Three Gifts for My Runaway Groom

Liam Reynolds ran out on our wedding.

He left to see his ex-girlfriend, Grace, the woman who had abandoned him five years ago when he was on the verge of being permanently crippled.

The grand ballroom, filled with hundreds of Bostons elite, erupted into a chaotic murmur. I clutched the edge of his tuxedo jacket, my fingers white, forcing my face to hold together under the crushing weight of their stares.

"Please," I whispered, my voice trembling. "Don't do this. Not right now."

A flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes. But then, one by one, he peeled my fingers off his sleeve. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Nancy. I have to go."

"I need to hear it from her. I need to know why she was so ruthless back then."

Through the gasps and whispers of the crowd, Liam walked away. He didn't look back. Not once.

My father, whose fragile heart had been failing him for years, shook with a sudden, violent rage. Before my eyes, his face drained of color, and he collapsed heavily onto the marble floor.

"Dad!"

The world shattered. I fell to my knees, my mind fracturing as I desperately tried to revive him, eventually forcing my breaking body to get him to the hospital.

Sitting outside the emergency room, my knees pulled to my chest, my phone buzzed in my hand. Two notifications popped onto the screen.

The first was from Grace Mallory: "I told you. The moment I came back, Liam would never choose you. You lost again."

The second was from Liam: "Give me thirty days. Let's take a break. After that, I promise I'll love only you. Completely."

I stared at the screen, my eyes as empty and cold as a dead sea. A bitter, hollow laugh escaped my lips.

This time, I wasn't going to let myself lose.

The red light of the operating room burned for three hours, casting a harsh, bloody glow over the sterile hallway.

My father had undergone a double bypass two years ago.

He had warned me, back then, that Liam wasnt the right man. He had told me Liams heart was too heavily guarded, too cold.

But I had been stubborn. I had convinced myself that Liam loved me, that five years of devotion had earned me a place in his soul.

Now, those delusions felt like a physical slap across my face, leaving me suffocating in the quiet corridor.

My mother sat beside me, her hands shaking, tears wetting her collar.

"What are we going to do, Nancy? If your father doesnt make it... I can't..."

"He will," I interrupted her, my voice hard, though it was more to comfort myself than her. "Dad is strong. He won't leave us."

But my voice betrayed me. It shook with a terror I had never felt before.

Right then, my phone buzzed again. This time, it was a video from Grace.

It was set in a dimly lit hotel suite.

Liam was standing there, looking disheveled and frantic, confronting her.

"Why did you come back?" he demanded.

Grace didn't answer. But Liam was already unraveling, his eyes rimmed with red.

"You walked out without a word, and now you think you can just reappear and ruin my life? Grace, how can you be so selfish?"

I walked away from my mother, stepping into the quiet, deserted stairwell to watch.

As I watched this man lose his mind on screen, a strange sense of detachment washed over me. He looked like a stranger.

My best friend had told me, more than once, that Liam was too detached, too calm with me.

I had always brushed it off. "Men like Liammen at the top of the food chaindon't wear their emotions on their sleeves," Id said. "I understand him. That's just his nature."

But watching the screen, the truth settled into my bones with a freezing certainty.

Liam "could" lose control. He "could" tremble, cry, and beg.

But those raw, bleeding emotions weren't reserved for me, his bride. They were solely for Grace.

I closed my eyes, forcing down the sharp, twisting pain in my chest, and pressed play again.

In the video, Grace remained silent under his barrage of questions, simply watching him with a quiet, knowing gaze.

And then, Liam let out a bitter, defeated laugh.

In an instant, all his anger and resentment seemed to dissolve. He stepped forward and pulled her tightly into his arms.

"Just don't leave again..." he whispered.

As her head rested on his chest, Grace looked directly at the camera. Her eyes were sharp, filled with a triumphant malice meant only for me.

The video cut to black.

I smiled, a pathetic, self-deprecating sound escaping my throat.

Outside the hospital windows, a sudden crack of thunder split the sky, and the rain began to pour, blurring the city lights.

So that was what it looked like when Liam loved someone. In five years, I had never once felt the warmth of that fire.

I wiped my eyes, swallowing the metallic taste of grief, and walked back to the waiting area just as the heavy double doors of the ICU swung open.

I rushed to the surgeon, my throat tight. "Doctor, how is my father?"

"We managed to stabilize him," the doctor said, pulling off his mask. "He's out of immediate danger."

He paused, looking at me with a grave intensity. "But you must understand, Nancyno more shocks. His heart cannot handle another ounce of stress."

"I understand," I said, my body tight as a bowed string. "It won't happen again. Thank you."

My mother let out a loud sob of relief, collapsing into a chair as my father was wheeled out on a gurney.

Looking at his pale, sunken face, I wanted to slap myself. Why had it taken me this long to finally wake up?

An hour after we settled my father into his room, a doctor in a pristine white coat pushed the door open.

"Ms. Parker? I'm the cardiologist specializing in hypertension. Mr. Reynolds sent me over to check on your father."

Almost simultaneously, my phone buzzed. A text from Liam:

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize this would affect your father so badly. Ive sent a top hypertension specialist to the hospital. Hell take care of him."

I stared at the screen, my hands shaking so violently I almost dropped the phone. It was laughable.

Five years.

We had been together for five years, and he didn't even know what kind of heart disease my father had.

I forced my voice to remain steady as I looked at the specialist. "We don't need you. Please leave."

Once my father was asleep, I walked down to the OB-GYN wing of the hospital for my own appointment. But as I passed one of the exam rooms, a familiar voice stopped me cold.

Through the cracked door, I saw Liam.

He was holding Grace, whose face was pale, his eyes filled with a desperate, frantic worry.

The doctor asked, "Can you describe the symptoms?"

Before Grace could speak, Liam answered, the words tumbling out of him without a second thought.

"Her cycle has always been irregular, and she gets cold easily. Her constitution is fragile. We tried holistic herbal teas before, but they didn't seem to help much."

I stood frozen in the hallway, my feet feeling as heavy as lead.

Every detail he rattled off about Graces body felt like a needle driving deep into my chest.

He didn't even know what was killing my father.

But he remembered every minor detail about an ex-girlfriend he hadn't seen in five years.

A cold, bitter smile touched my lips. I pulled out my phone, dialed my lawyer, and asked him to draft a divorce petition.

Then, I pushed open the door to the next clinic.

"I'd like to schedule a termination, please."

The doctor looked up, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "I remember you, Nancy. When you were here last month, you were so happy when we confirmed the pregnancy. Are you sure...?"

My heart seized.

The bitterness spread through my veins like poison.

A month ago, while Liam was away on a business trip, I had felt sick. The test had been positive.

I hadn't told him. I wanted to surprise him today, right after we said our vows.

I never imagined Grace would return.

I never imagined he would leave me standing at the altar, a laughingstock for the city's high society.

I was still wearing my wedding dress, the white silk wrinkled and stained, making me look utterly pathetic.

"I'm sure," I said quietly. "I see things clearly now. Please just book the appointment."

The doctor sighed, a look of profound pity in her eyes. "Alright. Tomorrow morning, 9:00 AM, Room 1. Just check in at the desk."

I nodded and walked back to my father's room.

When I opened my phone, the group chat with our mutual friends was blowing up. Liam had just added Grace back into the group.

"Welcome back, Grace! I knew you and Liam would find your way back to each other."

"Exactly. You two belong together."

"Uh... guys, Nancy is still in this chat. Don't forget."

The chat went dead silent.

I stared at the screen, feeling a cold amusement.

These people had only accepted me because of Liam. They had never actually respected me.

A second later, a notification popped up: "You have been removed from the group by Liam Reynolds."

My lips parted, completely dry and bloodless.

A private message from Liam followed immediately:

"I'll add you back in a month. Be good."

I stared at the text for two seconds, didn't reply, and deleted the thread. Once the procedure was done tomorrow, there would be nothing left to tie me to him.

Three days later, my father was awake, the abortion was behind me, and I walked back into the Reynolds Group headquarters to submit my resignation.

Just as I sat down at my desk in the executive suite, the elevator doors slid open. Liam and Grace stepped out together.

Liam stopped in front of my desk.

"How is your father's blood pressure?"

I clenched my hands in my lap, my voice dripping with quiet sarcasm. "Thanks to you, Mr. Reynolds, hes doing wonderfully."

Liams jaw tightened.

He clearly didn't like this new, sharp edge to my voice. He was used to the Nancy who hung on his every word, the Nancy who lived to please him.

Frowning, he looked away and turned to Grace, his expression instantly softening into something gentle, almost eager to please.

"You'll start as the Chief of Staff in the executive office," Liam said to her. "Once you're familiar with the operations, I'll move you to the project development team."

Grace shot me a brief, calculating look.

"Sounds wonderful. But I'm completely new to this, Liam. Maybe Nancy can train me?"

I looked up, my blood boiling. "I refuse."

Grace didn't flinch. She didn't even look angry; she just waited quietly for Liam to speak.

Sure enough, his cold, authoritative voice cut through the air.

"You don't have the right to refuse."

"Nancy, the office isn't a playground. Your personal feelings don't dictate how we run things."

He gave my hollow eyes a dismissive glance, gripped Grace's hand, and led her into his private office.

My hands and feet went numb.

Outside, the sky grayed, and a sudden flurry of snow began to fall, the cold wind rattling the glass. I shivered, sitting frozen at my desk while the quiet snickers of the other assistants drifted over from the breakroom.

By the afternoon, I had just finished typing up my formal resignation.

Before I could print it, Liam called me into his office, his face dark with fury. He threw a heavy leather folder at my feet.

"Nancy, do you think this business is a joke?"

"A three-million-dollar contract, and you put down thirty million! The entire board is scrambling to clean up your mess!"

I picked up the document, my heart stopping. "Thats impossible."

I had double-checked that file a dozen times, especially the figures. There was no way I had made that mistake.

My eyes drifted to Grace, who was sitting on the sofa. The tiny, satisfied curve of her lips made my eyes narrow.

"It was you."

No wonder she had been so eager to learn this morning, hovering over my shoulder for hours.

It wouldn't have been hard for her to watch me type in my password.

"Nancy!" Liam roared, his voice trembling with anger. "Are you really going to shift the blame to someone else?"

I took a deep breath, forcing my hands to stop shaking.

"Let's check the security footage then. Miss Mallory might not know this, but that little decorative bear on my desk is actually a motion-activated camera."

Graces face stiffened for a fraction of a second, but it was enough.

Liam hesitated.

Watching him waver, my heart sank further into the dark.

Before he could make an excuse, I grabbed Graces arm and pulled her out into the main office. The entire executive assistant pool gathered around.

"Nancy, what are you" Liam started, but I ignored him.

I clicked open the camera's local feed on my monitor for everyone to see.

The timestamp showed 12:23 PM, right when the rest of the floor had gone down for lunch. Grace walked up to my desk, sat in my chair, and opened my laptop.

The footage showed, in high definition, her changing the digits in the contract.

Liam's face turned incredibly pale.

The whispers started instantly.

"It really was Grace? Why would she do that?"

"Why do you think? Shes his ex. Its a setup. I wonder who Liam is going to back."

"My moneys on Grace. You guys werent here years ago; you dont know how crazy he was about her."

My spine stiffened.

I forced myself not to show weakness, trying to ignore Liam's heavy silence.

Then, Grace did something unexpected. She looked at me, smiled slightly, and turned to Liam. She didn't even try to deny it.

"I did it," she said simply. "I framed her. You can fire me."

She locked eyes with him. "Liam, are you going to fire me?"

I looked at him, too.

Surely he would. The evidence was right there, and she had confessed. There was no excuse left.

I held my breath, waiting.

After a long, agonizing silence, Liam looked away from Grace. "This matter is closed. I will personally cover the financial losses caused by the error."

Grace smiled, her eyes gleaming with triumph as she threw me a mocking look.

The entire office fell quiet, stunned.

My chest felt hollow, as if I had been struck by a physical blow.

"On what grounds?" I asked, my voice cracking despite my efforts to keep it steady.

Liam looked at me, his tone matter-of-fact. "Grace is my girlfriend now. She made a lapse in judgment, but as her partner, Ill take responsibility for her mistakes."

A raw laugh broke from my throat. "Your girlfriend..."

"Liam, did you forget we have a marriage certificate? Legally, she is nothing but a"

"Nancy!" he snapped, cutting me off, his eyes flashing with a cold, warning glare. "She is not."

I looked down at the polished floor.

I finally understood where Graces absolute confidence came from. It wasn't cleverness. It was Liams unconditional protection.

I didn't want to fight anymore.

"Fine," I whispered. "She isn't."

Once he dismissed the onlookers, he stepped closer to me, his voice softening as he tried to wrap his arms around me.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you."

"Nancy, I told youjust thirty days. After that, I'm all yours."

I kept my hands flat against my sides, forcing a polite, blank smile. "I believe you."

"Actually, I have a few documents that need your signature."

I slipped my resignation letter and the divorce agreement into the middle of a thick stack of standard vendor contracts and handed them to him.

The sudden shift in my mood caught him off guard, but seeing that I was no longer arguing, he let out a sigh of relief.

He signed them without looking.

Back at my desk, I scanned the signed divorce agreement and emailed it to my attorney, then sent the resignation letter to HR.

Then, I sat quietly, waiting for the clock to strike five.

At dusk, I took one last look at the office where I had spent five years of my life. I unclipped my ID badge and laid it on the desk.

In the parking garage, Grace was leaning against the drivers side door of my car.

I tried to ignore her, but she stepped into my path.

"You see? I told you. The moment I came back, you were out."

"Nancy, if you have any dignity left, sign the papers and go. Why hold onto a man who doesn't love you?"

I stopped walking, looking at her with cold amusement.

"Really? But until those papers are filed, Grace, you're just the side piece."

"You!"

Her face contorted in rage, and she threw her hand forward, slapping me hard across the cheek.

"You bitch!"

Just then, the heavy door to the elevator bay opened, and Liam stepped out. He saw the whole thing.

"Grace," he said, his voice dropping an octave. He looked at my red, swelling cheek for three seconds.

I waited for him to yell at her.

Instead, he looked at me. "I'm sorry, Nancy. I apologize on her behalf. To make it up to you, our wedding next month will be twice as grand."

Grace smirked, wrapping her arm around his.

My entire body went numb.

My throat burned with a sudden, sharp ache.

Without waiting for my answer, he led Grace away toward his car.

The garage fell into a deafening silence.

I stood there alone, the side of my face throbbing into numbness.

And I finally accepted the truth.

Liam didn't care how Grace had abandoned him. He knew she had slapped me, knew she had set me up, knew exactly how manipulative she was.

And yet, he loved her anyway.

Grace was right. I had lost.

My first loss was three years ago.

She had sent me a text telling me that Liam kept her photo in his wallet, and that no one was allowed to touch it. I hadn't believed heruntil I found it late one night. When I threw it away, Liam yelled at me for the first time in our relationship.

My second loss was a year ago.

Grace told me that every year on May 6th, the anniversary of her mother's passing, Liam would go to the cemetery with her. That day happened to be my mother's birthday. I had begged him, cried, asked him to cut ties with Grace's family and come home with me.

But Liam had simply shaken my hand off and walked out the door without looking back.

My third loss was at our wedding, when he abandoned me at the altar.

And this was my fourth.

I pushed the feelings down, unlocked my car, and was about to start the engine when my mothers name flashed on the screen.

When I answered, her voice was broken, choked with a terrible, violent sobbing.

"Nancy... your father... he's gone..."

My chest tightened, a cold panic seizing my throat. My hands shook so badly I could barely grip the steering wheel as I sped toward the hospital.

But when I arrived, there was only a bed, and a stiff white sheet pulled over a silent shape.

My legs gave out. I collapsed by the bedside, my hands trembling as I reached out to touch his cold forehead.

"Dad?"

The tears came in a blind, choking rush. "Dad, please..."

"What happened? He was fine yesterday! Why did this happen?"

My mother was weeping so hard she could barely breathe.

"Some woman... she sent your father a message... telling him you had been discarded... telling him to make you let go..."

I closed my eyes, my teeth grinding together until they ached.

Grace.

Just then, the door pushed open, and Liam stepped in, a look of heavy guilt on his face.

"I'm so sorry, Nancy," he said, stepping forward to wrap his arms around my shaking shoulders. "Grace didn't mean for this to happen. She was just scared, she..."

I shoved him away with every ounce of strength I had left.

I stared at him, my heart a hollow, bleeding ruin.

"Liam... how did I ever love someone like you?"

"Get out. Get out!"

His face tightened, and he let out a long, exhausted sigh.

"I'll make this up to you. I'm already planning the new wedding. In thirty days, I'll send Grace away, and it will just be you and me. I promise."

"Take some time to calm down."

Then, he turned and walked out.

I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, there was nothing left inside me but a cold, hard hatred.

The next morning, my mother and I held a small, private service for my father.

By evening, we had bought two one-way tickets to Los Angeles, leaving Boston behind forever.

But before I boarded the plane, I made one last stop. I met with the general manager of the estate where Liam was planning our "rescheduled" wedding. I handed him ten thousand dollars in cash, along with three packages.

"Deliver these to Liam Reynolds in exactly thirty days," I said.

These three surprises... he would remember them for the rest of his life.