There was no greeting. No closing. Just one sentence on the screen:
“Your wedding will be ruined, Tamara. Be careful.”
And attached below that line was a file with my name on it.
I clicked it, and my entire world collapsed before my eyes.
“Your wedding will be ruined, Tamara. Be careful.”
The file contained a copy of the venue contract, internal notes from their online booking system, and a short explanation from Emily.
At first glance, it looked like our contract. I mean, it clearly stated the same date, the same venue, the same… everything.
But under Bride?
It didn’t say Tamara — it said Maddie.
And under Groom? It still said Jake.
It didn’t say Tamara — it said Maddie.
The notes further down were worse:
“Bride’s friend initially presented as primary client, but later calls indicate the bride is actually Maddie. Groom and Maddie have requested not to change the official contract until ‘after everything is settled.'”
Emily’s message at the bottom read:
“I’m sorry if this is confusing, Tamara. But I couldn’t stay quiet anymore. Jake signed this months ago. Every time we tried to clarify who the bride actually was, he brushed us off. It didn’t feel right. You deserve to know. Call me if you need me.”
I read it three times.
“It didn’t feel right. You deserve to know.”
And then I threw up.
When I could finally breathe again, I grabbed Jake’s iPad from the nightstand. He never logged out of anything. The irony hit me as my thumb hovered over the Messages app — how much Jake trusted me not to look, while building an entire secret life behind my back.
The texts were all there.
Jake and Maddie — a stream of threads woven into their affair, dating back almost a year.
And then I threw up.
The first message was from Jake.
Jake: “Sometimes I wish I’d met you first, Maddie.”
Maddie: “Stop, Jake! You’re going to get us into trouble.”
Jake: “You started it, Mads. You showed up at my home… in that dress… and you were flirting with me in front of Tamara. You’re into this…”
“You’re going to get us into trouble.”
I could feel my pulse quickening; my heart beating so fast, like it was trying to escape my chest. I scrolled further.
Jake: “You get me in a way she doesn’t. It may sound harsh… but it’s true.”
Maddie: “You and Tam are sweet but… I don’t know, hon. She lives in her head a lot. She hasn’t even realized that we’re spending so much time together.”
She lives in her head a lot.
