Chapter 114
Chapter 114
Yvonne’s POV
The doors closed behind her.
That sound did not echo loudly, but it still felt like something final had been sealed shut. Like a chapter of our lives had been locked away forever. Like we had all just been buried alive inside what was left.
For a moment, no one moved.
The cathedral that had been full of voices, whispers, music, and expectation now felt empty even though people were still there. The silence was heavy. Thick. It pressed against my chest and made it hard to breathe.
David was still on his knees.
Right there at the altar.
The same place where everything had started.
The same place where everything had ended.
His hands were shaking. His head hung low. His shoulders trembled like his body could not carry the weight of what had just happened.
I stood a few feet away from him, but it felt like miles.
I did not know what to do.
I did not know what to say.
For the first time in a long time, I had nothing.
No plan.
No excuse.
No defense.
Just this empty feeling spreading inside my chest.
Guests began to move slowly. Some whispered to each other. Some pulled out their phones. Some stared at us like we were something dirty. Something broken. Something they would talk about later.
I heard my name.
Not loudly.
Just small whispers.
Yvonne.
That woman.
The mistress.
The one who helped destroy Lucia.
The one who lost everything.
The one who deserved it.
I wrapped my arms around myself, but it did nothing. I still felt exposed. Like everyone could see through my skin and into all the ugly things I had done.
Then David spoke.
His voice was not loud.
But it cut through everything.
“This is your fault.”
I froze.
For a second, I thought I heard wrong.
“What?”
He slowly lifted his head.
His eyes met mine.
I had never seen that look before.
There was pain in it. So much pain.
But there was also anger.
Sharp. Burning. Looking for somewhere to land.
“This,” he said again, his voice shaking but stronger now. “All of this. It is your fault.”
Something inside me snapped.
“No,” I said, my voice coming out too fast. “No, that is not fair. She planned this. She lied to all of us. She destroyed everything.”
He pushed himself up to his feet.
He almost fell, but he caught himself on the edge of the altar.
“You started it,” he said.
His voice rose now.
People stopped moving.
Some turned back to watch.
“You put ideas in my head. You made me doubt Lucia. You made me see her differently.”
“I did not make you do anything,” I shot back. My chest was tight now. My hands were shaking too. “You made your own choices.”
“No,” he said sharply. “You were always there. Whispering. Suggesting. Planting things. You made me believe she was not good enough.”
I let out a short, bitter laugh.
“So now you are blaming me for your cheating too?”
His jaw tightened.
“You seduced me.”
That word hung between us.
Heavy.
Ugly.
I stared at him.
“You think I forced you?” I asked quietly.
“At the engagement party,” he said, his voice dropping. “You came to me. You touched me. You told me things about her. About Lucia. About how she did not understand me. About how she was controlling. About how I deserved better.”
“And you believed it,” I said.
“Yes,” he snapped. “Because you made it sound real.”
“No,” I said again, slower this time. “You believed it because you wanted to.”
He flinched.
That small reaction told me I hit something true.
“You wanted an excuse,” I continued. My voice was calmer now, but it carried more weight. “You wanted to leave her. You wanted something different. I just gave you words for what you were already feeling.”
“That is not true,” he said, but there was hesitation in it.
“It is,” I said. “You were bored. You were tired. You felt trapped. And instead of fixing it or leaving honestly, you chose the easy way. You chose me.”
His hands clenched into fists.
“You kept saying she was too perfect,” he said. “Too rigid. Too demanding.”
“And she was,” I replied. “She wanted control over everything. Over you. Over the relationship. Over how things looked.”
“And that gave me the right to destroy her?” he shouted.
“No,” I said, my voice rising to match his. “That was your choice. Not mine. You decided to take her money. You decided to leave her at the altar. You decided to ruin her life.”
His face twisted.
“You were there,” he said again, but it sounded weaker now.
“Yes,” I said. “I was there. I was part of it. I will not pretend I was innocent. But I did not force you. I did not control you. You are not some helpless victim, David.”
The name sounded strange coming out of my mouth now.
Like I was talking to someone I did not recognize anymore.
“You wanted what she had,” he said suddenly. “Her money. Her life.”
“And you did not?” I asked.
He did not answer.
That silence was enough.
The truth was ugly.
We had both wanted what Lucia had.
We had both taken it.
We had both destroyed her.
Now we were standing in the ruins of what came back to us.
David’s shoulders dropped suddenly.
Like something inside him finally broke.
He staggered back and sat down hard on the steps.
His hands covered his face.
“I lost everything,” he whispered.
No one spoke.
Not me.
Not Anna.
Not the few guests still watching from a distance.
“I gave her everything,” he continued, his voice cracking. “Everything I had left. I thought I was fixing things. I thought I was proving I was not that man anymore.”
“You cannot fix something by pretending it never happened,” Anna said softly from the side.
We both turned to look at her.
She looked just as broken as we felt.
Tears still ran down her face, but her eyes were clearer now.
Like she had accepted something we were still fighting.
“It does not work like that,” she said.
David looked at her with anger again.
“Do not start,” he warned.
But she did not stop.
“It is karma,” she said.
The word sat in the air.
Simple.
But heavy.
“No,” David said immediately. “Do not say that.”
“It is,” she insisted. “We hurt her. We destroyed her. We took everything from her. And now she came back and did the same to us.”
“She went too far,” I said quickly. “She planned everything. She ruined lives. That is not justice.”
Anna looked at me.
“Did we not ruin her life?” she asked quietly.
I had no answer.
My throat felt tight.
“She lost everything in one day,” Anna continued. “Her money. Her fiancé. Her future. Her child. All in one moment. Because of us.”
The baby.
The word hit me again.
Harder this time.
I swallowed.
“I did not know about the baby,” I said.
“I know,” Anna said. “But that does not change the fact that it happened. Because of what we did.”
David let out a broken sound.
“I killed my own child,” he whispered.
The way he said it made my chest ache.
Not with sympathy.
But with something else.
Something heavy.
Something close to guilt.
“No,” I said quickly. “You did not know. You cannot blame yourself for something you did not know.”
“I should have known,” he said. “I should have been there. I should have cared enough to know.”
His voice cracked completely now.
“I left her,” he said. “I left her alone. I did not even look back.”
No one spoke.
Because there was nothing to say to that.
The truth was already there.
Clear.
Ugly.
Final.
David looked up at me again.
And just like that, the anger came back.
“This is still your fault,” he said.
I stared at him.
“You are still doing it,” I said. “Blaming me for everything instead of accepting your own part.”
“You pushed me,” he insisted.
“And you walked,” I replied.
He shook his head.
“I do not want to see you,” he said suddenly. “Just go. Leave me alone.”
Something inside me hardened.
“Fine,” I said.
I turned toward the doors.
But before I walked away, I stopped.
I looked back at him.
At the man who had once chosen me.
At the man who had destroyed someone else with me.
At the man who was now broken on the floor of a cathedral.
“You want someone to blame,” I said quietly. “But the truth is simple. You did this to yourself.”
He did not respond.
“You destroyed Lucia,” I continued. “You took everything from her. You broke her life. What happened today is not random. It is not unfair. It is the result of what you did.”
He stayed silent.
“And me?” I added. “I am not innocent. I know what I did. I know I played a part. But I am not your excuse anymore.”
I took a breath.
“This is on you.”
Then I turned and walked away.
Anna followed me without saying a word.
We stepped out of the cathedral.
The sunlight hit my face, but it did not feel warm.
It felt harsh.
Real.
Behind us, David stayed inside.
Alone.
Broken.
Surrounded by the remains of everything he had built on someone else’s pain.
And for the first time, I understood something clearly.
This was not just revenge.
This was not just cruelty.
This was consequence.
And no matter how much we blamed each other.
No matter how much we tried to escape it.
We had all earned it.