Revenge at the AltarChapter 1

An hour before our wedding, my fiancé, Ethan Carter, finally told me:

“The dress came in the wrong size. It’s one size too small. Chloe’s slimmer than you, so it fits her perfectly. Just let her stand in for you at the ceremony.”

I was about to stop them.

But my best friend, Chloe Parker, was already wearing my wedding dress.

Her eyes were red when she looked at me.

“Claire, the dress is a size too small. You can barely walk in it. Besides, today is just the public ceremony. We aren’t getting legally married at the courthouse until tomorrow.”

“Once the photos come out, we can use AI to put your face over mine.”

“No need to explain.”

Ethan took Chloe’s hand.

“The wedding’s about to start. Everyone’s waiting.”

I gave a furious laugh.

“Ethan, do you even understand what a wedding means?”

His expression stayed calm.

“Of course I do. You’re still the one coming with me tomorrow to make the marriage legal.”

I tried to stop them.

But Ethan’s mother, Diane Carter, held me back.

“Chloe just wants to go through the ceremony with Ethan once. Do you really have to be so cruel and turn this into a fight?”

I watched Ethan put his arm around Chloe and walk away with her.

Then I gave a bitter laugh and made a call.

“I’m not marrying Ethan anymore.”

“You once told me that if I ever changed my mind, you’d come get me.”

“Does that offer still stand?”

...

“If the dress is the wrong size, it’s the wrong size. We can fix the photos with AI afterward. They’ll look the same.”

By the time Ethan said that, Chloe was already in my wedding dress.

She looked at me with red-rimmed eyes.

“Claire, you’re taller than I am. You can barely walk in this dress now.”

“I’m the closest to your size here, so I’m the only one who can fill in.”

“If the wrong dress was delivered, can’t they send the right one?”

I smiled.

“Call the studio. Tell them to bring my wedding dress here right now.”

“Stop making a scene.”

Ethan frowned.

“The ceremony starts in half an hour.”

“Then everyone can wait.”

I pulled out a chair and sat down.

“We start when my dress gets here.”

“I’ll cover the extra venue and photography fees, along with any other costs caused by the delay.”

Everyone froze.

Chloe’s eyes instantly filled with tears.

“Claire, do you really have to do this?”

I had no idea why she was crying.

It was my wedding.

All I had done was say that I wanted to wait for my own wedding dress.

Yet there she stood, wearing a dress made from my design, hiding her face as she burst into tears.

“Why aren’t you ready yet?”

The wedding planner hurried over, visibly anxious.

Several guests followed behind her.

“Mr. Carter, the photographers and press are ready. You need to come out now!”

“It’s not that we don’t want to go.”

Chloe spoke before I could.

“Claire insists that the studio bring another wedding dress.”

Several people immediately turned to look at me.

The Bennett and Carter families had been business partners for years.

Since our engagement, Seattle’s tech industry had viewed the wedding as a sign of a deeper alliance between our families.

But I had always kept a low profile.

A professional management team handled Bennett Technologies’ day-to-day operations. I rarely spoke to entertainment reporters and had no public social media accounts.

So while most guests knew Ethan Carter was marrying the Bennett heiress, many had never seen me.

At a wedding, everyone would naturally assume the woman in the gown beside Ethan was the bride.

“This is supposed to be your wedding day. Look how many people are waiting out there. How can you hold up the entire ceremony over one dress?”

“Exactly. Keep this up and we’ll have to rearrange the whole schedule.”

Someone even frowned at me.

“Who are you, anyway? Why do you keep interfering with someone else’s wedding?”

“Sorry, everyone.”

Ethan was already smiling as he took Chloe’s white-gloved hand.

“We’re coming out now.”

The groomsmen crowded around the doorway.

“Hurry up. Wait any longer and the reception will be delayed too!”

Chloe blushed and laughed.

“Ethan!”

I stopped them.

“And the wedding photos the press takes today? Can you fix those with AI too?”

“You never liked showing your face in public anyway.”

Ethan looked back at me.

“We’ll retake the official photos later. Does it really matter whose wide shots the press uses today?”

“This is my wedding.”

“I’m just going through the public ceremony with Chloe.”

“Ethan, if you walk out there with her, I’m canceling the wedding.”

Ethan froze.