Chapter 4: The Best Man's Silence
Ryan didn't answer immediately.
He looked at the floor.
He looked at the window at the end of the hallway.
He looked everywhere except at David.
"Ryan."
"Six months," Ryan said.
The two bridesmaids near the door quietly moved into the reception room and pulled the door almost closed behind them.
Almost.
"Six months," David said.
"You've known for six months."
"She came to me.
She said she was scared.
She said she needed someone to talk to and she didn't know what to do." Ryan finally looked up.
"I told her she had to tell you.
I told her that three times."
"And when she didn't?"
Ryan said nothing.
"You stood up there with me today," David said.
"You stood at that altar with me."
"I know."
"You handed me the rings."
"David—"
"You gave a speech last night about honesty." David's voice did not rise.
That was somehow worse.
"You told that story about us at university.
You said I was the most decent man you'd ever known and that Nicole was lucky to have me."
Ryan's face had gone the color of old ash.
"I'm sorry."
"You're sorry."
"I should have told you.
I know that.
I've known that every day for six months and I didn't — I convinced myself it wasn't my place.
That it was between the two of you.
That maybe she'd tell you herself before—" He stopped.
"There's no good version of this.
I know."
Nicole stepped forward.
Her voice had shifted — softer now, careful.
"David, Ryan was trying to protect our family.
He believed in us.
That's not a betrayal, that's a friend who—"
"Stop talking," David said.
She stopped.
He turned back to Ryan.
"Is there anything else?
Anything else you know that I don't?"
Ryan glanced at Nicole.
Just for a fraction of a second.
Elena saw it.
David saw it.
"Ryan," Elena said softly.
"Please."
Ryan looked at her — at Lily still pressed against her side, at the dark room behind them with the door still hanging open.
Something shifted in his face.
"The apartment," he said.
"The one she said she gave up when she moved in with you."
David frowned.
"What about it?"
"She didn't give it up.
She's still paying rent on it.
Has been for the past eight months."
Nicole's composure cracked — just for a moment, just around the eyes.
Then it sealed back over.
"That is completely irrelevant—"
"Whose name is on the lease?" David asked.
Nicole said nothing.
"Whose name, Nicole."
She lifted her chin.
"It's a private arrangement.
It has nothing to do with us."
"Is it his?" David said.
"Marcus's father.
Is it his name on that lease?"
The candles in the reception room had burned lower.
Through the almost-closed door, Elena could hear the murmur of guests who had stopped pretending not to listen.
Nicole's voice came out very quietly.
"You don't understand the position I was in."
"Then help me understand it."
"I was alone.
I found out I was pregnant and I was alone and I panicked.
And then I met you and you were so good, David.
You were so steady and so kind and I thought — I thought I could make it work.
I thought if I loved you enough it wouldn't matter."
"It matters," David said.
"It matters to Marcus.
It matters to whoever his father actually is.
It matters to me."
"I know." Her voice broke on the word.
"I know it does."
"Is he still in your life?"
She didn't answer.
David nodded slowly, as if the silence had confirmed something he had already suspected.
He reached into his jacket and took out his phone.
"I need you to leave," he said.
"I need everyone who came with Nicole to leave this house right now.
Quietly.
No scenes."
Nicole's hand came out and gripped his arm.
"David, please.
Please don't do this here.
Think about what you're throwing away."
He looked at her hand on his arm.
She let go.
"The car that brought you here is still outside," he said.
"I'll have your things sent to the hotel."
Nicole stood very still.
Then she looked past David — past Ryan, past the guests near the door — and her eyes landed on Elena.
The look lasted only a moment.
But it carried everything in it: fury, calculation, and something that might, in another life, have been shame.
Then she turned and walked toward the front of the house.
Her heels were the only sound in the hallway.
Until she stopped.
Her hand rested on the door frame.
She didn't turn around.
"You'll regret this," she said.
"When you're alone and you realize what you gave up — you'll regret it."
She walked out.
The front door closed.
David stood in the hallway for a long moment.
Then he crouched down to Lily's height.
"Hey, bug," he said quietly.
"Are you okay?"
Lily studied him with serious eyes.
"Is the wedding cancelled?"
"Yeah," David said.
"The wedding is cancelled."
Lily thought about this.
"Can we still have cake?"
Something moved across David's face — not quite a smile, not quite not one.
But then his phone buzzed in his hand.
He looked at the screen.
And the almost-smile disappeared.
It was a message from a number he didn't recognize.
*She told me you'd end it.
May you like
I've been waiting.
We need to talk about my son.*
