Kaitlin's fiancé died on their wedding day. 4 years later, a social media tribute revealed a secret.

Kaitlin Palmieri knew she was falling for Eric Bass.

But before things got serious between the couple — who'd met in New York via a dating app in 2018 — there was something she needed to tell him. 

Three years earlier, her boyfriend at the time, Mike, had died tragically.

"On my 30th birthday, my parents threw me a party at their house. Everyone was having a great time until I heard my brother scream Mike's name. As I ran towards the noise, I saw Mike on the ground by my parents' pool. He'd slipped into the water and wasn't breathing," Kaitlin said to The Guardian.

She tried to perform CPR, but Mike died later in hospital due to a brain injury.

After sharing this with Eric, Kaitlin says she felt safe with him, and they grew closer. They moved in together, got engaged in December 2019, and arranged their big day for August the following year. 

Kaitlin, then 35, couldn't wait to spend the rest of her life with Eric. 

"At dinner with friends and family the night before our wedding, Eric made a speech about how much he loved me. Afterwards, I kissed him goodnight and went to my hotel room. Eric was staying with his brother," Kaitlin wrote in The Guardian. 

But on the day of her wedding, Kaitlin was woken by her phone ringing. Her mum was on the other line.

"I heard my mum's voice. 'Kaitlin,' she said, sounding strange. 'You have to come down to the lobby.' Dread washed over me. 'Not until you tell me what's going on.' It seemed an age before she replied. 'Eric died early this morning.'"

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What followed was a blur for Kaitlin. 

She collapsed on the bed, wailing, overcome with shock and confusion. Eric was just 33 years old. 

 A post mortem revealed he had died from a sudden heart attack, caused by an undiagnosed heart condition. 

A week later, instead of being on her honeymoon, Kaitlin was at Eric's funeral. 

"As the years passed, I learned to manage my grief. My unworn wedding dress still hung in my wardrobe, but I wore my ring on special occasions. It felt as if I was honouring Eric," she wrote.

Then, four years later, on what would have been Eric's 37th birthday, Kaitlin discovered something that would change her memories of her fiance forever. 

While scrolling on Instagram, she saw a commemoration post for Eric, written by a woman she'd never met or heard of before.

Letting her curiosity get the better of her, Kaitlin reached out to the woman, asking her how she knew Eric. 

"I messaged to ask her to explain. Two hours later, I had my answer — with screenshots. She met Eric on a dating app in March 2019. They started seeing each other, and were still talking 15 days before our wedding. Seeing the messages he'd sent her as we'd sat together at home, I felt sick."

Kaitlin and Eric in happier times. Image: Instagram.

"It felt like I'd been emotionally trapped and I couldn't run anywhere. I had so much frustration and nowhere to put it. He was gone," she told The New York Post.

It turned out Eric, who had travelled often for work, had used this as an opportunity to lead a double life. 

"The last texts they shared were disgusting, sexual messages. Eric sent them to her seven days before our wedding."

Following the revelation that Eric wasn't the man she thought he was, Kaitlin suffered anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

It felt especially cruel after losing Mike just a few years prior. 

"Sadly, a lot of people go through this," Kaitlin said. "You're allowed to be angry and hurt. Don't feel like you have to automatically forgive someone because they died."

Feature Image: Instagram/Supplied.

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