Of course I’m going,” I said. “My little sister’s getting married. Nothing could keep me away.”
Diane shot me a look that could’ve curdled milk. I ignored it.
I’ll stay in the corner the whole time,” I added. “I won’t be in anyone’s way.”
Derek snorted from across the table. “You’d better. Try anything stupid and I will not be nice about it.”
didn’t answer him.
The next morning, I was downstairs before anyone else.
erena came down the stairs and found me already waiting. Her mouth curved. “You’re so eager. Anyone would think you were the ne getting married.”
I had to start early,” I said. “Takes a while to wrap all these bandages,”
Something flickered in her eyes. Satisfaction, bright and ugly. She came the rest of the way down and clipped a name tag to my hest like she was tagging luggage.
When the housekeeper wheeled me into the reception hall, every head turned.
Whispers started immediately.
Serena has an older sister? I’ve never heard her mother mention her.”
Look at the gap between them. That explains it.”
A few guests who knew about me and Cole just stared with that particular kind of pity that made my skin crawl. I wheeled myself nto the corner I’d promised to occupy and stayed there.
Cole found me first.
He walked over with his wine glass, swirling it slow. “You insisted on coming. So why do you look like you can’t handle it?”
I let out a short laugh. Didn’t bother explaining.
I picked up my champagne and tapped it against his glass. “Happy wedding, Cole.”
His jaw went tight.
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< Chapter 3
He knocked my drink over.
The glass hit the floor and shattered. Heads turned.
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How long are you going to keep this up?” His chest heaved. “I’ve told you – once things settle, I’ll marry you. Why won’t you just
believe me?”
He actually looked wounded. Like he was the one who’d been wronged.
If you keep acting like this,” he said, voice dropping, “I might just make this real.”
Then Serena appeared at his elbow. Her hand wrapped around his arm.
Darling. Her voice was velvet. The ceremony’s starting.”
He turned away from me without another word.
sat in my corner and watched the ceremony begin.
Cole stood at the front and looked at Serena like she hung the sky.
Serena,” he said. “I will love you forever.”
She kissed him. “Me too.”
From the front row, Diane was crying. Actually sobbing, shoulders shaking, hands pressed to her face.
Derek put his arm around her. His eyes went red. “Mom, what are you talking about? Serena is your daughter. She’s all of our
ride.”
‘ride.
laughed once, soft and quiet, and turned my wheelchair toward the door.
Nadia.”
jerena’s voice, bright and carrying, cut across the entire hall.
Every face in the room swung toward me.
stopped. Pressed the brake. Turned around slow.
he stood at the front with Cole’s arm around her, both of them looking like something cut out of a magazine. She smiled at me.
Aren’t you going to say something?”
The room went still.
looked at them.
I hope you two stay happy,” I said. “Forever.”
The silence that followed had weight to it.
don’t know if it was the stiffness in my voice or the way I looked – pale and wrapped in bandages and sitting in a chair – but the oom stayed quiet a beat too long.
It didn’t go over well.
After the guests cleared out, Mom and Dad cornered me near the exit.
Was that the best you could do?” Diane’s voice had an edge like broken glass. “You embarrassed us in front of everyone. What else do you even do besides make us look bad?”
Derek stepped in front of me.
He shoved my shoulder.
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< Chapter 3
I went sideways and hit the floor. My palms scraped the tile. Pain shot up through both wrists.
Derek froze.
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He reached out instinctively, hand half-extended, then pulled it back. He couldn’t do it. Instead, he just righted my wheelchair and stepped away.
Nobody else moved.
I got myself up. One inch at a time, I dragged myself back into that chair. My arms shook the whole way.
There was nothing to say.
In their eyes I had never been enough. My blessing wasn’t right. My face wasn’t right. My existence wasn’t right. I was less than Serena in every way that had ever mattered to them.
I pushed myself toward the exit.
Near the door, Cole was standing with his wine glass.
Our eyes met.
He looked at me for exactly one second.
Then he turned and walked away.
That was the last thing I needed from him. That one second, then nothing.
Whatever had been holding me together quietly snapped.
moved through the streets slow, like something that had already stopped. When I tilted my head back, the sky above the city was ull of drones, their lights weaving and blinking, slowly forming a name.
Serena.
almost laughed out loud.
That idea had been mine. I’d sketched it out on a napkin two years ago, talking to Cole about what I wanted our wedding to look ike. I’d imagined my own name written up there.
never pictured hers.
My phone buzzed.
answered it without thinking.
Serena’s voice came through, bright and pleased. “Couldn’t hold it together? Already ran off?”
didn’t say anything.
Don’t worry,” she said. “The wedding was just the opening act. There’s still the award gala.” A pause, savoring it. “Nadia Calloway, you will never stand in the same room as Cole again. Not for the rest of your life.”
The phone slipped from my fingers.
It hit the pavement and I didn’t have the strength to lean down for it.
Serena’s voice kept going from down there, tinny and far away. “Are you there? Why aren’t you saying anything? Answer me or I’m cutting off your doctor. Everyone listens to me now. You understand that? Everyone.”
A beat of silence.
She hung up.
The street was empty. The drones kept writing her name in the sky over and over.
09 37
< Chapter 3
Then the door beside me opened.
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A man in a black suit crouched down and helped me up. His movements were careful and quiet.
“Ms. Calloway?” he said. “I’m Jay Mercer. You scheduled the final arrangements service.”
I nodded.
I pointed to the cardboard box sitting against the wall nearby. My arm felt like it weighed a hundred pounds.
“When I’m gone,” I said, “play everything in that box. At the funeral.”
My arm dropped back to my side.
I heard him exhale beside me. Slow and quiet, like someone who understood.
‘Ms. Calloway.” His voice was low. “You’ve carried a lot in this life.”
He paused.
Leave the rest to me.”
