Chapter 1

I kept scrolling through the comments like I was trying to hurt myself.

Beyond my best friend, plenty of our other mutual friends had left their congratulations.

[Alice's a great girl. If you ever treat her wrong, man, I'll be the first one to come after you myself!]

That one was from Chase's closest friend. Just last week, he'd greeted me warmly, calling me "Mrs. Peterson" like it was second nature.

[So happy for you, man, marrying the girl you love most! We're not going home sober tonight!]

That one was my old roommate from college.

[Let's keep the celebration among us. For my brother and Alice's happiness, everybody keep this quiet. Don't let a certain someone find out.]

That one was Chase's older sister, Susanne Peterson. Years ago, when she'd needed money for a business venture, she'd borrowed eleven thousand dollars from me and told me I was the only future sister-in-law she'd ever wanted.

[Don't worry, our lips are sealed! For the prince and princess's happiness, we'd never let the witch find out!]

That one was the company's newly hired assistant, a sweet but scatterbrained girl who'd nearly gotten fired more than once. I was the one who'd put in a good word for her and coached her through the basics until she made it past her probation period.

I lifted my chin, stubborn, and forced the tears back down.

Everyone had known that Chase had been with another girl for eight years. And every single one of them had agreed, without a word passing between them, to keep it from me.

I was the "certain someone" in their private group chats. The witch who'd ruin the prince and princess's happy ending. A joke.

My phone refreshed, and Chase's post vanished from his profile.

A second later, it rang. Chase—missing for an entire day—was calling.

"Sorry, baby. There was a huge bug in the company's system today. I've been slammed until just now. Haven't even looked at my phone.

"Things are crazy at work lately. Let's hold off on the marriage license for now.

"Oh, and baby—did you see anything interesting on social media today?"

His voice was tight, fishing for something so clumsily it was almost funny.

I forced myself to answer evenly.

"I tried calling you all day, and it wouldn't go through. I've been at the hospital with my mom. When would I have had time to scroll through anything?

"Go ahead and handle your work. About the marriage license... we'll talk about it whenever you're free."

Last year, my mother had been diagnosed with stage-4 stomach cancer.

The doctors said that, in the best case, she had three more years.

Her only wish was to see me married to Chase before I turned thirty.

Today was June nineteenth. It was also my thirtieth birthday.

Right now, my mother was lying in her hospital bed, hoping to see her daughter and son-in-law's brand-new marriage certificate.

I'd never be able to give her that wish now. Because Chase already belonged to someone else.

I sank down against the wall, curling into myself as small as I could.

My tears splattered against the phone screen, blurring the bold black text into a smear of light.

I wiped the screen dry and quietly noted down where they were celebrating.

The Golden Petal. Private room 302.