Chapter 2

I pushed open the door to the private room, and a shower of delicate, glittering ribbon confetti drifted straight into my face.

Through the gaps in the shimmering paper, I saw Chase locked in a deep, absorbed kiss with the girl beside him. A crowd of friends I knew well held up their phones, capturing the sweet moment for posterity.

Whatever beauty existed in that scene shattered the second I walked in.

At the sight of me, the whole room drew a sharp breath. People looked away in a panic, and no one dared meet my eyes.

The girl glanced at Chase, confused. "Babe, is she a friend of yours too? Why'd everyone go quiet the second she walked in?"

"Alice, she's—"

I didn't give Chase the chance to finish. I stared straight at Alice Foster.

"I'm Chase Peterson's girlfriend. I know you two have been together eight years. But he and I have been together twelve. If you don't believe me, I can show you the videos in my photo album."

I opened the album, and twelve years of moments spilled out in front of everyone.

At the pep rally before our high school finals, Chase—giving a speech as the student representative—had confessed to me in front of the entire school. "The truth is, my dream was never just Kingsley University. It was always Nora Sutton."

On the lawn at college, Chase and I had been walking hand in hand when he suddenly dropped to one knee and slid a one-carat diamond ring onto my finger. It hadn't been expensive—just under three thousand dollars—but it was every cent a broke student had saved up since he was young. "Someday," he'd said, "I'll get you a bigger one."

In a cramped rented apartment, a drunk Chase had held me and cried until his face was a mess, then made me pull out my phone and film him while he swore, "In this lifetime, I'm going to give Nora a good life. For as long as I live, I will only ever love Nora."

At the party celebrating his company's IPO, all our friends had shown up. Chase and I stood at the center of the crowd, and the teasing came in waves. "Hey, lover boy, isn't it about time you gave our princess Nora a home?" Chase hadn't even looked at the camera—his eyes were only on me. "Yeah. The wedding house is already being renovated. The day Nora turns thirty, we're getting our marriage license."

Today was my thirtieth birthday.

On my birthday—on the very day we'd promised to get married—he'd vanished for an entire day. Gone to get a marriage license with another girl instead.

The last video ended.

The huge room went so quiet that even our breathing sounded jarring.

Everyone here was someone I knew—my best friend, my friends. They'd all witnessed this relationship from the start. Not one of them was innocent of betraying it.

When the videos finished, Alice's eyes had gone red.

Chase stepped forward like some kind of prince, planting himself firmly between me and Alice, shielding her, and looked at me like a man ready to die for his cause.

"Nora, that's enough.

"Whatever's wrong here, it's all on me. I couldn't let go of my feelings for you, and at the same time, I fell hopelessly in love with Alice. You're innocent in this. So is she.

"Take out whatever anger you have on me. Don't take it out on her."

Alice stepped halfway out from behind Chase. She screwed up her courage and looked at me with the bearing of a woman fully secure in her place.

"Anyone would fall apart after something like this. I understand how you must feel.

"But no matter what, Chase and I are already legally married. He's my husband, I'm his wife, and whatever happens now, we face it together.

"Chase's a good, responsible man. Whatever you want, just say it, and we'll do our best to compensate you financially."

Financial compensation? Twelve years of my life, and all I was owed was some flimsy financial compensation?

I was about to explode when my best friend cut in first with a couple of pointed coughs.

"Nora, that's enough. Honestly, neither Alice nor Chase did anything wrong. Love doesn't play fair. Who's still keeping score of who came first?

"I'm telling you this because I actually care about you. Walk away now and everyone keeps their dignity, and you can still walk away with a decent settlement. Make too big a scene, and who's going to want to marry you after this?"

I stared at my best friend, stunned. My throat felt like it had been filled with lead—too heavy to push out a single word.

Right behind her came Chase's sister, Susanne, and the rest of our mutual friends.

"Nora, sweetie, you're a good girl. But Alice's an even better one. If this were a different era, I'd want you both as my sisters-in-law. But this is the modern world, and Chase's bound to fail one of you either way—"

"Nora, I can tell Chase loves Alice down to his bones. Otherwise, he wouldn't have married her instead of you. It's done. Just let it go."

Chase and Alice stood pressed together, and everyone else lined up behind them, forming an unbroken wall, all facing the same direction—against me.

And I was the "outsider" they were all facing off against.

Like a sponge wrung completely dry, I suddenly had no fight left in me.

I slid the ring—already dulled with tarnish—off my finger and set it gently on the table.

I was giving it back. Along with twelve years of my youth, my love, and my friendships.

"Fine. I'm out."