Her gaze hits the floor. As if whatever she’s going to say—or can’t say—is too foul for her to face.

Holy shit, it’s uglier than I thought. “You were bluffing, and he called you on it.”

She lifts her chin, wiping at her tearstained cheeks. “Yes. No.” She throws up her hands and shakes her head. “I don’t know.”

“A tiny part of you hoped he’d stand up there and stop the wedding. Is that it?”

Before she can answer, someone knocks on the door of the suite.

In the hall, Lina calls out, “Ella. Dean. May I speak with you for a moment?”

Oh, right. We’re in the middle of a fucking wedding, and the guests must be wondering what’s going on. I heave myself off the couch and open the door.

Lina pokes her head in. She looks from me to Ella and grimaces apologetically. “I need to know what to tell the guests. If you want me to stall . . .”

Stalling would be useful if there were a chance we’d get beyond this, but there isn’t. When Ella and I agreed to marry, we also promised to be honest, to always be considerate and respectful of each other. She’s been holding out on me, though. And even if she’s willing to suppress her feelings for Tyler now, she may not be able to later. Where will that leave me? I’d rather not find out. The point of all this was to build a strong foundation from day one, not start our marriage on shaky ground. “I think it’s fair to say the wedding is canceled,” I tell Lina. “Wouldn’t you agree, Ella?”

Ella covers her face with her hands and nods.

Lina steps inside. “I’m sorry. Jaslene and I will take care of informing the guests. Don’t worry about anything here. My team will deal with the vendors. I’ll follow up with you both—separately—early next week.” With a last concerned look in my direction, she withdraws from the room, and Ella and I are alone again.

“I’ll leave you to change,” I say.

“What are you going to do next?” she asks.

It’s an absurd question. Reminds me of those old TV commercials when the winning quarterback of the Super Bowl would answer that he was going to Disney World. “C’mon. It doesn’t really matter what I do next, does it?”

She chokes out a sob, then says, “I hope we can remain friends.”

“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea, but I do wish you well. And I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

“Please know that I didn’t mean to hurt you.”