Beneath the photos was a handwritten note. He admitted the truth: he was still married. He’d never filed for divorce. He had a son, a life he couldn’t walk away from. He had tried to build something new with Tessa but realized too late that he was still rooted in the past.
He begged her not to come looking for him. Tessa didn’t cry. She walked out to the guests and calmly announced there would be no wedding. She asked them to eat, drink, dance—enjoy the party.
Then she changed, packed her things, and left. She spent two days alone in the hotel suite, staring at the box. She reread the note again and again, trying to understand. But all she found was silence—and clarity. In the end, she wrote a letter to herself. A promise not to shrink again for anyone.
Not to be someone’s second story. Now, the box sits on her bookshelf—not as a memory of Ryan, but as proof that she opened it, faced the truth, and walked away with her head held high.