She Left Me for the Swimming Instructor

The day before Valentine’s, my fiancée—who feared water—announced she was taking swimming lessons.

I knew instantly: she’d fallen for the instructor downstairs.

I went to one class, then gave her an ultimatum: call off the wedding or cut ties with him.

Vivian stormed out and didn’t return all night.

The next day, she came back exhausted and aching, but swore I was the only one from then on.

At our wedding, as the officiant said, “You may kiss the bride,” she shoved me away.

“I can’t kiss someone I don’t love,” she choked out. “I can’t lie to my heart.”

In a flash of white silk, she ran from the altar straight into the weeping instructor’s arms in the crowd.

The room erupted. Cameras flashed like a supernova.

I became the city’s laughingstock overnight.

The top trending video was their passionate kiss at my wedding.

My heart turned to ash.

Since you chose to betray me again, don’t blame me for burning your world down.

…

Watching her run, the last ember of hope inside me died.

I swept my arm across the champagne tower, sending a cascade of crystal and glass shattering to the floor.

My voice was a blade of ice. “If you walk out that door right now, my family, the Blackwoods, and yours, the Crosses—from this day on, it's war.”

Vivian faltered, her eyes instantly welling with tears.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice carrying across the stunned silence. “But I can’t betray my heart. I’ll make it up to you someday.”

Within thirty minutes, the headlines were everywhere: Heiress Vivian Cross Abandons Wedding for True Love.

The internet comments were brutal.

【LOL, is this guy for real? Sounds like a villain from a cheap romance novel! Getting dumped is exactly what he deserves!】

【If he’s this arrogant in public, imagine what a monster he is in private. Someone should investigate the Blackwood family!】

【Go Vivian! Women shouldn’t be sacrificed for family alliances!】

In a flash, the Blackwood name became a joke. And Vivian, the architect of my humiliation, was hailed by the media as a modern heroine, bravely chasing her heart.

I scrolled through the screen, my face a mask of stone. Then I saw her latest post, an “apology statement.”

【While this decision has deeply hurt Donovan, I simply cannot accept a marriage without love, to spend the rest of my life in a numb stupor… The fault is all mine. I beg you all not to direct your anger at him.】

The accompanying photo was of her, eyes swollen from crying. What truly stung was the cheap silver ring on her finger. It wasn’t the one I’d given her.

Then, Dylan, the instructor, poured gasoline on the fire:

【Vivian feels terrible, she’s lost so much weight over this. You can’t force love. I hope we can all still be friends.】

A laugh, raw and furious, tore from my throat.

If she had been honest with me before the wedding, I would have let her go. I would have given her my blessing.

But she hadn't.

She chose this moment, in front of the whole city, to grind my family’s dignity into the dust.

And now she thought she c...