Locked Up on My Wedding Day: My Ex-Wife Begged for Mercy

My wife locked me in the bridal suite on our wedding day.

All because she ran into her college sweetheart.

I sat in the locked room, watching the suites smart TV screen. On it, she and Austin were embracing and kissing, completing the entire wedding ceremony in front of all our guests.

When the reception finally ended, Chloe walked into the room. The lipstick on her lips was smeared all over her face.

Yet, she looked at me with complete nonchalance. "Ethan, I couldnt get ahold of you. We couldn't just cancel the wedding. Besides, its just a ceremony anyway."

I looked at the screen again. The live feed had moved to the after-party in the suite. Austin was pinning Chloe down on the couch, his hands all over her.

I smiled.

Later, her company was ruined by that very man. She came crawling back, crying and begging for my help.

But she seemed to have forgotten one simple fact.

We were already divorced.

The wedding was over, and the door to my hotel suite was finally unlocked.

Chloe walked in, carrying the scent of another mans expensive cologne.

The smeared lipstick on her face made her look both pathetic and cheap.

I looked at her quietly. Then, my eyes drifted back to the TV screen, which was still casting the Snapchat live stories of her and Austin.

Austin was practically on top of her, and their movements were disgusting.

I remembered how much effort I had put into planning this wedding. I had spent sleepless nights dreaming of our future.

To find the perfect wedding ring she wanted, I had traveled to three different cities.

To design the dream venue, I personally drew every single sketch.

Countless nights of anticipation had led to this trash show.

The pain washed over me like a tidal wave. It was the kind of agonizing betrayal that rips your chest wide open.

But strangely, after the initial shock, a cold calm took over.

When did Chloe start changing?

I didn't say a word. I just looked up at her.

She seemed to know what I wanted to ask. She rolled her eyes, her gaze filled with annoyance.

"It was just a show for the guests. You weren't there, so should we have just canceled the whole thing? Austin was only helping me out. Don't be so narrow-minded."

Just then, Austin walked into the room. He had a fake, apologetic smile on his face. "Ethan, don't be mad. Its all a misunderstanding."

I laughed out of pure anger. I pointed at the TV screen. "A misunderstanding? You call this trashy behavior a misunderstanding?"

Chloe instantly stepped in front of Austin, defending him.

"Don't yell at him! If you hadn't messed up and disappeared at the last minute, would this have happened? Austin was just trying to save my reputation. What did he do wrong? Stop throwing a tantrum!"

Where did my phone go? Why was my door locked from the outside? Why couldn't I contact the hotel staff? And why was the TV casting their live feed?

The answers were screamingly obvious. Watching Chloe pretend to be innocent made her look like a clown.

I didn't say another word. I walked past them, got into my car, and drove back to our apartment.

I lit a cigarette. The smoke drifted slowly under the warm yellow light and disappeared into the air.

You can never hold onto smoke. Just like I could never hold onto Chloe's heart.

The wedding portrait on the wall stung my eyes. We looked so happy and in love back then.

Everyone used to say we were a match made in heaven. Now, looking at it, I felt nothing but cold emptiness.

Chloe didn't come home that night.

I wondered if she even remembered who she had actually married today.

She sent a text saying Austin had helped a lot, so she had to buy him dinner to thank him.

I lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Memories flashed in my mind like a movie on repeat.

Her beautiful smile when we first met, our romantic walks on the beach, the sweet excitement of planning our future...

Now, those memories were nothing but sharp knives.

I pulled out my phone, posted the screenshot of her and Austin kissing at the altar on Instagram, and captioned it: "Wish you two a lifetime of happiness."

The next evening, I came home from work and saw Chloe sitting on the couch. Her face was incredibly dark.

I hung my briefcase on the rack and walked right past her. I had no energy left to play her games.

"Ethan Carter!"

She slammed her hand on the coffee table, stood up, and glared at me as if I were the one who had committed a crime.

"What is wrong with you? What is this attitude, Ethan? What is the meaning of your Instagram post?"

I looked at her and laughed. The laugh was empty and cold.

"What does it mean? Exactly what it says. You had your wedding with him, you spent your wedding night with him, and now youre asking me what it means?"

She frowned. A flicker of panic crossed her eyes, but she quickly covered it up with her usual aggressive tone.

"Can you stop being so insecure? Austin and I are just old college friends. Yesterday was an emergency. Nothing happened between us!"

Then, she sat back down on the couch, fake-wiping tears from her dry eyes.

Every time we fought, she did this.

Whenever she was in the wrong, she would play the victim. In the past, I always fell for it. The moment she cried, I would panic and do everything to make her happy.

But this time, I just looked at her coldly. I didn't move an inch.

Seeing that I wasn't backing down as usual, she stopped her fake sobbing. Her eyes filled with disbelief.

During our years together, I had given Chloe everything she wanted. I tolerated all her whims.

Maybe that was why she thought she could walk all over me without caring about my feelings.

"Can't you show me some trust? Fine, stop acting like a child. Delete the post. Don't make us look bad in front of everyone," Chloe said. It was laughably pathetic.

I had seen the live streams. The way they touched on stage was not something you could explain away with "an emergency."

Besides, she knew exactly how much those actions would hurt me, but she did them anyway.

"I'm not deleting the post," I said. I reached into my briefcase, pulled out the divorce papers I had prepared, and slammed them on the table.

"Sign this."

My voice was dead calm. Too many disappointments had turned my heart to ice.

Chloes eyes widened as she stared at the divorce papers.

"Ethan! Are you insane? We just got married yesterday, and you want a divorce over this little thing?"

Yes, I felt like I was going insane.

Since we got together, I had sacrificed everything for her. I turned down a high-paying job in New York just to stay in Chicago to help her build her startup. I worked day and night to give her a luxury lifestyle. I took care of her family. And in return, she trampled on my dignity.

I remembered one time she went to take a shower and left her phone on the table. It lit up with a text from Austin.

I caught a glimpse of it. The message was incredibly flirtatious.

When I confronted her, she simply shrugged it off. "Its just an inside joke between college friends. Don't be so dramatic."

Back then, because I loved her too much, I chose to believe her.

I even blamed myself, thinking I was working too hard and neglecting her.

So, I made more time for her. I bought her expensive gifts. I took her on trips she always wanted to go on.

But she just accepted everything as her right, never changing her behavior.

Austin was her college sweetheart. She had never gotten over him.

Back then, Austin was broke and had no stable job, so Chloe's parents forced them to break up.

Later, I met Chloe at a business gala and fell for her.

She pursued me, and we naturally started dating. She was sweet and caring back then. We had good memories.

But Austins return shattered everything.

Pulling myself back to reality, I pointed at the papers. She stared at them for a second, and then a sneer appeared on her face.

"Ethan, do you really think this reverse psychology works on me? Its so old-school! Youre just jealous of Austin. Do you have to make such a big deal out of it? Stop acting up!"

She swept the divorce papers off the table, grabbed her purse, and slammed the door as she went to her room.

As she brushed past me, the scent of men's cologne hit my nose again. It wasn't mine. It made me want to throw up.

My phone rang. It was my best friend, Marcus.

I looked at my exhausted face in the mirror before answering.

"Hey Ethan, hows life? Any new plans lately?"

Hearing his familiar voice made a lump form in my throat.

"Lately... its been okay. Everything is... normal."

I tried to keep my voice steady, but the words felt empty.

Marcus seemed to sense something was wrong. He didn't press me. Instead, he changed the subject.

"I'm looking for a partner for a few of my tech startups in New York. You know youre the smartest business mind I know.

Besides, your family has deep roots in New York. Why don't you come back and build this empire with me?"

My heart skipped a beat.

Years ago, because of Chloe, I had a massive fight with my family and stubbornly chose to stay in Chicago.

But now that this marriage was dead, it was time to reclaim my life.

"Alright, count me in," I said without any hesitation.

I trusted Marcus completely. I had distanced myself from my old friends because of Chloe. It was time to fix that.

After hanging up, I started packing my bags.

Before leaving Chicago, I went to Chloe's company to pack up my personal belongings.

When I walked into the office, my former colleagues gave me weird looks. Whispers echoed around me.

I walked straight to my desk and realized Chloe wasn't there.

I asked around and found out she had gone out with Austin.

Without wasting any time, I packed my things and left the office where I had poured years of sweat and tears.

An hour later, I was on a flight back to New York.

When I arrived, Marcus had already set everything up. He booked me into a penthouse suite at a five-star hotel.

I dragged my suitcase into the room, freshened up, and got ready to meet him.

As I walked down the hallway past the neighboring suite, I noticed the door was slightly ajar. It was shaking.

Then, disgusting sounds came drifting out.

"Austin... faster... I love you so much."

The voice was hauntingly familiar. My body froze. My mind went blank.

Even though I didn't want to believe it, I knew that was Chloes voice.

I clenched my fists so hard my nails dug into my palms.

But I took a deep breath and forced myself to stay calm.

I used to cry over her betrayal. Now, I felt nothing but cold indifference.

This woman wasn't worth a single drop of my emotion anymore.

Over the next few months, Marcus and I poured all our energy into our new venture. The company grew at a breakneck speed, dominating the market and drawing massive attention from Wall Street.

Meanwhile, Chloes company, which used to rely entirely on my business strategies, began to tank.

During that time, Chloe tried to reach out to me countless times. My phone blew up with her calls and messages, but I blocked her. I was too busy.

After months of sleepless nights, our company was finally ready to launch its first massive round of series-A funding. We threw a grand gala.

The venue was magnificent, lit by crystal chandeliers.

I was chatting with some major venture capitalists when I caught a familiar figure out of the corner of my eye.

It was Chloe.

She was wearing a tight black dress. Her makeup was heavy, but it couldn't hide the deep dark circles under her eyes.

I later found out that a new intern in our PR department had made a mistake and accidentally sent an invite to Chloes struggling firm.

And Austin was standing right next to her.

Chloe spotted me and marched over, her high heels clicking loudly on the marble floor.

She stopped right in front of me. Ignoring the crowd, she yelled, "What is your problem, Ethan? Why aren't you answering my texts? Do you have any idea how ruined my company is because you left?"

Her voice was shrill. Instantly, the chatter around us died down. Everyone turned to look at us.

Austin patted her shoulder, and she calmed down a bit.

"Oh, look at you," Chloe sneered, crossing her arms. She looked me up and down with pure disgust. "Did you lose your job and come here to find a sugar mommy?"

Austin laughed along, his voice dripping with malice.

"Probably. He knew he had no future in our company, so he came here to beg for scraps. But honestly, a loser like him will never make it big."

The two of them laughed together.

I frowned slightly, feeling a spark of annoyance, but I kept my cool.

"Chloe, Austin. Long time no see. But I'm afraid things aren't quite what you think."

Chloe scoffed. "What's there to think? Don't tell me youre the CEO of this company?"

She and Austin burst into laughter again. It was incredibly grating.

Just then, Marcus ran over. He walked straight to me and spoke loudly.

"There you are, Ethan! Come on, the lead investors from Goldman Sachs are waiting to sign the contract with you."

Chloes laughter cut off instantly. Her face turned pale, and then a dark, vicious look crossed her eyes.

"Hmph, stop putting on a show! Even if you are the boss here, don't forget we are still married! Half of this company belongs to me!"

She took a step closer, her chin raised in a scheming sneer.

"Ethan Carter, you better pack your things and come back to Chicago right now to pay off my company's debts. If you hadn't abandoned me, my company wouldn't be in this mess! This is your fault, and you have to pay for it!"

She spoke with such self-righteousness, as if I truly owed her.

But she seemed to have completely forgotten that she had signed the divorce papers on the night she got drunk.

I took a deep breath, suppressing my anger, and looked at her coldly.

"Chloe, you really have no shame. But let me remind youwe are already divorced."