Chapter 1

I caught a cab straight to the location tagged in the photo.

When I opened the doors, the bride and groom were right in the middle of exchanging rings.

While everyone was cheering and celebrating, my arrival hit like a bomb, leaving the crowd gasping.

Justin Peck was the first to snap out of it. He jogged over, patted me on the shoulder, and spoke in a low voice. "Hey, don't make a scene! Not now!"

Then he turned to the couple on stage. "Sorry about this! He's a buddy of mine. He's a little slow and simply got carried away!"

He tried dragging me out, but I shook his hand off hard.

My eyes were locked on Laura Hartman. I was just about to say something when my sister, Amber Walker, suddenly grabbed me. "Nathan, are you here for me?"

She and Justin flanked me, practically dragging me away. Justin dug his nails into my arm so hard that I gasped, forcing me to swallow back what I was about to say.

My phone buzzed. It was a message from Laura's best friend.

"Nathan, calm down for now. Laura will explain everything to you."

Laura's gaze only lingered on me for a split second before she grabbed the guy's face and kissed him deeply, successfully pulling his attention away from me.

Maybe it was just my naturally slow-to-react nature, but I didn't realize how shaken I was until they dragged me outside. My hands and feet were ice-cold, and I was trembling all over.

Amber spoke first. "Nathan Walker, how could you just barge in there like that? Aren't you embarrassed?"

I stared at the little sister I'd doted on her whole life, and she felt like a total stranger to me. After our parents passed away, we lived with our grandma.

Growing up, Amber was always sickly, and with our grandma being so old, I was basically the one who took care of her.

Whenever she got sick, I'd stay up all night by her side. I walked her to and from school, rain or shine. Heck, I even pulled strings with Laura to get her her current job.

She used to kiss up to Laura, constantly referring to Laura as her sister-in-law. Yet now she stood with the enemy, calling me an embarrassment.

I closed my eyes. "How long have you people been keeping this from me?"

"Five years," Justin replied.

Laura and I had been together for six years, five of them long-distance.

She flew back to see me five times a year, but it turned out that she had spent the rest of her time with another man.

As for Justin, he would just happen to be passing through Adaville six times a year for business trips and told me he would help me keep an eye on Laura, when in reality, he was just helping her keep the whole thing under wraps.

I might be dense, but I was not an idiot. I dug my nails into my palms hard enough to draw blood.

Laura and I had known each other since we were kids. We grew up together and fell in love.

When she wanted to start her own business but was short on cash, I gave her literally everything I had.

At our absolute lowest, we lived in a basement and split a single serving of pasta.

We pinched every single penny until we finally scraped together enough startup capital to get her business off the ground.

Just last month, she was lying in my arms, asking me to marry her and promising she'd give me a wedding the whole world would be talking about.

I worked day and night to stay on track with her plans, getting only four hours of sleep while trying to secure a transfer to Adaville so we could be together again.

I thought if I just grinded hard enough, I'd finally get my happy ending. Instead, all that grinding got me was her betrayal. Inside, the wedding was still going on.

Gritting my teeth, I spun around to yank the doors open.

I needed answers. I refused to believe Laura had fallen for someone else.

This had to be a sick joke. They were all messing with me. That had to be it!

Justin grabbed me again. This time, he didn't say a word. He simply held his phone out in front of me.

On the screen were two pristine marriage certificates, gleaming so brightly they almost hurt my eyes. They hit me like two hard slaps across the face.

"If you go back in there now, you'll only be making a fool of yourself. Nathan, just calm down—"

"Get away from me!" I screamed. I shoved him aside and took off.

It was already pitch-black outside, and it was starting to rain.

I hadn't slept in days, so at the moment, stars seemed to dance before my eyes.

Suddenly, a blinding high beam washed over me. Screeching tires followed, and then I was hit hard, the impact sending me crashing to the ground.