I Woke Up From a Coma and Found Out My Fiancé Was Protecting My Killer Chapter 06
The Grand Ballroom plunged into dead silence. Everyone froze. On the massive screen, the footage of the two of them tangled together—kissing, clinging—played without pause.
Willa’s eyes bulged. She lost her mind. “Turn it off! Who did this? Turn it off!”
She lunged at the computer like a lunatic and smashed it. The screen crackled. Went black. But every single person had already seen.
“What the hell? Paige bailed and exposed Landon and Willa?”
“No way. They walk around looking all perfect, but inside? They’re straight-up trash.”
“I’m gonna be sick. Why did we even come to this wedding? Disgusting.”
Every word slammed into Landon’s ears. His dazed mind finally snapped back. Paige left him at the altar?
The second that thought hit him, his chest caved in. Air just—stopped coming.
Beside him, Willa clawed at his arm. “Landon, what do we do? What do we do!”
She was sheet-white. She could feel every guest in that ballroom pointing and cursing. Her body locked up. She wanted to crawl into a hole.
At the same time, her hatred for Paige Bennett hit a blinding peak. She and Landon were in love. True love. How dare they label her the
—
other woman.
Landon didn’t say a word. He looked at her. Nothing came out. What do we do? He wanted to know the same thing.
The guests started firing. “Are you kidding me? You slept with her fiancé, and now you’re standing up there like her best friend? I’m gonna be sick.”
“Get off the stage! You’re disgusting!”
“Did your parents raise you with zero shame? Seriously?”
The ridicule pelted Willa like stones. She swayed. Tears streamed down her face. She screamed back. “I didn’t! Landon and I are in love! Since when is loving someone wrong?”
The entire room erupted in disbelief. Someone grabbed a plate from the table—food and all—and hurled it at the stage.
“Get out! Did you forget that in high school, Paige saved you from getting bullied until you dropped out?”
“Ungrateful wretch. Both of you are scum.”
Gasps rippled through the room. The looks aimed at Landon and Willa turned even more vicious. Landon couldn’t form a single word. He wanted to crawl into the earth. He had no face left to show.
At that moment, the ballroom doors swung open. Every head turned. Including Willa’s, her face still twisted onstage. When she saw the police, pure terror swallowed her.
The guests murmured in confusion. “Why are the police here? Who are they here for?”
—
“Bet it’s got something to do with those two. This wedding’s been quite the show.”
The officers walked straight up to Willa, who was trembling, white as a ghost. “Willa Price, you’re under arrest for a hit-and-run.”
Then they dropped a second bomb. “And you, Landon Cole—we’ve got reason to believe you tampered with evidence and obstructed an investigation. You’re coming with us too.”
The crowd exploded. “Wait. Hit-and-run? Are they saying Willa Price is the one who hit Paige a month ago?!”
Willa snapped. Shrieking. “You have no proof! It wasn’t me! You can’t arrest me!”
Landon’s fists clenched. He finally understood that things had spiraled far beyond his control. It sank in at last—this wedding was a trap. Paige’s doing. Every piece of it.
The officers didn’t argue. They played the audio recording.
“Paige, I really didn’t mean to hit you. It was all my fault.”
“Paige, you have no evidence. I had the surveillance footage wiped. No one’s tracing this back to Willa.”
Two short clips. They nailed both of them to the pillar of shame.
The guests were horrified. “Are they even human?”
Willa’s eyes went huge. Her legs gave out. She collapsed onstage, hair a mess, muttering. “How… how did this happen…”
Landon’s eyes burned red. The truth finally cut through. From the
—
moment Paige woke up, she had never forgiven him. She had never intended to marry him. The second he chose to shield Willa—they were already over.
He stared out at the sea of disgusted faces. At the woman on the floor thrashing like a madwoman. Regret ate him alive. No mercy. No end in sight. He lowered his head, his eyes rimmed wet.
He finally faced it. Somewhere along the way, he had fallen in love with Paige Bennett. And he’d lost her. For real. Forever.