Chapter 3

When I said nothing, Gavin seemed to realize he'd gone too far.

He stepped forward to take my hand.

But he'd barely taken two steps when his phone rang.

The corner of his mouth lifted right away, and he tossed one line over his shoulder.

"Get some rest. Don't wait up for me."

Then he turned and walked out.

This time I didn't make a scene.

I just quietly took the invitations out of the drawer.

I wrote in the names, one card at a time.

Then I booked the venue I'd dreamed about for years.

When it was all done, I felt lighter than I had in my whole life.

The next day, though, Gavin came storming to the house with Serena.

"Maris, was this you?"

I looked into his eyes, blazing with anger, and asked him back, "Was what me?"

The cold in his gaze felt like it could drown me.

"Serena's wedding venue burned. That was you, wasn't it?

"How did I never notice you were this jealous?"

I stared at him, unable to believe it.

"What makes you think I had anything to do with it?"

He gave a harsh laugh. "Then tell me why you suddenly had to have me marry you tomorrow. You found out, didn't you?"

He'd barely finished when my mother, Margaret, and Paige all came charging in just as furious.

"Exactly. If Serena hadn't asked whether it might've been you, we'd all still be in the dark.

"You're too greedy. A marriage-crazy woman like you doesn't come close to Serena. Gavin puts you up in a house like this and you ought to be grateful!"

Paige gave me a sideways look, disgust all over her face.

My mother and Margaret, by contrast, wore nothing but disappointment.

"Maris, honey, it isn't that I'm playing favorites. But you really shouldn't have done that to Serena. She's still your sister. You can't even let her have one wedding?"

"That's right, Maris. I've already accepted you as my daughter-in-law. It's only a wedding. Did you have to destroy it?"

They went back and forth over me until the words were deep enough to drown in, as though I were some heartless, unforgivable criminal.

Serena stood behind them the whole time, playing the good girl, generous and unruffled.

The absurdity of it hit me so hard I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

I cut the whole performance off. "All of you, be quiet! After all these years, aren't you the ones who betrayed me?"

That's right. For Serena.

Every one of them had betrayed me.

Serena had been the child everyone else's parents held up as an example.

Pretty, clever, always quick with the right thing to say.

She always showed people the best version of herself and kept every one of them charmed — not like me, with everything written on my face and my words always coming out clumsy.

That was exactly why my mother spent the family's savings sending her overseas to study.

Paige, who used to say "Maris is the best person in the world," turned into Serena's biggest fan the moment they met.

She forgot that when her parents were gravely ill, I was the one who begged Gavin for a job for her, which is how she saved enough to open her studio.

Margaret, who used to tell everyone how lucky she was to get me as a daughter-in-law, forgot everything I'd done to win her over, and forgot the nights I went without sleep taking care of her when she was ill.

Watching them all wind up to argue back, the anger closed around my throat.

That was when Serena stepped forward.

"Maris, I know you're unhappy. But I never wanted marriage at all. Gavin's the only person I've ever loved.

"It's just a wedding. Let me have it, all right?"

Her lips trembled and her eyes filled.

Everyone crowded around to comfort her and turned resentful faces on me.

Scout wouldn't stop barking, and the moment one of Serena's tears hit the floor, he lunged at me like he meant to bite.

I stumbled backward in fright, knocked over a glass, hit the wall, and split my head open.

But when I opened my eyes through the dizziness, all of them were fussing over the cut on Serena's leg from the broken glass.

My mother was even swearing at me. "Honestly, Maris. Thirty years old and still this careless!"

Gavin didn't spare me so much as a glance. He scooped Serena up in his arms and left me one cold line.

"We're taking Serena to get her leg looked at. You stay here and think about what you've done."

The door slammed hard.

But my heart had stopped hurting.

I pushed myself up off the floor, called a courier, and shipped my things out, box by box.