The bride and the beast (#3 of the Miller family)

2. We

Lila’s P.O.V.

When I Finally caught sight of Brandon, my husband-to-be, relief washed over me, and I almost called out his name, but something stopped me. Brandon was standing near a window at the end of the corridor, his back to me, but he wasn’t alone. My maid of honor, Julia, was with him.

I froze, my breath catching in my throat. The way they were standing, too close, too intimate, sent a chill down my spine. Something was wrong. I felt it in the pit of my stomach, a twisting, gnawing sensation that made me hesitate, my feet rooted to the floor as my mind screamed at me to move, to turn back, to do anything but stand there and watch them as they were looking too intimate.

But I couldn’t move. I couldn’t look away. My eyes were glued to the scene unfolding before me, my heart pounding in my ears as I strained to hear their conversation.

“Brandon, please,” Julia’s voice was soft, urgent, a tone I had never heard from her before. There was a desperation in it that made my blood run cold. Brandon turned slightly, and I could see his profile now, the way his jaw clenched, the furrow in his brow.

“Julia, we’ve been through this. It’s too late to back out now.”

Julia reached out, her hand resting on his arm in a gesture that was far too familiar, far too intimate.

“It’s not too late. You know it’s not too late, Brandon. You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to marry her.”

My heart stopped at her words. My breath hitched in my throat as the words sunk into my brain, heavy and cold like stones dropping into a deep well. I pressed myself against the wall, my hands trembling as I clutched at the fabric of my dress, willing myself to stay silent, to stay hidden.

Brandon’s voice was low, strained.

“Julia, this isn’t the time or place for this. We’ve made our choices. I’ve made mine.”

Julia’s grip on his arm tightened, and I watched as she stepped even closer to Brandon, her voice dropping to a whisper that still carried down the corridor, clear as day to my ears.

“Brandon, you don’t love her. You know you don’t. You’re doing this because it’s what’s expected of you, because your mother wants this, because she needs a perfect-looking family for your father’s company. But what about what you want? What about what we want?”

We.

The word hung in the air, a knife twisting in my chest. I felt a cold sweat break out along my skin, my body trembling with the effort to remain still, to not burst into the open and demand answers from the two people who had betrayed me. Brandon sighed, running a hand through his hair, the movement one of frustration, of resignation.

“What we want… Julia, this isn’t just about us. It’s about more than that. It’s about doing the right thing. Lila… she’s a good person. She doesn’t deserve this.”

“And what about me, Brandon?” Julia’s voice was sharp now, edged with pain.

“What about what I deserve? I’ve been with you through everything, for all those years. I’ve stood by your side, waiting, hoping… and now you’re just going to throw it all away? For what? For a marriage you don’t even want?”

Brandon’s shoulders slumped, the weight of the conversation bearing down on him.

“Julia, this isn’t just about what we want. It’s about doing what’s right in the long run. We’ve made mistakes, but I can’t—no, I won’t... no matter how deeply I feel about you.”

The world seemed to tilt on its axis, everything I thought I knew spinning out of control. I had come here to find comfort, to find reassurance, and instead, I had found this—my fiancé and my best friend, tangled in a betrayal I could barely comprehend.

Years…

they had been cheating behind my back… for years?

Julia’s voice dropped again, her words laced with bitterness.

“So that’s it, then? You’re just going to go and marry her, even though you don’t love her? You’re going to spend the rest of your life lying to her, lying to yourself? And what about us? I will just stay your mistress?”

My breath came in shallow gasps, the walls closing in around me. I wanted to run, to scream, to confront them both, but my body wouldn’t obey. I was paralyzed, trapped in a nightmare I couldn’t escape from.

Brandon turned fully to face Julia now, and I could see the anguish in his eyes, the conflict that tore at him.

“I don’t love her the way I should,” he admitted, his voice thick with guilt.

“But I care about her. And maybe that’s enough. Maybe it’s better than what you and I have—this… this mess. Lila is innocent in all of this. She doesn’t deserve to have her life torn apart because of our mistakes. Because we cannot keep our emotions or lust at bay.”

Julia pulled away from Brandon, her expression hardening.

“So, you’re just going to go through with it? Marry her, live a lie, and pretend like we never happened?”

Brandon’s sighed, shaking his head.

“I don’t think I will ever be able to pretend like this between us has never happened.” He spoke as he reached up and held Julia’s cheek in a way he had never done with me. And right before my eyes, my fiancé leaned in and kissed my best friend with a passion he had never ever used in all of those years to kiss me.

And just like that, I couldn’t take it anymore. The pain, the betrayal, the crushing weight of everything I had just learned—it was too much. I had to get out of there, had to get away before I collapsed under the pressure of it all.

Carefully, quietly, I began to back away, my heart pounding in my chest as I forced myself to move, to slip back down the corridor before they noticed me. I couldn’t let them see me like this, broken and betrayed. I needed to get away, to think, to figure out what to do next.

As I turned and fled, my mind raced, thoughts jumbled and chaotic. I didn’t know where to go, didn’t know what to do. All I knew was that the life I had thought I was about to step into had just crumbled to pieces around me, leaving me alone, lost, and shattered. Because when I could have agreed to many things, even a marriage with a man I wasn’t head over heels in love with, getting cheated on from the very first second, was not something I would ever agree on.

I didn’t stop running as I burst out of the building, the cool air hitting me like a slap in the face. I gulped in breaths of it, trying to steady myself, trying to hold on to whatever scraps of sanity I had left. The city hall loomed behind me, a dark silhouette against the sky. I looked back at it, my vision blurred with tears. I had come here looking for comfort, for reassurance, and I found nothing but lies and betrayal.

I had no idea what to do next, no idea how to move forward. All I knew was that I couldn’t go back. Not now. Not ever. But all of my thought flew right out the window, as I crashed my body full force into someone else. The impact sent my bouquet of flowers that I was still holding onto, flying, and I nearly fell backward. But out of nowhere, a pair of strong arms caught me around the waist, steadying me.

And when I looked up to meet the eyes of the stranger that had just saved me from falling face first into the ground, looking into the most chocolaty brown eyes I had ever seen in my life, it seemed as if for the first time in my life, time stood completely still.