My Fiancé Betrayed The Wrong Mafia Heiress Chapter 04
Even My Parents Knew
I sit alone in the living room all night.
My wedding dress hangs by the window inside a white garment bag. Moonlight traces its pale outline, making it look like a ghost suspended in the darkness.
Tomorrow, I am supposed to attend my final fitting.
Three days from now, I am supposed to wear that dress and walk down an aisle covered in flowers.
My father will place my hand in Ethan’s.
My mother will cry from the front row.
Vanessa will stand beside me as my maid of honor.
They will all smile as they send me into a marriage built on lies.
At 4:17 a.m., the lock finally turns.
Ethan slips inside quietly.
When he sees me sitting in the dark, he stops.
“Serena?”
He switches on the floor lamp.
Warm light fills the room.
His hair is still damp. He must have showered before coming home. His shirt is buttoned wrong, and a dark red mark shows above his collar, and a dark red mark shows above his collar.
He walks over and crouches in front of me.
The faint scent of jasmine and sandalwood clings to him.
Vanessa’s perfume.
“Why are you still awake?” he asks.
I look directly into his eyes.
“Ethan, cancel the wedding.”
He freezes.
Then his gaze moves over my swollen, red eyes.
“What kind of joke is this?”
“I played a game last night,” I say. “The Future Call challenge.”
His hand stills on his watch.
The color slowly drains from his face.
“Serena, were you testing me?”
A bitter laugh escapes me.
His first reaction is not guilt.
It is anger that I caught him.
“If I hadn’t tested you, how long were you planning to make a fool of me?”
He says nothing.
My eyes burn as I stare at the mark Vanessa left on his skin.
“You two are disgusting.”
His hand strikes my face.
The slap snaps my head to the side.
For a moment, I cannot move.
Heat spreads across my cheek as I slowly lift a hand to cover it.
Ethan stares at his own palm. He looks almost shocked, as if he did not expect himself to hit me either.
Then his expression hardens.
“Serena, you had no right to call her that.”
Blood rushes to my head.
He comes home from my sister’s bed, wearing her perfume and her marks, and still thinks he has the right to defend her.
I raise my hand and swing at him.
“You don’t get to hit me!”
He catches my wrist before my palm reaches his face.
His fingers tighten around my arm until it hurts.
“My parents have never laid a hand on me,” I say through clenched teeth.
A cold smile touches his mouth.
“Your parents?”
He leans closer.
“They’ve known about Vanessa and me the entire time.”
My body goes still.
He watches my face as if he enjoys seeing me hurt.
“Last Thanksgiving, your mother dragged you out to go shopping as soon as you arrived. Your father claimed he needed to pick up the pumpkin pie.”
I remember that afternoon.
My mother kept me out for almost three hours, even after I told her I wanted to go home.
When we finally returned, Vanessa and Ethan were sitting on opposite sides of the living room.
I never questioned it.
“They were getting you out of the house so Vanessa and I could be alone,” Ethan says.
His grip loosens, but I can no longer feel my hand.
“Your whole family has been covering for us.”
He releases me with a small shove.
“Wake up, Serena.”
My knees hit the floor.
Ethan looks down at me without a trace of pity.
“If I were you, I’d make good use of whatever guilt your future husband still feels.”
His mouth curves into a cruel smile.
“After all, even your own parents don’t love you.”