The smile on Allister’s face winks out completely. Turning toward the stunned priest in front of us, he shakes his head. “I apologize for my fiancée’s outburst, Father. Perhaps there’s a more private place where we can?—”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I tell him quietly before I continue reading.“Paige—It would serve her right. She might learn a thing or two about what it takes to keep a man satisfied and faithful.”
Behind me, Gwen practically snarls. “You backstabbingwhore.”
“Stop it, Millie—right this instant.” Panicked, Allister reaches for me like he means to shake some sense into me. Hand closing over my arm, he squeezes while trying to pull me closer. Reaching down, he starts to pry my fingers away from my phone so he can take it. When I tighten my grip, he gives me a rough shake. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”
In my peripheral, I catch movement. Someone standing up from their seat behind me. More than one. Looking into thecrowd, I see my father in the front row. My uncle Andy directly behind him. Dean in the back, standing, center aisle, like he’s about to charge up the middle of it.
“Let her go,right now,or I’m going to knock you the fuck out—sorry, Father.”
Turning away from the crowd, I find Dalton, of all people, standing a few feet away, fists clenched at his sides.
Allister’s right—Iamembarrassing myself. Right now, I’m downright humiliated but instead of quitting, I keep at it. Jerking my arm out of his grip before either one of them has a chance to react, I shake my head.“Allister—don’t be cruel, Paige.”
“Millie, this is a complete overreaction—” Lifting a hand to his face, Allister gives it a rough scrub like he thinks this might be a nightmare he can wake himself up from. “I can explain. If you’d just give me a chance to explain, I can fix this. I can?—”
“Paige—why? Do you love her?Allister—don’t be ridiculous. Of course I don’t love her.”
More gasps. A few coughs. Someone clears their throat like they’re getting ready to cut me off but there’s no point—I’m finished.
On cue, the sanctuary is filled with a cacophony of bells and trills—the sound of notifications popping up on people’s cellphones—alerting them that they’ve received an email.
Thank you, Alice.
“There’s more,” I say, turning to address the stunned crowd. “There’s a lot more and most of it would probably get me struck by lightning if I read them out loud in church, but the gist of it is that my fiancé and my cousin have been having an affair for more than two years now. I’ve sent you their text exchanges so you can read them if you want—that way you can decide for yourself if I’moverreactingor not.” Slipping my phone back into my pocket, I reach up and pullout the jewel-encrusted pins anchoring my silk tulle veil to the back of my head. Dropping it on the floor, I look at poor Father Flanagan who’s staring at me like I’m the devil himself. “Sorry, Father, but I don’t think I’ll be getting married today, after all.” Looking at Allister, I offer him a tight smile. “I’ve had your things removed from my apartment and the locks have been changed. Mitch at the front desk was gracious enough to agree to hold your items for a few days to give you time to find a new place to live.”
“You can’t do that,” Allister fumes through clenched teeth. “You can’t just?—”
“I assure you I can,” I counter coolly. “We’re not married. My assets are still my own. Make sure you let Mitch know where to send your things.”
Dismissing Allister altogether, I turn to look at Paige and my heart breaks a little because there’s nothing there. No regret. No remorse. Nothing on her perfectly beautiful face that says she’s even remotely sorry for the betrayal and pain she’s caused me and everything I’d planned to say to her simply floats away because nothing I have to say would matter to her.
“I hope it was worth it,” I say instead before turning toward the steps that’ll lead back down the aisle and away from the mess I’ve created. Almost everyone—all three hundred wedding guests—have their phones out and their noses practically pressed to the screen in an effort to read the scandalous details of the affair between my cousin and fiancé. Some of them are already taking screenshots. I have no doubt this entire thing will be plastered all over social media by the time I reach the airport.
“Millie?”
Turning at the base of the steps, I find my little sister looking down at me, a mixture of trepidation and admiration at war on her face.
“I’ll call you when I get back,” I promise her with a quiet smile. “Maybe we can have lunch.”
Pushing my way forward before she can start bombarding me with questions, I hurry past my stunned parents, barely sparing them a glance because I didn’t just humiliate myself—I humiliated them too. What I’ve done will be covered and talked about by every gossip column, celebrity entertainment show and social media influencer in the world.
Millie Blackwell: Runaway Bride
Millie Blackwell Stuns Wedding Guests with X-rated Texts
Millie Blackwell Extracts Wedding Day Revenge by Exposing Cheating Scandal
I might even be the lead story on TMZ. If not for the fact that I’ve probably ruined my family’s name, our publicist would be ecstatic.
Hurrying down the aisle, gaze zeroed in on the open doors that leads from the sanctuary into the vestibule, I don’t even see Dean, still standing in the middle of the aisle, until I practically run right into him.
“Holy shit,” Dean laughs. “When I said find a way to make that motherfucker pay, I didn’t think you were going to incite a riot, Macklemore.”
“What can I say?” I ask, throwing a quick, harried glance over my shoulder. “You give a good pep talk.” Allister and Paige are still standing on the raised dais, heads bent together, whispering to each other furiously, already trying to figure out a way to minimize the damage. Make me out to be the crazy one.
Crazy?
