“It’s nothing personal,” Kaylee insists. “If Brandon wasn’t your brother and this exact scenario happened to your best friend in the world, would you do everything in your power to help her get into the phone, or would you tell her to call the man she’s supposed to marry tomorrowto ask him about it?”
Delilah bites the inside of her cheek. Based on her body language, it seems she’s seriously considering Kaylee’s argument.
I gently lay a hand on Delilah’s arm and flash her my most you-can-trust-me facial expression. If I’m right and Delilah’s confidence has been shaken by Kaylee’s words, I want to land a knockout punch. “Please, Delilah,” I say, holding Delilah’s anxious gaze. “This feels like a life-or-death situation to me. Like everything I believe about Brandon hangs in the balance.”
I wouldn’t normally put Delilah on the spot this way or lay it on quite so thick. She’s a sensitive soul who’s deeply loyal to her brother and their entire family. But given the situation, I have to look out for myself above all others,including Delilah. Mere hours from now, I’m scheduled to marryBrandon, the likely owner of this phone. And not at city hall, with a couple of witnesses, but at the small, quaint church I grew up attending in Orchard Blossom, in front of every living person who’s ever loved me. And I can’t do that if it turns out my groom has been lying to me about more than the existence of a secret phone.
After what feels like an interminable amount of time, Harper breaks the thick silence by speaking in a pleading tone to Delilah. “If you have full faith in your brother, then you should wantIris to get into that phone to prove your point.”
Delilah swallows hard and glares at me. “If I help you get into that phone and we find out there’s nothing bad on it, promise you’ll tell Brandon what you did before the wedding tomorrow.”
“I will.”
“He needs to know he’s marrying someone who doesn’t trust him.”
I nod furiously. “If I’m wrong, I’ll drive to the hotel tonight, throw myself at Brandon’s feet, and beg him for forgiveness.”
Delilah’s shoulders droop. “What guesses have you tried already?”
Thank God.With my pulse pounding, I recount the passcode attempts I’ve made thus far, and Delilah offers two moresuggestions—the second of which opens the phone like Aladdin opening the Cave of Wonders.
“It worked!” I shriek excitedly. “You’re a genius, Delilah. My guardian angel.”
They’re the last joyful words to leave my lips for the rest of the night—and quite possibly, for the rest of my life. Once I start scrolling through the contents of Brandon’s secret phone—his texts, photos, messaging apps, porn apps, and every kind of dating app—nothing but the sounds of wails, retching, and heartbreak escape me, until finally, as the sun rises on my long-awaited wedding day, I pass out on the cool tile floor of my bathroom, feeling like my heart has been ripped open and scraped over endless shards of broken glass.
Chapter 2
Iris
I stare atmy reflection in the full-length mirror.
White gown and veil, both embellished with handmade Italian lace.
Picture-perfect makeup and hair.
My late mother’s pearl choker wrapped delicately around my neck.
If it weren’t for my red, puffy eyes, I’d be my wedding Pinterest board come to life. Well, also, if it weren’t for the fact that my groom has turned out to be a pathological liar. A narcissist, at any rate. Whatever his technical diagnoses, the bottom line is the Prince Charming I thought I’d be marrying today has turned out to be a lying, cheating sack of shit.
With a loud sigh, I unclasp my mother’s treasured necklace. I thought wearing it today would help me channel her legendary strength and tenacity. But now that I’m seeing it on me, I can’t bring myself to taint her memory this way. If I wind up getting married for real one day, I’ll wear this precious keepsake then. Granted, that seems unlikely now. I can’t imagine myself trusting any man enough to fall in love, let alone to say yes to marrying him. But time heals all wounds, so they say. I’m only twenty-six, after all. Never say never, I guess.
A rising din in the adjacent chapel jerks me from my thoughts. It sounds packed in there. Which means any minute now, my mother’s best friend, Darcy, will come in here to fetch me from my requested moment of solitude. Thankfully, Delilah promised not to give her big brother a heads-up about what we discovered last night. After she saw the phone’s contents, she agreed it wasmy news to break and nobody else’s. Poor Delilah. I think she was as devastated as me last night, in her own way.
At any rate, thanks to Delilah’s discretion, I’ve got a decision to make. Am I going to follow through with the juicy plan my friends and I cooked up last night after Delilah fell asleep, or am I going to quietly sneak out of this dressing room and leave Brandon standing at the altar in front of everyone he knows and tries so hard to impress?
If I’d found out about Brandon’s betrayals before last night—at least, with enough time to get my father’s money back from all the wedding vendors—I’m sure I would have broken up with him back then and quietly cancelled everything. It’s never been in my nature to make a scene. But given the actual timing here, I’m not willing to go gentle into that good night. The last thing I want to do is give Brandonthe unfettered opportunity to create some false narrative about me in front of everyone we know. Now that I know Brandon’s true character, who knows what he’d be willing to say to save face?
A soft knock prompts me to turn away from the mirror. But it’s not my mother’s best friend who enters the small room; it’s Kaylee, Tatiana, and Harper—aka my life support system.
“Have you decided?” Tatiana asks gently.
“Whatever you want to do,” Harper adds, “we support you one hundred percent.”
A puff of air escapes my nose. “Well, what I want to do is douse that motherfucker in gasoline and barbeque him with a flamethrower in front of everyone he knows.”
Everyone laughs, including me. But nobody more so than Kaylee.
“Sounds like a great plan to me,” Kaylee says with a gleam in her eyes. “I’ll go get the flamethrower, baby.”
