Chapter 122
Chapter 122:
Without the slightest pause, Kristine acted.
Gripping the heavy scissors, she tore into the wedding gown and cut it down into uneven scraps. Once the last piece fell, she summoned Claire, borrowed her phone, and sent photos of the ruined dress directly to Colton.
The color drained from Claire’s face.
Meanwhile, laughter, alcohol, and rowdy drinking games filled a secluded booth at a bar downtown, yet Colton remained the unspoken center of the room. During the most recent round of wagers, not one person had won. It had taken an entire week for the police to locate Kristine and bring her back to Gridron. With invitations bearing both their names circulating, their social circle buzzed nonstop with speculation. Seeing those two names paired with marriage felt unreal to everyone involved. Quietly, a fresh round of betting had begun — and this time, every bet leaned toward the wedding falling apart. With Elyse fully recovered, Kristine’s role suddenly seemed pointless.
Without warning, a heavy, muffled crash cut through the noise and shattered the atmosphere in the room.
Every gaze shifted to Colton.
What they saw made the air turn tense. The glass in his grip had shattered completely. Blood seeped through the gaps in his fingers and fell in slow drops onto the floor. Clutched in his other hand was his phone, its screen casting an eerie glow across the lower half of his face and sharpening the dangerous look in his eyes.
Across the table, Devin had been joking with a new companion. The noise drew his attention, and after one glance, he motioned for everyone else to leave. No one challenged the gesture. Within seconds, the room emptied, and only Devin and Colton remained.
𝗪𝗲е𝗄𝗅𝘆 𝗋𝘦𝗅e𝖺𝘀е𝘴 𝗼𝗻
Devin moved closer and lowered his gaze to the phone in Colton’s hand. When he recognized the torn remains of the dress, his expression changed. “Wasn’t this the wedding gown you designed just for Kristine? How did it end up destroyed p>
Just days earlier, Devin had accompanied Colton to the final fitting. That was when he realized the entire design had been drawn from small details Kristine had mentioned casually in the early days of their relationship. He checked the name at the top of the message again. The notification had come from Claire’s Facebook account — but there was no way Claire would have dared do something like this. That left only one explanation. It had to be Kristine.
A crease formed between Devin’s brows. He had genuinely thought she would be moved when she saw the gown.
“What is going on with Kristine lately? Even if she hated the dress, destroying it was unnecessary. That was four years of your effort,” Devin said.
Colton tightened his grip on the phone until his knuckles bleached white. Inside his mind, the same scene replayed over and over — Kristine, calm and at ease, stepping into Asher’s car.