My Family Chose My Sister Over My Love And I Disappeared Chapter 03
Eventually, they tired of yelling and stopped.
Diana: 【Forget it. Nana’s out there. She’ll find a way to hold Sloane back.】
Diana: 【Sienna’s wedding is what matters right now. Let’s not waste time on people who don’t count.】
I laughed.
My boyfriend’s wedding. How could I possibly be someone who didn’t count.
Half an hour later, the ceremony officially began.
Balloons and flowers everywhere. Ribbons drifting through the air, celebrating the newlyweds.
The vows were exchanged. Sienna rose up on her toes, shy.
Just as the two of them were about to kiss, the ballroom doors flew open.
The air in the room froze.
Julian stiffened.
“How are you…”
I finished for him.
“How am I here? How come Nana didn’t warn you in time?”
Mom and Dad went pale. Madison stood up, ready to head me off.
The officiant recovered fastest and jumped in to smooth things over.
“This young lady must be a late-arriving special guest. Please, come sit in the front row.”
I walked straight up to the platform and took the microphone from his hand.
“I’m not a special guest.”
“I’m Ethan Vance’s girlfriend of five years.”
“And the bride is my biological sister.”
The ballroom erupted.
Dad’s face went dark.
“What the hell are you talking about? Get down. Now.”
Mom snatched the mic.
“So sorry, everyone. This poor girl ran a very high fever as a child. It affected her mind. She’s had trouble telling reality from fantasy ever since.”
“She’s been infatuated with Ethan since she was a kid. Seeing him get married today must have set her off.”
Julian grabbed my arm. Madison shoved me from the other side.
Ethan strode up and dropped his voice low.
“Sloane. Let me explain. I have my reasons. After the wedding, I’ll tell you everything.”
Before I could react, the three of them were half-carrying me out of the ballroom.
Slap.
Mom’s hand came up and cracked across my face. My left cheek was swelling by the second.
“Sloane Carter. You won’t stop until this whole family is humiliated, will you?”
I held my cheek. Tears fell in fat, heavy drops.
“I’m the humiliation?”
“So Sienna being the other woman, that’s fine?”
Dad’s eyes went ice cold.
“They got their marriage license last month. Technically, you’re the other woman.”
Julian leaned against the wall and sighed.
“We knew you’d make a scene. That’s exactly why we kept it from you.”
Madison wouldn’t meet my eye.
“Sloane. Just keep some dignity for yourself.”
“Ethan doesn’t love you anymore. Clinging on isn’t going to change that. Just let them have this.”
Let them have it.
I laughed.
When Mom’s back was bothering her, I combed every store in Boston to find her the best therapy device.
When Dad blew tens of thousands on stocks, I picked up overtime shifts to plug the hole for him.
When Julian got into that car accident, I gave up a promotion I’d been fighting for all quarter, took time off, and sat by his hospital bed.
And now, they were asking me to step aside for the people who had gutted me.
“In your dreams.”
Madison saw my face and gave a resigned shake of her head.
“I really wasn’t going to show you these. But at this point, I think you need to see them.”
She sent a shared album to my phone.
Every step of Ethan and Sienna, from strangers to lovers, laid out in pictures.
Them holding hands and running through the surf in the Maldives. Kissing under fireworks at the Eiffel Tower.
Him carrying her over a puddle after the rain. Her wiping sweat off his forehead.
I looked at the dates stamped on the photos, and something inside my chest just hollowed out.
So my eight years with him had five of theirs sitting inside it.
Every single person had known. Every single person had chosen to keep it from me.
Just like that, I didn’t even have the energy to fight anymore.
Right on cue, my phone buzzed. A flight notification popped up.
【Ms. Carter, your booking to Lisbon has been confirmed. Please arrive at the terminal two hours before departure.】
I pulled off the promise ring Ethan had given me and, with everything I had, threw it into the storm drain beside me.
“Fine. I’ll let you have this.”
“But starting today, you and I are nothing to each other.”