Chapter 99
Camila POV
The days passed in a weird, foggy blur. Like I blinked and time just… slipped between my fingers. Everything felt distant. Like I was watching life through a thick sheet of glass–wate, but not really there. Detached in the kind of way that sneaks up on you and settles heavy. on your chest when you’re not paying attention.
And now… here I was.
Sitting in the front row of the chapel. Watching my mother, my actual mother, standing at the altar in this stunning off–white gown that shimmered every time she moved. Her hair was pinned up in soft curls with these tiny pearls tucked into them, and for a second–just a second- I almost forgot about everything else. She looked radiant. Ridiculously beautiful. And oddly… peaceful.
She smiled up at Greg like he was the sun, the
and all the air in her lungs.
God, I should probably feel something. Something other than this cold emptiness wrapped in confusion and dressed up as politeness.
“I do,” she declared, her voice soft but clear, and the whole chapel sighed like it’d been waiting to exhale.
I blinked slowly, then flinched a little when I felt a nudge to my side.
Tessa. Sitting beside me in her blush pink dress that somehow managed to not wrinkle all day. Her eyes were a little too observant as she leaned closer and whispered, “You look pale. Are you okay?”
I didn’t even know how to answer that.
I gave her the best smile I could fake. “I’m good,” I said softly. “Just tired, maybe.”
She gave me a look, like she didn’t quite believe it, but she didn’t press. Instead, she turned back toward the ceremony as the pastor cleared his throat and gestured toward Greg.
Greg. My official stepfather now, I guess.
He looked sharp in his fitted navy suit, hair neatly slicked back, and that perfect smile on his face as he lifted the veil from my mom’s face, leaned in, and kissed her.
The room erupted in applause and cheers and scattered “aww“s
It was happening. This was really happening.
ke
a
cheesy movie scene come to life. Someone behind me even sniffled.
And I was just… sitting there. Watching it all play out like I wasn’t part of it.
I folded my hands in my lap, gripping them tightly as if that would anchor me to the moment. As if that would stop the uncomfortable swell rising in my chest, heavy and bitter.
And then–I don’t know why–I looked to the right.
Ethan.
He was standing a few rows over, on Greg’s side. Probably dragged there because of whatever dumb family obligation he owed. He wasn’t clapping. Just standing still, hands shoved into his pockets, hair a little messy like he didn’t bother to tame it properly this morning.
But his eyes… they were already on me.
Our gazes locked.
Chapter 99
For a long second, neither of us looked away.
I didn’t know what I expected to see in his eyes. Annoyance? Sadness? Acceptance?
But instead… there was just this quiet.
This stillness.
My throat tightened, and I blinked, breaking the eye contact first, pretending to adjust my dress or smooth my hair or do literally anything else.
I couldn’t look at him anymore. Not with the way his gaze made it feel like I was being peeled open. Seen. Vulnerable in a way I hadn’t been in so long, it almost scared me.
The wedding ended in the usual chaos.
People rushing to congratulate them, flowers being thrown, someone already dragging out a Bluetooth speaker to play that one stupid Bruno Mars song everyone insists on dancing to at weddings. I saw my mom beam as she hugged someone, the picture of newlywed happiness.
I stood there like a stranger at a stranger’s party.
I
It wasn’t that I wasn’t happy for her. I think a small part of me was. She looked… truly content. I hadn’t seen her smile that wide in years…
But God, everything felt wrong.
The house. This marriage. Greg. Ethan!
I didn’t know what to do with it all. So I just stood there. Numb and smiling.
Eventually, someone called out for the family to take pictures, and I got swept into a group photo before I could slink away.
Tessa clung to my side, and even though I knew she was trying to ground me,
it only made me feel more out of place.
The photographer told us to say cheese. I said nothing.
I kept my eyes forward and my smile small. And when the camera flashed, I wasn’t even sure I showed up in the picture.
The reception was already in full swing by the time I made it to a seat. The music was loud, the champagne was flowing like water, and the guests looked like they were having the time of their lives. 1, on the other hand, felt like I was stuck in a weird alternate reality–one where my mother just married Greg, and I had to pretend like I was happy about it.
I wasn’t.
I mean, I smiled. I laughed at the speeches. I clinked glasses when someone raised a toast. But it was all… fake. There was this buzzing in my chest that wouldn’t go away. Like a low hum of discomfort, and I couldn’t tell if it was from the whole wedding thing, or just the fact that Ethan had been staring at me on and off all day.
Tessa returned with a glass of something bubbly and handed it to me.
“You seriously look like you saw a ghost.“/
“I’m fine,” I told her, which was the biggest lie I’d told all week. And that’s saying something.
