Thunder cracked across the midnight sky as icy rain lashed against the grand cathedral.
Inside, Amelia White stood alone at the altar, her pristine wedding dress soaked and clinging tightly to her trembling frame.
Her flawless makeup had long since been ruined by tears, mascara bleeding down her pale cheeks like the final humiliation of a woman discarded before her vows were even spoken.
The massive oak doors slammed shut behind the last departing guest.
He didn't come.
Her delicate fingers gripped the bouquet so tightly that the fragile white lilies snapped beneath her trembling fists.
A bitter, self-deprecating laugh escaped her lips.
So this is how it ends… abandoned before it even begins.
The cathedral lights flickered as if mocking her misery.
Above her, the grand stained-glass mural of the Virgin Mary seemed to cast down a gaze of cold pity.
Amelia's knees buckled.
She sank to the marble floor, the chilling surface biting into her skin, but no pain compared to the gaping hole in her heart.
Her mind screamed his name—Ethan Blake—but the man she once believed would cherish her was already gone.
And just as the final bell tolled midnight, sealing her fate, Amelia vowed through clenched teeth and burning tears—
"One day, Ethan Blake… you'll regret ever walking away from me."