We heard footsteps. Marianne and James burst through the door, their faces filled with concern. Then Marianne saw the tattoo. Her face turned white.

“It’s simple,” I said. “Greg cheated on me.”

Marianne gasped, sharp and full of disbelief. James stood frozen in the doorway, unable to process what he was seeing.

Marianne turned to Greg, her lips trembling. “Greg? Is this true? Tell me it’s not true!”

Greg remained silent, unable to respond. I stepped in.

“He slept with her the night before our wedding,” I said, my voice slicing through the tension. “He told her he needed ‘one last taste of freedom before he was bound to the same body forever.'”

Marianne let out a strangled sob and collapsed onto the edge of the bed, her world crumbling.

James’s face darkened. His nostrils flared as he glared at Greg, disgust and disappointment battling in his expression.

“I’m sorry,” Greg choked out, barely audible. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. I made a mistake.”

“A mistake?” I echoed, my voice rising. “You call sleeping with your ex the night before our wedding a mistake?”

I stepped closer. “No, Greg. You made a choice—a deliberate, calculated choice to betray me. And now you’re paying for it.”

“Please, Lilith… please, I love you. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I’ll do anything! Just please, don’t leave me.”

“Love me? You love me?” I shook my head in disbelief. “Greg, you don’t know the first thing about love. If you did, you wouldn’t have done what you did. You wouldn’t have betrayed me like that.”

I stepped back, my eyes cold. “I’m done, Greg. This is over. You destroyed us the moment you went back to Sarah.”

Greg slowly pushed himself up, his knees still shaking. He looked pathetic, standing there in his rumpled wedding suit, tears streaming down his face.

But I was already done. I turned away from him, from the ruins of our wedding night.

As I walked out of the room, I heard Greg’s pitiful sobs. His cries echoed through the house, but they didn’t affect me. I walked down the stairs, feeling lighter with every step. I was free—free from him, from the lies, from the betrayal.