The Day Before Her Wedding, My Future Son Warned Me

My girlfriend was getting married, and I didn't find out until the day before.

“You invited everyone? Everyone but me?”

She twirled in her wedding dress. “Babe, you know my whole brand is anti-marriage. The wedding has to be solo—just me. If we actually got married, we'd both get torn apart online.”

She rubbed her stomach without a care in the world. “It's your baby. What more do you want?”

She kissed me with a smile, then pulled out her phone and asked me to pay the remaining hundred thousand for the banquet.

The second I finished the transfer, a messaging app chat window I'd never seen popped up on my phone. The sender claimed to be my future son.

"Dad, you need to go save Mom right now—she's about to get forced into marrying some old guy again."

I frowned. My girlfriend wouldn't even marry me. How was she getting forced into marrying some old man?

I was about to lock the screen when another message came through.

"Oh wait, I forgot—you're still being played by that gold digger. The baby she's carrying isn't yours, and she already got a courthouse marriage with your best friend!"

……

The words hit like ice water dumped over my head. I couldn't believe it.

Ruby and I had been together for five years. I had never noticed a single thing off about her.

She was already sitting on the couch, livestreaming with a bright smile. “Why marry myself? Because I'm an independent woman. I can give myself everything I……”

She talked effortlessly into the camera, not a flicker of guilt on her face.

I told myself the messages were a prank. But once the doubt took root, I couldn't stop it.

This person claiming to be my future son said she'd been with my best friend all along.

I only had one best friend.

When Ruby went to take a shower, I picked up her phone.

We trusted each other completely. We never looked through each other's phones.

Her phone was clean—too clean, the kind of clean that's trying to hide something. I ran a tech company. I recognized a hidden second system the moment I saw one.

The pinned contact on her hidden messaging app had a profile picture I knew by heart. I tapped into their chat history, and my stomach dropped.

【I'm pregnant. It's yours. Miles didn't touch me last month. I don't want to keep pretending with him anymore.】

【Be patient, babe. Our target is his company. We need to give our baby a better life.】

My eyes burned. I nearly smashed the phone right there.

My girlfriend and my best friend—Sebastian—scheming together to take everything from me.

When I'd hit rock bottom years ago, Sebastian had given me the money he'd saved for his own wedding so I could rebuild.

After I made it, I never once shortchanged him.

And Ruby had come from nothing. I put her through college. Bought her a house. Bought her a car.

Back when my startup was barely surviving, she'd leave before dawn for side jobs, come home after dark, and still make me meals that wouldn't wreck my stomach. Every friend I had envied us.

And the truth slapped me across the face and ground every last shred of my dignity into dust.

I kept scrolling through their messages.

【But you promised you'd marry me this year.】

【So throw a solo wedding. You can ride the buzz for more followers. Tell Miles to stay away so nobody gets suspicious, and I'll come as a “guest.”】

The phone shook in my hand, and the ache in my chest twisted so tight I couldn't breathe.

I immediately messaged the person claiming to be my son：【What else do you know?】

The reply came instantly：“Dad, you're smart enough that you've probably already found the proof. What happens later is she has the baby, then she sweet-talks you into putting most of your shares in her name and the kid's. After that, you get kicked off the board. You can't handle the double betrayal, you nearly get hit by a car and killed, and Mom is the one who saves you.”

A cold dread crawled up through me, and no amount of rage could push it back down.

Finally, I asked him：【Who is your mother? Where is she?】

Ruby stepped out of the bathroom, still humming to herself.