Secret Love Ended Before His Wedding Chapter 01
By the fifth year of my secret relationship with my childhood sweetheart, he had turned me down three times when I asked him to accompany me back to my hometown.
So I went back alone to celebrate my mother’s birthday.
But the moment I stepped through the front door, I saw a wedding invitation sitting on the coffee table.
Curious, I walked over and was about to check whose wedding it was when Nolan Mercer’s lazy voice drifted in from the doorway.
“Aunt Claire, don’t tell Sienna about my wedding yet. She’s been clinging to me since we were kids. If she finds out I’m getting married, she’ll probably make a scene…”
Before he could finish, he noticed me standing there.
The smile on his face faded, just a little.
My mother didn’t catch it.
She only smiled and said.
“Sienna, Nolan and Brielle are getting married. When are you going to bring your boyfriend home for us to
meet? If things work out, maybe you two can get married next year too. Then your kids will be close in age
and can grow up as best friends, just like you guys did.”
At her words, the corner of my mouth lifted in a cold, mocking smile.
“He’s dead.”
“Died yesterday.”
My mother froze for a second.
Then she gasped.
“So suddenly? But when you came back yesterday, didn’t you say he was busy with work and couldn’t come with you? Didn’t you say he went out of his way to buy me a birthday present?”
At the mention of that, a dense, aching bitterness spread through my chest.
My mother had known for a long time that I had a boyfriend. She just didn’t know who he was
Every year, she hoped I would bring him home.
She wanted me to settle down sooner rather than later.
But Nolan never wanted to.
He always said the timing wasn’t right.
To keep her from worrying, I bought gifts for my parents every year and claimed they came from him.
He didn’t know about any of it.
He wouldn’t have cared, either.
Right then, when Nolan heard what my mother said, he raised an eyebrow.
While she was still shaking her head and sighing with pity, he stepped closer to me and lowered his voice.
“Brielle’s family ran into some trouble. I wanted to give her money to fix it, but you know how proud she is. She refused to take a dime. So I had no choice but to marry her and give it to her under the guise of a
wedding gift.”
“Don’t say it like that,” I said. “If Aunt Claire ever finds out about us, she’ll be shocked.”
“She won’t.”
She would never know.
Not in this lifetime.
She would never know that Nolan and I had been together for five years.
Something shifted in Nolan’s eyes. For a moment, there was something complicated there.
“Do whatever you want,” he said.
Then he added, “But Brielle and I are getting married next week. She wants to look beautiful on her wedding day. You’re her friend, so you’ll help her, right?”
He looked at me the way he always had.
Gentle. Smiling. Soft enough to be cruel.
As if there had never been anything intimate between us.
As if he had never held me close at night and murmured that he loved me.
“Sienna, Nolan…”
Brielle Shaw’s voice came from the doorway.
She walked in as if nothing had happened, wearing a bright, effortless smile, and looped her arm through mine.
“My mom made a bunch of our favorite dishes today. She sent me over to invite you both to dinner.”
Our three families had always been close.
Every holiday season, we would get together for dinner.
To me, Brielle had never been just a friend. She had been more like a sister, the kind of person I thought I
could tell everything to.
Now, the way she looked at me was still clear and natural.
Only, if I looked closely, I could see the trace of caution hidden deep in her eyes.
“You knew I liked Nolan.”
“You guessed he was my boyfriend.”
“Brielle, how could you do this to me?”
She was standing very close.
So my trembling voice was low.
Low enough that only the two of us could hear it.
The summer after senior year, she had slept over at my house.
By accident, she found the love I had never dared to say out loud, written in my diary.
She read my diary while rolling around on my bed, laughing.
After she finally stopped laughing, she teased me and said, “If you like Nolan, why don’t you just tell him?”
“If you’re too scared, should I do it for you?”
“And when you two get married someday, I’d better be sitting at the head table as your official matchmaker.”
But now, there wasn’t the slightest guilt in her bright, watery eyes.
She bit her lip lightly and said in a soft voice, “Sienna, I like him. And he chose me.”
“When you two were together before, I truly wished you both well.”
“But now I’m the one marrying him. You’re my best friend. I believe you’ll give us your blessing.”