Chapter 3

The sun is barely up when I get to the hotel.

My job today: keep this whole circus running. Greet the guests. Cue the music. Smile.

I'm the "ex-bride." Already forgotten.

The bridal suite is on the fourth floor. Willa's in there with her bridesmaids — champagne, hairspray, a photographer crouched in the corner snapping every giggle. Sean is two floors down with the groomsmen, getting his bowtie fixed.

They won't lay eyes on each other until she walks down the aisle.

Standard Western wedding. Tradition. Bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the ceremony.

I stand in the hallway with my clipboard, going over the timeline. The double doors of the groom's suite swing open.

Sean steps out first. The groomsmen tumble out behind him, fixing each other's pocket squares, half-drunk on mimosas already. They head for the elevator. They don't see me tucked behind the floral display by the wall.

Their voices carry.

"I thought I was hammered last night and heard it wrong. They actually swapped the bride?"

"You didn't know? The invitations were printed in two names from the start. One set for Ally, one for Willa. Sutton had them ready months ago."

"Damn. I thought Ally would lose it. Girl from nothing finally lands a Sutton — then hands him over to her own sister? Forget ever marrying into that family now."

"Nah, she's classy. That's why she lasted with the boss this long."

"Classy my ass. You'd be classy if you knew screaming wouldn't change a thing?"

They snort with laughter.

Sean is a few steps ahead. He hears the last one. He stops.

He turns around. Looks at them.

"You guys done running your mouths?"

They shut up fast.

"My girl's tough. Willa was raised soft — she can't take what Ally can. If I don't shield her, who will?"

One of his closest buddies grins. Slaps his shoulder.

"All right, all right. Ally's still our girl. We all know this wedding's just a show. You two have a courthouse appointment day after tomorrow, right?"

He winks. " That one counts. Once she signs that license, she's not going anywhere."

Sean nods. Satisfied. The elevator dings. They step in. The doors slide shut.

I stay behind the flowers. I don't move.

All I can hear in my head is one line.

She can't take what Ally can.

Right. Of course.

Willa grew up in the Sutton mansion. Spoiled. Soft. Of course she can't take it.

But why is it my job to?

My mom used to yank me by the hair and call me a money pit. A useless girl. If school wasn't free and mandatory, I never would have learned to read.

I clawed my way into the best high school in the city. My parents wouldn't give me a dime for food. I ate bread and pickles for three years straight.

Sean knows all of this.

I went to college on the other side of the country and never planned to come back. I wired money home every month. That was it. No calls. No visits.

Those four years were the happiest of my life.

Nobody hit me. Nobody screamed at me. Nobody kicked my door open at midnight asking for cash.

I thought I was free.

Then two years ago, Sean took me to meet his parents.

Mrs. Sutton said it right up front. Sipping her tea.

"The Suttons are a respectable family. A daughter-in-law's family needs to be presentable. We don't want gossip."

Sean took my hands. Pleaded.

"Ally, baby. Just move back in with your folks for a while. For us. Hang in there until my mom signs off on the wedding."

So I moved back home. To make Sean's life easier.

For two years I played the happy daughter.

Mom wanted money. I gave it. Dad lost at the track. I covered it.

The neighbors said, "Look how your girl's done so well." My mother beamed. "Of course she has. She's marrying a Sutton."

She forgot she ever called me a useless girl.

She forgot.

I didn't.

I thought there was an end to all this. Once I got married, I'd build my own home with Sean. Far away from them.

If they came knocking? They'd be the Suttons' in-laws too. Sean would have my back.

That's what I thought.

But now —

The elevator's gone. The hallway is quiet. The floral display in front of me smells like a funeral parlor.

I'm still standing here. Holding a clipboard. About to go run someone else's wedding.