Chapter 2: The Name He Never Said Out Loud
Part 2:
The door burst open.
My maid of honor, Diane, rushed in — then froze when she saw my face.
"What happened?
Are you hurt?"
I couldn't speak.
I was holding a marriage certificate.
Ryan's name was on it.
His signature.
His date of birth.
But the bride's name wasn't mine.
It was a woman named Cassandra Wells.
Married three years ago.
No record of divorce anywhere on the document.
"Emma." My voice came out barely a whisper.
"Where did Daddy get this?"
She tugged at her flower girl dress, suddenly uncertain.
"I don't know.
But I heard him on the phone once.
He said her name.
He said she was coming back."
The room tilted.
"Coming back?" Diane stepped closer.
"Coming back when?"
Emma looked toward the door.
"Today," she said quietly.
"He said she was coming today."
That's when we heard it — a commotion in the hallway outside the chapel.
Raised voices.
A woman's voice cutting through the crowd.
And then Ryan's voice, low and urgent, saying a name I'd never heard him say out loud before.
Cassandra.
I stood up.
My dress caught on the chair.
I didn't care.
Because if that certificate was real — I wasn't about to become wife number two without knowing the truth first.
I reached for the door handle.
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What Ryan was hiding goes far deeper than one document.
Click the link below to read the full story — and find out who Cassandra really is.
