My Husband Betrayed Me at My Wedding for My Sister (Her Marriage in Crisis #91)

1. Katie

— ? —

Katie

I’ve dreamed about this moment since I was six years old.

The dress and the flowers, plus the string quartet playing Pachelbel like my life is some kind of fairy tale. Guests packed into the Grandview Estate, all of them dabbing their eyes and whispering about how lucky I am.

Lucky is what everyone calls me.

Katie Brooks, the girl who snagged Kyle Everette. The golden boy of the Everettes.

The ceremony was perfect. We both ended up crying, first when he said his vows and then when I said mine. The kiss at the altar lasted just long enough to be romantic without being inappropriate, and when we walked back down the aisle together, I swear I was floating.

My mother’s still crying in the corner of the reception hall, clutching her champagne like a lifeline. She keeps telling anyone who’ll listen that she never thought this day would come. That Katie finally did something right.

Thanks, Mom. Really feeling the love.

But I don’t care. Today is perfect.

The reception is in full swing now. Dinner’s been served, speeches have been made, and we just finished our first dance. Kyle spun me around the floor like we were in a movie, and I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt.

Now he’s off doing the rounds with his parents, shaking hands with family friends. Being the perfect sociable groom.

I’m at the dessert table, contemplating my third mini cupcake, when I notice something.

Where’s Erin?

My sister gave a toast during dinner that was mostly about herself, which tracks. But I haven’t seen her since. Her seat at the head table has been empty for at least half an hour.

Weird because Erin never misses an opportunity to be the center of attention.

“Mrs. Everette?”

I turn, and there’s Lily, the flower girl, Kyle’s five-year-old cousin. She’s adorable with those blonde ringlets and big blue eyes. Tiny basket of rose petals she’s been carrying around all night like a security blanket.

And a cup of grape juice that’s currently tipping toward my dress.

“Lily, careful with that-”

Too late.

Purple explodes across the white silk like a bruise. Twelve thousand dollars stained.

“I’m so sorry!” Her little face crumples. “I tripped and I didn’t mean to and please don’t be mad!”

The stain spreads with every second, bleeding into the fabric, ruining everything.

But you know what? I don’t care.

I actually laugh.

“It’s okay, sweetheart.” I crouch down and wipe her tears. “Accidents happen. I have my ceremony dress in my dressing room still, remember? I can just change into that. This is totally fine. Someone can totally get the stain out of this anyway.”

I look around for Kyle to tell him I’m stepping out, but I can’t find him anywhere.

Huh. He was just with his parents a minute ago.

“Looking for your husband?” The wedding coordinator appears at my elbow, tablet in hand. “I saw him head toward the back about ten minutes ago. Said he needed some air.”

“Thanks, Rachel. Hey, I’m going to go change. Can you let him know when he reappears?”

“Of course, Mrs. Everette. And again, I’m so sorry about the dress. I told Lily not to bring juice near you, I specifically-”

“It’s fine. Really.” I squeeze her arm. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

I gather my ruined skirt and head toward the bridal suite, leaving a trail of purple droplets behind me. The ceremony dress isn’t as stunning as this one, but it’ll do.

Kyle needed air. It’s been a long day. Overwhelming, probably, with all his family’s expectations pressing down on him. I’ll find him after I change and we can sneak away for a quiet moment together.

Maybe steal some champagne and hide in the garden like we used to when we first started dating.

God, I love him.

The hallway to the bridal suite is quiet. Muffled music from the reception and the click of my heels on marble.

I’m about ten feet from my dressing room when I hear it.

A rhythmic thump. Then a moan.

I freeze.

Someone’s... oh God, someone’s having sex in my dressing room? On my wedding night? Are you KIDDING me?

Probably some drunk guests who snuck away. Gross, but not exactly shocking at a party this size. I’ll just knock loudly, embarrass them, and they’ll scatter.

I march up to the door, ready to bang on it.

But it’s already cracked open.

And through the gap, I see-

No.

No, no, no.

Erin is bent over the vanity, her bridesmaid dress hiked up around her waist. And the man behind her, pants around his ankles, one hand fisted in her hair...

Kyle.

My Kyle.

My HUSBAND.

I should scream. I should claw my sister’s eyes out and castrate the man I married two hours ago.

But I just... stand there.

Frozen.

Watching through the crack in the door as my husband grunts and moans and thrusts into my sister like an animal.

My brain refuses to process what my eyes are seeing. That’s not Kyle. That can’t be Kyle. Kyle just vowed to love me forever. Kyle cried when he said “I do.”

Oh God. He didn’t sneak away for a break. He snuck away for HER.

Erin’s eyes flutter open, catching her own reflection in the vanity mirror. And that’s when she sees me.

Our eyes meet in the glass and she doesn’t gasp or push Kyle away.

She smiles.

This triumphant, gotcha smile that makes my blood turn to ice. Then she moans louder and arches her back to put on a show.

FOR ME.

I stumble backward.

My heel catches on the carpet and I crash into the wall, the noise finally alerting Kyle. He spins around, and his face goes white.

“Katie.” He yanks up his pants, fumbling with his belt. “Wait. This isn’t what it looks like.”

He’s still zipping up, my sister’s lipstick on his neck, and he’s telling me this isn’t what it looks like.

Something inside me just completely snaps.

It’s not my heart, because I’m sure I’ll have to deal with that heartbreak later on, but right now, what breaks is the part of me that always cared about being polite and appropriate.

I am completely done trying to be the good sister, the understanding wife, and the girl who never makes a scene.

That Katie is dead.

I turn around and walk away.

“Katie, WAIT-”

My legs move down the hallway. Past the servers carrying champagne. Past the ice sculpture of two swans that Kyle’s mother insisted on because it’s classy.

How long?

The question pounds through my skull with every step.

How long has this been going on?

The password on his phone he changed last month. He always found excuses to be alone with Erin at family dinners.

Oh, I’ll help her carry the dishes.

Erin and I are just grabbing more wine from the cellar.

Your sister needed advice about her job, that’s why we were texting.

I believed him every single fucking time.

Stupid. Stupid, stupid, STUPID Katie.

I reach the reception hall and two hundred faces turn toward me.

My mother with her champagne. My aunts on the dance floor. My cousins at the dessert table. Kyle’s parents schmoozing with some senator. His uncle Henry in the back, nursing a whiskey.

The music keeps playing and people keep dancing. Nobody realizes that the bride’s entire life just imploded.

“Katie?” My mother squints at me from across the room. “Honey, what’s wrong? Where’s your other dress?”

I walk straight to the DJ booth.

The kid behind the table is maybe twenty-two, headphones around his neck, bopping to the music like he doesn’t have a care in the world. Must be nice.

“Give me the microphone.”

“Mrs. Everette, the cake cutting isn’t for another-”

“Give. Me. The microphone.”

Something in my face makes him hand it over without another word.

I turn to face them all. Guests who came here to celebrate my happiness will be witnesses to the worst moment of my life.

My hand isn’t shaking and my voice isn’t breaking.

I feel nothing. Absolutely nothing.

“Everyone go home.”

The music cuts and conversations stop. Faces stare at me in confusion.

“The reception is over.” My voice echoes through the hall, dead, like it belongs to someone else. “I just found my sister fucking my husband in the dressing room. So. You know. Party’s over.”

Silence.

One second. Two.

Then chaos.

Gasps explode through the crowd like fireworks. Someone screams. My mother’s champagne slips from her hand and shatters on the floor. Kyle’s mother actually faints, or pretends to, crumpling dramatically into her husband’s arms.

“No,” someone whispers. “No, she didn’t just-”

“Did she say her sister?”

“Oh my God, oh my GOD-”

The doors burst open.

Kyle storms in, shirt untucked, belt crooked, hair a disaster. He looks like exactly what he is. A man who just got caught.

“Katie!” He charges toward me. “Stop! You need to stop right now!”

“Why? Am I embarrassing you?”

“You’re making a scene! You don’t know what you saw!”

I laugh. It’s an ugly sound, broken.

“I don’t know what I SAW?” The microphone shrieks with feedback. “I SAW your pants around your ankles. I SAW my sister bent over MY vanity. I SAW your hand in her HAIR, Kyle!”

“That’s not - I was helping her. She had a wardrobe malfunction-”

“A WARDROBE MALFUNCTION?”

“Her dress was stuck! The zipper was jammed, and I was trying to-”

“FIX IT WITH YOUR DICK?”

Someone in the crowd actually laughs and gets cut off immediately.

Kyle’s face contorts. “You’re hysterical. You’re confused. The room was dark, you couldn’t see clearly-”

“The lights were ON, Kyle. I could see EVERYTHING. Every thrust. Every grunt. My sister’s face in the mirror while you-”

“STOP.” His voice cracks. “Just STOP. You’re humiliating yourself!”

“No.” I step toward him, and he actually backs up. “No, I’m humiliating YOU.”

The doors open again and Erin walks in.

And I have to hand it to her, she’s good. She’s fixed her hair, touched up her makeup, smoothed her dress. She looks almost innocent now, walking in with wide eyes and trembling lips like SHE’S the victim.

“Katie.” Her voice is soft and wounded. Full of fake concern. “Oh, Katie, what are you doing?”

“What am I DOING? What were YOU doing, Erin? On your knees in my dressing room? On MY wedding day?”

“I don’t know what you think you saw-”

“I KNOW what I saw! You LOOKED at me! You saw me watching and you SMILED!”