I Died on My Wedding Night

I died on my wedding night.

Right in the middle of our ceremony, as Matthias slid the ring toward my finger, his phone rang. My sister's name lit up the screen. He didn't hesitate — he just left. Walked away and left me standing there, the joke of the entire city.

When a killer found me and I called Matthias screaming for help, he told me to hurry up and die.

Before everything went dark, I saw fireworks over the city.

He'd spent six months planning that display to celebrate our wedding. In the end, it was just something he used to impress my sister.

I figured he'd be relieved when I was gone. Happy, even. Finally free to be with Adelaide out in the open.

But when the news of my death actually reached him — Matthias lost his mind.

——

I made one last call before I saw the reaper.

"Matthias, please — help me!"

The other end was loud, chaotic. Then his voice cut through it, cold as ice. "Magnolia Sullivan, are you done with this? I gave you the wedding of a lifetime. I'm just keeping Addie company. What more do you want?"

Through the phone, I heard my sister laugh. "Is she threatening to die again? How many times is she going to pull this?"

Blood was leaving my body fast. My white gown was caked in mud. The killer stood over me, watching me cling to the last threads of my life the way you watch an insect dying on the pavement. He knew I was almost gone. That's why he let me make the call.

But I wasn't ready. I held onto that last shred of hope with everything I had.

Something didn't add up. Why had this person come for me specifically? Who had I crossed badly enough to deserve this?

There was no time to think it through. I used the last breath I could manage.

"Matthias, I'm not lying. Someone is trying to kill me. I'm actually dying."

"Enough." His impatience crackled through the line. "First you faked being sick, now you're saying someone's trying to murder you? How desperate are you?"

"Do you really need this much attention? Addie is your own sister. You're already Mrs. Lancaster — do you have to destroy her just to feel satisfied?"

The cold wind tearing through me was nothing compared to those words. I watched the blood spread dark and wide across my dress, and I understood. This was it.

I swallowed everything I'd wanted to say. Lying on my back, staring up at nothing, I stopped fighting. My voice came out barely above a whisper.

"But Adelaide Sullivan is the one who's perfectly fine right now. And me… I'm the one who's dying."

"Then go ahead and die. At least then you'll stop upsetting Addie."

Just before the line went dead, I heard Adelaide's voice — honey-sweet. "She's not really going to die. Don't worry about her. The fireworks are about to start."

Matthias was gone. My phone slipped from my bloodied hand and hit the ground hard beside the water.

Tears, burning hot, slid slowly down my face.

All around me, snow fell. The sky exploded with light — deafening booms, one after another, brilliant colors blooming and dying overhead.

Six months he'd spent planning this. For us. For our wedding night.

And it belonged to someone else now.

Even the dress I was wearing — he'd let Adelaide try it on first.

A photo came through on my phone. Against the blazing fireworks, my husband had another woman nestled against his chest. The corner of his mouth — always so flat and unmoved around me — was curved into a quiet smile.

In the middle of their happiness, I closed my eyes for the last time.

If I could live again, I never wanted to meet Matthias.

Of course, nothing went the way I wanted. The next time awareness came back to me, I found myself under a sky full of stars, watching a man and a woman locked in a kiss.

My husband. And my sister.

"Matthias, you can't — you CAN'T do this!"

I threw myself at them. My fingers passed straight through their bodies.

I looked down at my hands. Nearly transparent. No one around me noticed a thing.

That's when it hit me. I was dead. Somehow my ghost had drifted here, to them.

Watching them kiss, I learned something new about death — it turns out your heart can still break after you're gone.

He had grown up with me. We'd been each other's whole world since we were kids. Not long ago, Matthias had looked me in the eyes and sworn that Adelaide was like a sister to him, nothing more. That I was the only one he'd ever loved. Start to finish, only me.

Another firework ripped across the sky. The boom of it startled Matthias and he pulled back sharply, putting distance between himself and Adelaide.

"Addie. We can't do this."

Adelaide's face was still flushed, her features catching the glow of the fireworks, and she looked devastating. She bit her lip. "I didn't mean for it to happen. I just… I couldn't help myself."

He touched her hair gently. "It's okay. I'm not angry. Let me make a call."

He pulled out his phone. He called me.

I went cold all over. Twenty-some years. All of it, worth nothing.

He only thought of me after he'd finished with her. Called his dead wife as an afterthought.

The line rang. Once. Twice. Three times.

For years, I had kept my phone on around the clock for him. He never had to wait past the second ring. Not once.

But Matthias — I was dead. What did he think a dead woman was going to do?

His brow creased. "Addie, I'm going to check the location Magnolia sent me."

So he finally remembered.

I had sent him my location before I died — the riverbank. If he went now, at least there would be someone to claim my body. I didn't know what that killer planned to do with me if I was left there too long.

A small hand closed around his wrist. Adelaide stared up at him, eyes wide and pitiful. "Stay with me a little longer?"

Hesitation moved through his face. "But Magnolia—"

"She loves to make scenes. You haven't forgotten, have you? That time she said she was in the hospital for surgery and you dropped everything — billions of dollars on the line — and flew back, and she was completely fine? Or the time she swore someone was following her and nothing came of it?"

"That's just who she is. She was spoiled her whole life, and this is how she gets attention. She's the Sullivan family's precious oldest daughter — honestly, who would ever actually hurt her?"

That was enough. The doubt drained out of Matthias's face. He pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose.

"I wish Magnolia were even half as reasonable as you."

Adelaide smiled.

So did I — though mine was a different kind.

Because once, it was Matthias who told me: 'Only unloved children have to be well-behaved. My Maggie gets to be whoever she wants.'

He didn't come for me. He took Adelaide to our honeymoon suite instead.

I stood in the doorway, trying to block her path.

Adelaide walked through me, smiling.

Alive or dead, I had never been able to stop her.

She came out of the bathroom wearing my nightgown — the one I'd chosen as a surprise for Matthias on our wedding night. The sheer fabric moved with her, and when Matthias saw her, his throat shifted. His eyes darkened.

After all the time I'd spent with him, I knew exactly what that look meant.

Watching the air between them turn thick and charged, I was furious and gutted all at once.

"Addie." His voice was careful. "That's Magnolia's."

"I know." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "You stopped loving her a long time ago, didn't you? It's me. It's always been me. Tell me I'm right."

"Adelaide." His voice dropped to something cold. "That's enough."

Tears rolled down her face in a steady stream. She made herself look wrecked, abandoned, unbearable to look at. "After tonight you'll be my brother-in-law. I'm not asking for much. Just one night. That's all. One night — and then I'll never ask again. I want to be yours, just once."

"Anything else, but not this." He stepped back. "Not this."

She stomped her foot. "Fine. If you don't want me, I'll give myself to someone else. A delivery guy. A janitor. A male model. A homeless man off the street — I don't care!"

"Stop it."

"You don't want me anyway, so what does it matter? You won't even grant me this one thing, so I'll just—"

He pulled her in and kissed her silent.

I screamed until I had nothing left. No one heard a single sound.

Matthias. The man I had loved for over ten years. In our wedding suite. With my sister.

I watched the whole night. Every hour of it. He gave her everything he had kept locked away, all of it, unleashed at once.

Morning light fell across Adelaide's skin, tracing all the marks he'd left on her. She hid her face against his chest, suddenly shy.

Matthias came back to himself. Something regretful moved across his face. "Addie, last night we—"

I laughed without warmth. It was done. What was the point of regret now.

You already dirtied yourself.

"Don't worry." She pressed her palm flat against his chest. "I won't tell her. From now on you're my brother-in-law and I'll be a good girl. I'll go study abroad. I'll stay out of your lives completely."

His brow pulled together. "Who said anything about you leaving? You—"

His phone rang.

He answered.

The voice on the other end was clipped, official. "Mr. Lancaster, a couture wedding gown was pulled from the river near Riverside Embankment this morning. It's been confirmed as the dress your wife Magnolia wore yesterday. We need you to come to the station to assist with our investigation. Your wife may have already…"