Chapter 1

The ballroom glittered.

Chandeliers dripped light onto hundreds of smiling faces.

My wedding dress, a cloud of white silk, felt heavy.

Ethan Hayes, my husband of three hours, stood beside me.

He raised his champagne flute.

"A toast," he announced, his voice smooth, carrying through the opulent New York hotel ballroom.

My heart swelled. This was it. Our beginning.

I beamed at him, my college sweetheart.

"To new beginnings," a guest echoed.

Ethan' s smile didn' t reach his eyes.

"Actually," he said, his voice suddenly cold, "this is an end."

A confused murmur rippled through the crowd.

My smile faltered.

"Ethan, what are you saying?" I whispered, my hand instinctively going to his arm.

He shrugged it off.

"I' m saying this was a mistake."

His words, amplified by the microphone, struck me.

The room fell silent.

My parents, beaming moments ago from a front table, looked confused, then horrified.

"A terrible, regrettable mistake," Ethan continued, his gaze sweeping over the guests, then landing on me with a chilling indifference.

"The marriage is annulled. Effective immediately."

Gasps filled the room.

My breath hitched. This couldn't be real.

"He' s annulling it?"

"On their wedding night?"

"Did you hear? He called her a mistake!"

The whispers were like slaps.

I looked at Ethan, searching his face for some explanation, a sign this was a cruel joke.

There was none. Only a hard, dismissive look.

Brittany Vance, my sorority sister, stood near him, a small, triumphant smirk playing on her lips. She' d always been jealous. Now, her eyes gleamed.

"Ethan, please," I managed, my voice trembling. "Don't do this."

"It's done, Sarah," he said, his voice final. He turned to the stunned crowd. "Enjoy the party. On me. Consider it a celebration of my... newfound freedom."

He strode off the small stage, Brittany following a little too closely behind him.

I stood alone, the spotlight burning my skin.

The beautiful dress now felt like a costume of shame.

Laughter, initially hesitant, then louder, started to erupt from some corners of the room.

My world tilted.

The city-wide gossip started that night. Sarah Miller, the bride dumped publicly, spectacularly, by the charming Ethan Hayes.

The humiliation was a brand, seared onto me.

I wanted the floor to swallow me whole.

My mother rushed to my side, her face pale with shock and anger. My father followed, his eyes filled with a pain that mirrored my own.

But the damage was done.

My hope, my love, my reputation – all shattered on the polished floor of that grand ballroom.