Venessa refused to come out of the room. Mrs. Quinn remained outside the door, knocking repeatedly, calling her name, but there was no response.

Inside, Venessa lay curled up on the bed like a wounded thing, her body drawn tight as tears soaked into the pillow beneath her face. Her eyes were swollen and red, her hair tangled, her appearance careless, as though days had passed since she last bothered to look at herself.

Social media was in an uproar.

A statement had been released barely an hour ago, confirming that the engagement had been cancelled at the very last minute and that the event had been officially called off....