Chapter 1

A loud ringing filled my ears. My face went pale as I stared at the familiar rose tattoo on the bride's shoulder.

My best friend, Daphne Ferguson, got it on her left shoulder years ago after a devastating heartbreak. I tried everything I could to talk her out of it, but she wouldn't listen.

No matter how many times I asked, she refused to tell me who the man was. She would only cry and say, "I just wanted something I could hold on to. Valerie, you have everything. You don't know what it's like to love someone you can't have."

Now I finally understood. The man she could never have was my fiancé, Joel Kemper.

My knees nearly gave out, and I almost collapsed.

For the past three years, whenever I fell apart, Daphne always answered my messages right away and comforted me, but she never once came to see me.

I thought she was too busy with her work assignment out of town to get away. It never crossed my mind that she was the woman from three years ago, the one who would rather cut up her own face than let me see who she was.

Ignoring the sales associate's concerned look, I stumbled out of the bridal store and rushed straight to the wedding venue.

The moment I got out of the car, I heard Joel's friend, Edward Rogers, talking.

"Aren't you worried Valerie will find out?"

Joel fell silent for a moment before answering.

"Daphne scarred her face because of Valerie. Giving her this wedding is the least I can do to make it up to her. As for Valerie, I need you guys to keep covering for me."

Edward patted him on the shoulder.

"Of course. If Valerie hadn't pushed Daphne so hard back then, none of this would've happened. We wouldn't have had to worry about Daphne losing it, and she never would've cut up her own face. If you ask me, Valerie was the one who took things too far."

Alyssa Hart, the student I had been financially supporting, immediately chimed in.

"Don't worry, Dr. Kemper. We've got you covered. Just relax and enjoy your honeymoon with Ms. Ferguson for the next few days."

Then she pulled out her phone and sent me a message as naturally as if she had done it a hundred times before.

[Dr. Kemper has clinical training with the interns for the next few days, so he'll be staying at the hospital. Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on him and make sure he behaves himself.]

Tears fell onto my screen before I could stop them.

I scrolled back through the hundreds of messages they had sent me over the years, all supposedly keeping me updated on where Joel was. Now every single one felt like a slap in the face.

For three years, the people closest to me had all worked together to make a fool out of me.

Edward suddenly seemed to remember something, and his expression changed.

"There were so many guests here just now. What if Valerie sees a video someone posted? I'll go take care of it."

He had barely started to stand when Daphne stopped him.

"Don't worry."

Her voice stayed soft.

"Valerie found little things Joel and I accidentally left behind before. But every time she checked the security footage, all she saw was my face, and I looked exactly like her. After a while, she started thinking she was losing her mind."

Her casual words hit me so hard that my mind went blank.

I caught Joel cheating on me in a hotel during our tenth year together. The condoms scattered across the floor and the sight of their bodies tangled together nearly destroyed me.

After that, I became obsessed with keeping track of Joel's every move. If he came home even a minute late, I would fall apart.

And every time, Joel stood there with bloodshot eyes, exhausted but endlessly patient, letting me strip him down and check him before handing me his phone so I could go through it.

He would hold me and swear there was no other woman, that everything I thought I saw was just in my head.

Back then, I was constantly on edge and barely slept. There were times when I really started to believe something was wrong with me.

Now, the truth was right in front of me. My own face was the perfect cover for everything they did.

My stomach lurched. I couldn't hold it back anymore and bent over, throwing up on the ground.

Then I heard Alyssa's voice again.