Exposing My Cheating Fiancé At The Altar

Ten minutes before the wedding was set to start, my phone buzzed with an utterly sickening photo. In the picture, a woman lay sprawled on the ground like a stray dog. Her eyes were sunken, and she was so emaciated she looked like a skeleton wrapped in skin. Standing over her was my fiancé, Ethan, glaring down with undisguised disgust. I was just about to block the prank number when two more messages popped up. [Run. Get out of there right now! Whatever you do, DO NOT marry Ethan Hayes!] [The woman on the floor is you ten years from now!] A chill ran down my spine, but I quickly snapped back to reality and scoffed at the screen. Our vows were literally minutes away. Who was pulling such a cheap stunt? I tapped out a quick reply: [Your Photoshop skills are pathetic. Who the hell is this?] The reply came back instantly: [I am you.] [You don't believe me? Check Ethan's inner left suit pocket—the one right against his chest. Brooke's plain silver band is hidden inside.] [And Brooke's bridesmaid dress zipper broke earlier. Ethan hand-stitched it for her in the dressing room.] [There's a fresh needle prick right between the thumb and index finger of his right hand.] Click. The dressing room door swung open. Ethan walked in, looking sharp in his custom tailored white tuxedo. With his handsome features and gold-rimmed glasses, he looked every bit the devoted, cultured gentleman. "Chloe, are you ready, babe?" He smiled as he walked toward me, his eyes overflowing with tenderness. Without a word, I stood up and threw my arms around him. Ethan paused, surprised, before letting out a soft laugh and hugging me back. "About to become Mrs. Hayes, and you're still this clingy?" I pressed my cheek against the left side of his chest. Through the fine fabric, I clearly felt a hard, circular object. Right inside the inner pocket. The exact shape of a ring. On top of that, a faint trace of perfume lingered on his collar. It was Brooke's signature scent. I pushed him away abruptly and grabbed his right hand. Right in the crook between his thumb and index finger was an unmistakable red puncture mark. A fresh needle prick. The blood in my veins turned to ice. Ethan's eyes flickered with panic, and he yanked his hand back. "What's wrong, Chloe? You look like you've seen a ghost." I stared dead into his eyes. "What happened to your hand?" Ethan smiled effortlessly, not missing a beat. "Oh, my boutonniere pin slipped earlier. Just poked myself by accident." A lie slipped off his tongue without a hitch. He didn't even blush. Looking at the man I had dated for three years, I felt an overwhelming wave of terror. He was a complete stranger. My phone buzzed on the vanity again. A new message from my future self: [Believe me now? Did he claim it was a boutonniere pin?] [Chloe, your entire relationship is a lie.] [That time he ran through a torrential downpour across town to buy you soup? He didn't do it for you. Brooke had a stomach ache that night.] [He rented out the entire amusement park to propose to you because Brooke was on a date there with another guy. He did it just to make her jealous!] Staring at the glowing words, my hands shook uncontrollably. Every sweet memory I held dear suddenly turned into a razor-sharp blade aimed straight at my heart. The rainy night when Ethan arrived soaked to the skin, holding a warm thermos close to his chest... He immediately vanished onto the balcony afterward, talking on the phone for over an hour. The amusement park proposal, where he kept staring broodingly at the distant Ferris wheel, so distracted he slipped the ring onto the wrong finger... Back then, I thought he was just nervous. He was watching another woman. I took a deep, shuddering breath, fighting the nausea rising in my throat. "Ethan. Empty your inside pocket." Ethan's smile finally vanished. His hand instinctively went to his chest. "Chloe, stop playing games. The guests are waiting." I stepped forward and reached straight for his jacket. "I said, take it out!" Ethan clamped his hand down hard on my wrist with bruising force. The tenderness in his eyes was completely gone, replaced by pure, ugly irritation. "Chloe Vance, today is our wedding day! Do you really have to throw a tantrum right now?"The door clicked open once more. Brooke hurried inside wearing her blush-pink bridesmaid dress, her eyes already welling with tears. "Ethan, Chloe, why are you two arguing?" She rushed over, seemingly trying to play peacemaker. Yet, her foot landed with pinpoint accuracy right on the designer bridal heels I had set beside the vanity. Crunch. The crystal embellishments on the toe box shattered into pieces. Brooke gasped in theatrical surprise and tumbled straight into Ethan's arms. Ethan caught her seamlessly. "Brooke, are you okay?" Brooke nestled against his chest, casting me a tearful, guilty look. "Chloe, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to step on your wedding shoes." "If it comes down to it, you can wear my heels down the aisle. I don't mind dropping out as your bridesmaid!" What a textbook manipulative bitch. If this were the old me, I would have swallowed my anger just to keep the peace for the guests outside. My phone lit up again. Future Me: [She did that on purpose!] [In my timeline, I walked down the aisle in a ruined pair of shoes and became the laughingstock of the city's elite.] [And Ethan spent the reception telling everyone how embarrassing I was.] Watching Brooke play the victim in Ethan's arms, white-hot rage exploded behind my eyes. I stepped forward and raised my hand. Smack! The slap echoed sharply through the room. Brooke's head whipped to the side, five bright red welts immediately blooming across her pale cheek. The room fell dead silent. Ethan froze in shock. Brooke clutched her burning face, staring at me in utter disbelief. "Chloe! Have you lost your damn mind?!" Ethan shoved Brooke protectively behind his back and roared at me. "She already told you it was an accident! What the hell gives you the right to hit her?!" I stared coldly at the two scumbags standing before me. "I hit her because she deserved it. Do I need to check the calendar for permission?" "If your heart bleeds so much for her, Ethan, why don't you marry her instead?" Ethan sneered, pointing an accusing finger in my face. "Don't flatter yourself, Chloe!" "If it wasn't for your old man's empire and his resources, do you really think I'd look twice at you?" Finally. The ugly truth came spilling out. Love at first sight? Devotion until the day he died? It was all an act to bleed my family's company dry. Behind Ethan's back, a triumphant smirk touched Brooke's lips. I picked up my phone. A string of exclamation marks popped up from Future Me: [HELL YES!!!] [Back then, I swallowed my pride just to save face.] [After we tied the knot, they secretly funneled all the Vance family assets away and drove Dad to an early grave.] [They locked me in a basement and harvested my bone marrow dry just to save Brooke's brother who had leukemia!] [That photo was taken during that living hell.] Reading those chilling words, my breath caught in my throat. I couldn't fathom the nightmare awaiting me if I walked out of this room as his bride today. "The wedding's off." I ripped the bridal veil from my hair and hurled it straight into Ethan's face. "Take your little sidepiece and get the hell out of my sight." Gathering my voluminous gown, I turned toward the exit. Ethan let out a harsh, mocking laugh. "You think you can just walk away, Chloe? Too late." "The most powerful people in the country are sitting in that ballroom right now. Just try walking out!" "Are you really willing to drag the entire Vance family name through the mud?" He knew my family's reputation had always been my weak spot. My footsteps halted. Suddenly, my phone vibrated frantically in my palm. Three urgent messages from Future Me flashed on screen: [Don't leave! You cannot walk out right now!] [Even if you run, our family is finished! The officiant is stepping onto the stage right now.] [If you don't go out there, Ethan is going to broadcast fabricated documents on the giant projector screen—framing Dad for corporate embezzlement and tax fraud!] My mind buzzed, and pure adrenaline surged straight to my head. No wonder he wasn't afraid of provoking me today. He had already set a lethal trap. Seeing me freeze, Ethan assumed I was backing down. He walked up to me, looking down arrogantly as he straightened his silk tie. "Put your shoes on, Chloe, and get to the wings." "Be a good girl today, and you'll still get to be Mrs. Hayes." Brooke chimed in with her sickeningly sweet voice, "Exactly, Chloe. Think of the bigger picture." I looked at their grotesque, hypocritical faces. My grip tightened around my phone. Future Me sent one last message: [Fight back, Chloe.] [I'm sending you the bypass code for the central AV control room. The master login is Ethan's phone number.] [Today, we bury them both.] A cold, dangerous smile slowly spread across my face. I turned back to Ethan. "Fine. Let's do this."Seeing me agree, Ethan let out a derisive snort. "Smart choice." "If you'd listened from the start, you wouldn't have had to embarrass yourself." Brooke immediately slipped off her scuffed, worn-out nude pumps and kicked them toward my feet. "Here, Chloe, you can wear mine." "They pinch a little, but it's better than walking barefoot down the aisle." I stared at the peeling faux-leather shoes. There was an ugly, prominent scuff mark across the front. For the sake of the bigger picture, I had to swallow the disgust. I jammed my feet into the shoes that were a full size too large and forced myself to stand. The soles were rock-hard, digging painfully into the balls of my feet with every step. Ethan adjusted his cuffs, thoroughly pleased with himself. "Let's go, my lovely bride." Stepping out of the dressing room, we entered the long waiting corridor leading to the ballroom. Ethan walked ahead, answering a phone call. Believing he had already broken my spirit, he didn't even bother keeping his voice down. "Yeah? Are the agents at the IRS handled?" "The second the video plays on the big screen, send the anonymous tip and the forged files immediately." "Tomorrow at market open, short every single share of Vance Enterprises." Following behind, I heard every single word with crystal clarity. The Vance family was at the pinnacle of high society, with an empire spanning countless industries. Years ago, after Ethan's family went bankrupt, he only managed to land an executive role at our company because of me. My father treated him like his own flesh and blood. To help him secure a seat on the board, Dad even handed over the core operations to his control. Every luxury suit on his back, the penthouse he slept in, the very food on his plate—it was all paid for by Vance money. Yet behind our backs, he was colluding with outsiders to crash our stock and plot my father's death! After hanging up, a coordinator waved Ethan over to the main entrance to confirm the staging. That left just Brooke and me in the hallway. Without Ethan around, Brooke dropped every shred of her innocent act. She crossed her arms and sneered at me smugly. "So what if you found out, Chloe?" "Look at you. You're still forced to walk down the aisle wearing my trashy cast-offs." "Ethan was disgusted by you years ago. You're nothing but a pathetic rich ATM." Looking at her smug, trashy smirk, I forced my temper down. My gaze was ice-cold. "Better a rich heiress than a dumpster diver picking up my leftovers." "You honestly think Ethan loves you?" "He's just waiting until he bleeds my family completely dry." Hitting her sore spot, Brooke's face instantly twisted with spite. "Keep talking, bitch!" "After today, the Vance empire goes up in smoke. Let's see how arrogant you are then!" "Ethan already promised he's going to lock you in a basement and keep you like a dog." She took a menacing step closer and dropped her voice to a venomous whisper. "Your bone marrow happens to be a perfect match for my brother. Call it recycling garbage." "When that time comes, you'll be begging on your knees just for a scrap of bread from my table." Hearing her speak of such monstrous cruelty as if it were a matter of course, I let out a dry, chilling laugh. "Is that so? We'll see about that." I turned my back on her and pulled out my phone. It was buzzing madly in my hand. Future Me: [Did you hear that? That is who they really are.] Future Me: [Log into the AV control panel! We're running out of time!] Future Me: [In my past, this was where Dad suffered a fatal heart attack from the shock of the fake evidence they aired. He died on the spot.] Future Me: [Today, you make them pay in blood!]I lowered my gaze, my thumbs flying across the screen. I opened the link to the hotel's central AV network. Entered Ethan's phone number. Typed in the complex sequence of decryption characters. *Login Successful.* The screen flashed over to the live broadcast dashboard of the wedding hall. Future Me: [Go to Drive D. Find the folder named 'Surprise'.] Future Me: [That's the forged evidence he planned to use to ruin Dad.] Swiping through the directory, I located the folder in seconds. Inside sat an ultra-HD video file alongside dozens of high-res photos of doctored financial ledgers. I hit 'Delete All' without hesitation. Then, I opened my own cloud storage. Future Me had already sent over a lethal cache of real, unadulterated dirt. High-definition hotel surveillance footage of Ethan and Brooke caught in the act. Clear chat logs of Brooke bragging about laundering millions out of Vance Enterprises. And most damning of all: an audio recording of Ethan bribing my father's private physician to prescribe slow-acting heart poison. Every single piece was a one-way ticket to federal prison. This was my wedding gift to them. I bundled all the files together and hit upload. Replacing the contents of the 'Surprise' folder in one clean sweep. Next, I locked the local AV technicians out of their control deck. From this moment on, the massive LED screens throughout the ballroom were slaved exclusively to my phone. Watching the progress bar hit 100%, I let out a long, steadying breath. At the far end of the corridor, the heavy mahogany double doors slowly parted. The grand swells of the wedding march resonated through the hall. The master of ceremonies boomed over the speakers: "Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in giving a warm round of applause for our handsome groom!" Ethan adjusted his collar, threw on a mask of deep, doting affection, and strode out onto the stage. Brooke, clutching her bridesmaid bouquet, walked gracefully just a few paces behind him. The moment they stepped into the lights, thunderous applause erupted. The ballroom was packed with the city's most powerful moguls, politicians, and socialites. Dozens of media cameras swung around, their flashes firing in rapid succession. Ethan took the microphone and looked toward the grand entrance where I was waiting. "Today is the single most important day of my life." "I have the honor of marrying the woman I love most in this world—the woman I have sworn to protect for the rest of my days: Chloe Vance." His voice dripped with sickening tenderness. He played the part of the devoted lover down to an art. The crowd whispered in admiration. "Ethan really is the standard." "Chloe is so lucky to have found a man so utterly devoted to her." "They're the golden couple of high society. Just breathtaking." Standing in the shadows behind the door, listening to the praise, I felt pure revulsion. A classic narcissistic sociopath performing for an audience. Basking in the adulation, Ethan smoothly shifted gears. "However, before my beautiful bride joins me, I have prepared a very special surprise for her." "And a monumental gift for the Vance family—especially for Chairman Arthur Vance." The room fell into an eager, hushed silence. Everyone leaned forward in anticipation. Sitting at the primary VIP table, my father looked up at the stage with a proud, warm smile. He had no idea that the young man he trusted like a son was holding an invisible dagger right at his throat. Brooke stood to the side, unable to hide the smug gleam in her eyes. From across the grand hall, she cast a mocking glance straight at my dark doorway. Her eyes said it all: *You're finished, Chloe.* A text buzzed on my phone: [He's about to roll the clip.] Future Me: [Ready to take your stage?] Staring at my screen, my thumb hovered over the remote play button. The blood in my veins was electric. Ethan turned with a flourish, gesturing toward the monumental LED display dominating the stage. "Please direct your attention to the main screen." "This surprise is something none of you will ever forget." "Chloe, my love, this is all for you. Watch closely!" His voice carried a brazen, arrogant edge. The house lights dimmed instantly, plunging the hall into darkness as all eyes fixed on the massive black screen. Staring at the smug hypocrite on stage, my lips curved into a cold, ruthless smile. "Oh, I'm watching, Ethan." I pressed down hard on the Play button. The giant screen flared to life. And the smile on Ethan's face froze solid.