CHAPTER 1: THE WEDDING ENDS IN SILENCE
The music downstairs never stopped.
But upstairs, the celebration was already dead.
Adrian didn’t shout.
Didn’t move.
Didn’t even blink.
He just stared at the woman he had married less than an hour ago… like he was seeing her for the first time.
“Say something,” she whispered, her voice trembling now, no longer perfect.
Adrian stepped past her.
Not toward her.
Past her.
Straight to his son.
He knelt slowly, his voice breaking for the first time that night.
“Hey… look at me.”
The boy hesitated.
Then finally lifted his tear-streaked face.
Adrian’s chest tightened.
“I’m here,” he said softly. “No one is locking you away again. Ever.”
The bride let out a sharp breath. “Adrian, you’re overreacting—”
“Stop talking.”
His voice was quiet.
But final.
For the first time, fear flickered in her eyes.
The guests downstairs laughed.
Glasses clinked.
May you like
But the marriage upstairs had already shattered.
And everyone in that hallway knew it.
