Chapter 1

Before Lucas could even open his mouth, I pulled his ID documents out of my bag and handed them over.

I nodded toward the courthouse doors. "Go ahead."

Lucas's eyes flickered with surprise at how quickly I'd folded.

"Claire, you—"

Before he could finish, Sienna was already tugging impatiently at his sleeve, dragging him toward the line.

Lucas quickly dropped whatever he was about to say and slipped into his usual damage-control mode.

"Claire, Sienna's just trying to help. It's not a bad thing if I get some practice at being a good husband ahead of time, right?"

"Look, give it a couple days for the trial run to wrap up, and I'll get the divorce papers filed the second it's done. You know I'm only marrying you. That's never gonna change."

But I didn't want to marry him anymore.

Watching the two of them walk off, their shoulders brushing way too close, my eyes stung. I looked away, flagged down a cab, and got the hell out of there.

The second I was in the backseat, I called the wedding planner.

"Hi, I need to cancel the wedding scheduled for next Saturday. I'll cover the cancellation fee, no problem."

By the time that was settled, Sienna had already posted a new Instagram story.

【So this is what it feels like to get married for the first time. Having my brother by my side makes everything better.】

The photo showed two open marriage certificates. The spot next to Lucas that should've been mine—she was standing in it.

Without a word, I double-tapped to like it, then opened my email.There it was—the invitation from Harvard's closed-door neuroscience research fellowship. I'd turned it down once because of Lucas.

This time, I hit confirm.

Time to find myself again.

Maybe Lucas finally realized how out of line today had been. He'd arranged a party at a club to celebrate our "wedding" with friends, and for the first time ever, he came to pick me up alone. He told Sienna to drive herself.

She was pissed. Dozens of texts from Lucas, all ignored. Calls, unanswered.

I couldn't care less about their little drama. The second the car stopped, I reached for the door handle.

But Lucas grabbed my wrist. "Claire, you're still mad?"

I opened my mouth to say no—and then a figure flashed past my window.

The warmth on my wrist vanished. The driver's door opened and slammed shut. Lucas was already gone after her.

A moment later, my phone buzzed with one message:

【Just go in without me. Sienna needs me. I'll be back soon.】

I said nothing. Walked in alone.

Ten minutes later, they showed up together.

My grip tightened on my glass when I saw their fingers intertwined.

Lucas caught my stare and dropped Sienna's hand like it was on fire. He stepped toward me, mouth opening to explain—but someone beat him to it.

"Lucas! You're married now—how about a celebratory kiss for the crowd?"

The room erupted. Every pair of eyes swung toward me.

I didn't flinch. I just took a sip and said flatly:

"Don't look at me. I'm not the one who got married. You should be asking Sienna."

Silence dropped over the room like a bomb. Everyone knew exactly what Sienna and Lucas were to each other.

Lucas's face went dark.

"Claire, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I told you—Sienna's just my sister. She was helping. Are you seriously jealous of my own sister right now?"

His eyes were blazing with irritation, like I was the one being unreasonable.

But was I, really? After all these years?

She's just my sister, he'd say. So it was fine that he only held her hand in public. Fine that strangers assumed they were a couple and he never corrected them. Fine that she got the first wedding ring, the first wedding dress fitting, the first marriage license.

So what exactly wasn't fine?

My feelings? My hurt? My anger?

Even my honesty, apparently. What a joke.

I felt the heat building behind my eyes and turned my head away, blinking fast.

Before I could speak, Sienna cut in.

"Lucas... was I wrong to try to help? Did I make Claire upset?"

Her head hung low, voice trembling. "I really didn't mean anything bad by it. I just didn't want you to have any regrets later, so I thought—"

"If Claire doesn't want me to, we can go right now and—"

"Stop," Lucas cut her off, his voice soft. "You didn't do anything wrong. We agreed on three days, and three days it is."

He sighed and turned to me, exhaustion heavy in his voice.

"Claire, you said you were okay with Sienna doing the trial run. Now you're throwing shade at her for what?"

"She's my sister. We grew up together. Just apologize to her, and we'll call it even."

Like an apology from me was some kind of gift.

I laughed out loud.

This wasn't the first time he'd asked me to apologize to Sienna. Before, I'd fight back. Argue until my voice gave out, make him see that I deserved to be defended too. And every time, he'd end up holding me, guilt-ridden, promising he'd do better next time.

But next time was always the same.

Eight years of this. I was done fighting.

I took a breath, steadied myself, and said slowly, deliberately:

"You're right. I was wrong."

Wrong for not seeing the truth sooner. Wrong for believing he'd ever change.

At least I wasn't wrong enough to stick around.

Lucas froze. He'd gotten exactly what he wanted, but something in his expression flickered—like the win tasted off.

While he was still trying to figure out why, I pulled a ring from my pocket and set it on the table in front of him.

"This belongs to Sienna. Give it back to her for me."

The ring he'd put on my finger himself. His "Donna" ring, he'd called it—the symbol that I was his one and only. I used to treasure it.

Not anymore.

I turned and walked out.

He caught me in the hallway.

"Claire Moore, what the hell is wrong with you?"

Lucas was always the calm one, but his eyes were burning with real anger now.