Death on My Wedding Night

The freezing mud of the riverbank seeped into my shattered bones, mingling with the rapid flow of my own warm blood. My new husband had abandoned me at the altar, turning me into the city’s favorite punchline and leaving me entirely vulnerable to the murderer who had just butchered me in the dark.

Clutching my phone with trembling, crimson-slicked fingers, I listened to the chaotic background noise on the line before his voice finally cut through.

"Are you finished throwing your little tantrums, Serena?" Declan demanded, his tone dripping with exhaustion. "I threw you the wedding of the century. Right now, I'm spending time with Maya. What else could you possibly want from me?"

The shadow of my attacker loomed nearby, perfectly content to watch me bleed out. He knew I was already a corpse, too broken to fight back.

But I still wanted to live.

The heavy, muddy water lapped at the ruined hem of my custom white silk gown. Drawing on the very last reserves of air in my collapsing lungs, I rasped into the speaker. "Declan, please save me."

"Drop it," he snapped, his patience instantly vanishing. "Aren't you tired of running this exact same script? Because I am."

"I'm not pretending," I gasped out. "There is a man here. He's trying to kill me..."

Declan let out a harsh, mocking laugh. "You faked an illness before, Serena. What kind of performance is this supposed to be?"

He didn't even pause for my answer. "Are you really that desperate for the spotlight? Maya is your own flesh and blood, and you already secured the title of Mrs. Sterling. Will you only be happy when your sister is dead?"

The biting winter wind was nothing compared to the absolute frost in his voice. As the thick pool of blood widened beneath my ruined dress, I finally accepted my reality.

Rolling my heavy head back into the mud, I surrendered. "But Maya is perfectly safe," I whispered into the receiver, my vision tunneling. "While I... I am actually dying."

"Then die," he fired back without a second of hesitation. "At least then Maya won't have to deal with your pathetic jealousy anymore."

A soft, cheerful voice suddenly filtered through the line. "Declan, look! The show is starting!"

The call abruptly disconnected. A hollow beep replaced the man I had loved for a decade, fading into the howl of the river wind.

My slick fingers gave out. The phone splashed heavily into the freezing current.

Freezing droplets splashed against my cheeks, blending with the hot tears trailing from my eyes. Above me, the pitch-black sky suddenly ignited.

Thousands of glowing drones and deafening fireworks erupted into a dazzling sea of colors. He had spent six exhausting months planning this million-dollar display for our wedding night, only to repurpose it to court my sister.

My phone buzzed weakly in the shallow water. An anonymous message lit up the cracked screen—a clear photo of Declan holding Maya tightly against his chest, illuminated by the radiant sky.

His usually stoic mouth was curved into a gentle, genuine smile.

Right there, under the brilliant glow of their stolen happiness, my eyelids slid shut, and the absolute dark swallowed me whole.

They say death offers a clean slate. I had prayed with my final breath that I would never have to cross paths with Declan Sterling again.

Fate refused to let me rest.

My consciousness violently snapped back. I wasn't in the mud anymore. I was hovering under a brilliant, star-filled sky, staring directly at a man and a woman desperately clinging to each other.

It was my husband, and my sister.

"You can't do this!" I screamed, lunging forward.

I swiped my hands to shove them apart, but my fingers phased right through their solid shoulders like empty air.

I stared down at my pale, completely transparent palms. They couldn't hear me. They couldn't see me. I was a ghost.

Watching their lips crash together in a fervent kiss, a new kind of agony ripped through my phantom chest.

Declan was my childhood sweetheart. Just weeks ago, he had looked me in the eyes and promised that his affection for Maya was strictly platonic, swearing he only loved me.

Another massive firework cracked open the sky. The booming sound seemed to snap Declan back to reality.

He shoved Maya back by her shoulders, his breathing ragged. "Maya, we can't do this."

Her face was deeply flushed under the explosive lights, making her look incredibly alluring. She bit her lower lip, her voice trembling. "Declan, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen. I just... I lost control."

Declan’s tense posture softened. He reached out and smoothed her hair. "It's fine. I'm not mad at you. Let me make a call."

He pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped my contact name.

A suffocating chill settled over my spirit. Twenty years of absolute devotion, and I was nothing but a guilty afterthought following his romantic slip-up with my sister.

The phone rang out into the night. Once. Twice. Three times.

I had spent my entire life on standby for this man, meticulously trained to answer him before the fourth ring.

But a rotting corpse in the river couldn't pick up the phone.

Declan’s brow pulled into a tight frown. "Maya, I need to check Serena's last known GPS location."

My ghostly heart leaped. Right before the attack, I had shared my riverside coordinates with him. If he left right now, he could still recover my body. I dreaded to think of what the murderer was doing to my physical remains.

But before his thumb could tap the screen, Maya reached out. Her soft fingers clamped firmly around his thick wrist.

"Declan, just stay here with me," she pleaded, her wide eyes brimming with innocent tears.

He hesitated, staring at the screen. "But Serena..."

"Serena thrives on the drama, you know this," Maya urged softly. "Think about the hospital. You walked out on a billion-dollar merger because she claimed she was dying, and she was perfectly fine. Or the stalker she made up?"

She stepped closer, sliding her hand up his arm. "That’s just who she is. She’s the spoiled Vance heiress playing her usual games. Nobody in this city would actually dare lay a finger on her."

The tension instantly drained from Declan's broad shoulders. He dragged a heavy hand over his exhausted face.

"I just wish she possessed an ounce of your understanding," he muttered.

Maya offered a sweet, comforting smile. The irony made me sick.

He used to tell me that only unloved women needed to be sensible, and that I was allowed to be as reckless and demanding as I wanted.

Declan didn't pull up the GPS. Instead, he let Maya guide him straight back into our massive marital home.

I threw myself into the bedroom doorway, waving my translucent arms and screaming at the top of my lungs to block her.

Maya walked right through my chest, giggling softly. Alive or dead, I was completely powerless to stop her.

A few minutes later, the adjoining bathroom door clicked open.

Maya stepped out into the dim lighting, wearing my custom, sheer lace nightgown. It was the exact piece of lingerie I had meticulously chosen and saved for this very night.

Declan’s gaze instantly dropped to the barely concealed curves of her body beneath the delicate fabric.

I knew that look. I knew exactly what that heavy, heated stare meant.

"Maya, those belong to Serena," he warned, his voice dropping an octave.

"I'm well aware," she whispered, stepping directly into his personal space and wrapping her bare arms tight around his neck. "Declan, I know you don't love her anymore. You love me. Tell me I'm wrong."

"Maya, stop this right now," Declan commanded, though he didn't step back.

Tears spilled over Maya's lashes. She let out a pathetic, broken sob. "Tomorrow, you'll officially be my brother-in-law. I'm not asking for forever. Just give me tonight. I need to be yours, Declan."

"I will agree to anything else, but not this," he gritted out, finally grabbing her waist to push her back.

Maya dug her heels in and shrieked. "Fine! If you won't touch me, I'll go find someone who will! The delivery driver, the security guard, a homeless man on the street!"

"Shut your mouth!"

"If you're going to reject my one dying wish, then I'll just—"

Declan didn't let her finish. He yanked her forcefully against his rigid chest and crashed his mouth down onto hers, silencing her threats with a bruising, desperate kiss.

I screamed until my ghostly throat felt raw, but the silent walls absorbed my agony.

The man who had promised me eternity was now forcefully tossing my sister onto our wedding bed.

Every barrier broke. Declan unleashed a decade of repressed, animalistic lust, aggressively parting her pale thighs and burying himself deep inside her. The quiet room filled with the wet, sloppy sounds of skin violently slapping against skin, tangled with their explicit, breathless moans.

He took her relentlessly, surrendering to a ravenous hunger he had never shown me. I was forced to stand there, watching every brutal thrust completely shatter the remains of my soul.

By the time dawn filtered through the heavy curtains, the bed was a chaotic, sweat-soaked mess.

Maya rested her head against Declan’s bare, muscular chest, a deeply satisfied smile playing on her lips as the golden light highlighted the fresh, dark marks all over her skin.

Declan dragged a hand through his messy hair, his face twisted with sudden, heavy regret. "Maya, about last night..."

I let out a bitter, voiceless laugh. What was the point of a guilty conscience after the damage was thoroughly done? It was absolutely pointless.

"Don't worry, Declan," Maya promised sweetly, trailing a manicured fingernail over his collarbone. "I will never breathe a word of this to Serena. You are strictly my brother-in-law now. I'll arrange to study abroad and completely disappear from your life."

Declan’s frown deepened. "Who said anything about you leaving? You don't have to—"

The sharp, jarring ringtone of his phone sliced through the morning quiet.

Declan snatched it from the nightstand and pressed it to his ear.

A stern, highly professional voice echoed from the speaker, loud enough for me to hear. "Mr. Sterling, local authorities recovered a designer wedding dress from the Crystal Coast early this morning. We have confirmed it belongs to your wife, Serena Vance. We need you to come down to the station immediately to assist with an ongoing investigation."