THE BRIDE OF MY ENEMY

Chapter 1

Amara first saw the message at 2:13 a.m.

She was unable to sleep.

Her wedding was in seven hours.

Most brides would be excited.

She wasn’t.

Something had felt wrong for weeks.

Nothing she could explain.

Just a strange feeling.

The kind that sits quietly inside your chest.

Waiting.

Her phone vibrated.

Unknown Number.

At first, she ignored it.

Then another message entered.

Three words.

“Don’t marry him.”

Amara frowned.

Probably a prank.

She was about to block the number when another message appeared.

This time with a photo.

Her heart stopped.

The phone nearly slipped from her hand.

The picture showed Jason.

Her fiancé.

The man she had loved for three years.

The man she would marry in a few hours.

He was asleep.

The photo had clearly been taken recently.

Very recently.

Maybe that night.

Amara sat upright.

Confused.

Why would someone secretly photograph Jason sleeping?

Then another image arrived.

This time Jason wasn’t alone.

A woman lay beside him.

Amara stopped breathing.

The room suddenly felt too small.

Too hot.

Too quiet.

Her hands trembled.

No.

This couldn’t be real.

Jason wasn’t that kind of man.

He couldn’t be.

She stared harder.

The image was blurry.

Dark.

Difficult to see clearly.

Yet it looked real enough to hurt.

Then another message entered.

“Ask him about Room 405.”

Amara immediately called Jason.

No answer.

She called again.

Nothing.

Again.

Nothing.

Her stomach tightened.

The unknown number called her instead.

Amara hesitated.

Then answered.

Silence.

Only breathing.

A woman was breathing on the line.

Slowly.

Patiently.

Listening.

Then the woman spoke.

“Do you know who you’re marrying?”

The call ended.

Amara didn’t sleep again.

By morning she had convinced herself it was all fake.

It had to be.

Someone was trying to destroy her relationship.

That was the only explanation.

Now she stood inside the bridal room staring at herself in the mirror.

Everyone kept complimenting her beauty.

Nobody noticed she was barely holding herself together.

Her maid of honor smiled.

“You look nervous.”

Amara forced a smile.

“I’m okay.”

She wasn’t.

She hadn’t been okay since 2:13 a.m.

Thirty minutes later she entered the wedding hall.

Jason smiled immediately.

The sight of him almost calmed her.

Almost.

Maybe the messages were lies.

Maybe she was overthinking.

Maybe everything would be fine.

Then Jason winked at her.

The exact same way he had winked in one of the photographs.

Her heartbeat stumbled.

The ceremony began.

The pastor spoke.

Guests smiled.

Phones recorded.

Everything felt normal.

Until a phone vibrated.

Not Amara’s.

Jason’s.

He quickly muted it.

But not before she saw the notification.

Unknown Number.

A message preview flashed briefly across the screen.

Only six words.

“I told you she’d come.”

Jason’s face changed instantly.

Only for a second.

But Amara noticed.

Fear.

Real fear.

The pastor continued speaking.

Jason forced another smile.

Amara’s pulse raced.

Who was “she”?

Why was Jason scared?

And why did it feel like everyone in the room knew something she didn’t?

Then Jason slowly lifted his eyes.

Not toward the pastor.

Not toward her.

Toward the back entrance of the hall.

Amara followed his gaze.

A woman stood there.

Watching them.

Nobody else seemed to notice her.

She wasn’t smiling.

She wasn’t sitting.

She was simply watching.

And then—

The woman smiled at Jason.

Jason went pale.

Amara’s heart dropped.

Because she suddenly realized something terrifying.

Jason knew her.

TO BE CONTINUED.