Chapter 2

Rory's POV

My uncle, Finn Hargrove, replied almost right away. "Rory, you're both welcome. There's always a place for you here. I've already booked flights for you and your mom."

Reading the message, my eyes burned and something bitter crawled up into my chest.

After Dad died, Mom, Linda Hargrove, worked herself to the bone to take care of me and Sasha. Then when Keith's parents kicked him out, she took him in too, stretching herself even thinner across the three of us.

That was until recently, when she was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer. Now she spent every day fighting through the pain.

The thought of her lying in that hospital bed made me teary. I was about to leave for the hospital when a cluster of voices broke out nearby.

"You've done so well for yourself, Ms. Belmont. Your parents would be so proud.

"And is this your fiance?"

Sasha let out a soft laugh and gestured toward me as she introduced us. A few guys our age shot me looks dripping with envy.

Keith nudged me, grinning. "See, Rory? You've got taste. She's a smart one."

I pulled away from him without a word.

Then Sasha's voice carried over from beside me. "My fiance is very kind. He gave up his full scholarship so his best friend could have it and chose to take the entrance exams instead."

It hit me like a freight train. The air locked in my throat.

Full scholarship? I was told I didn't make the cut. How could it have gone to Keith?

I stared at him, frozen. Keith scrambled to cover it up. "Rory, no, that's not what happened. Sash just misspoke. She didn't mean to—"

But those words dragged me straight to hell.

I had made the cut. I'd spent all those sleepless nights grinding through textbooks, filling notebooks until my hand cramped, pushing myself to study every waking hour just so Mom wouldn't have to worry.

I'd collapsed in my dorm at 2:00 am, but I'd still kept reading with an IV drip in my arm at the hospital. And all of it had actually paid off.

"Sasha! Did you give my scholarship to Keith?"

It came out almost as a scream. The people around us went quiet, then the murmuring started.

Keith couldn't take the whispers. His face flushed, and he clenched his jaw before bolting out of the room.

Sasha moved to go after him, but I grabbed her arm and held her in place. "I want an explanation!"

Her brow furrowed, but she kept her temper in check. "Yes. I gave it to Keith. His grades weren't good enough, and I wanted us at the same university.

"You're smart. If you didn't pass the exams, you could've just repeated a year. What's the big deal? Now let go. Something's wrong with Keith."

I watched her walk away and something inside me just broke.

My eyes blurred with tears. When I first found out I'd lost the spot, I blamed myself for days.

I cried constantly. I kept a brave face around Mom so she wouldn't worry, wearing a mask every time I walked into her room. I even stopped eating, started throwing up, and developed an anxiety disorder.

And now she was telling me none of it was real.

I couldn't take it anymore. I stumbled into a cab in a daze, pulled myself together as best I could, and showed up at the hospital looking like a ghost.

Mom's face lit up the second she saw me. "Rory! How did the exams go? Oh, and where's Sasha? I haven't seen her in a few days. Did you two have a fight again?"

When I just stood there with my head down, unable to answer, her eyes turned red. "Rory, I don't have much time left. The only thing I want is to see you and Sasha get your marriage certificate. You two—"

She didn't get to finish.

Two familiar voices rang out from the doorway. "Mom!"

Sasha and Keith walked in, one carrying flowers, the other holding a cake. They looked perfect together, like they belonged by each other's side.

I noticed the fresh hickeys peeking above their collars, and my stomach turned inside out. My expression went cold. "What are you doing here?"

Sasha smiled and took my hand. "It's Mom's birthday. I brought Keith to celebrate with her."

Mom beamed, reaching for both of their hands, fussing over them and rattling off one piece of advice after another. Halfway through, I noticed the matching rings on their middle fingers.

My breath caught. I lunged to stop them, but it was too late.

Mom went rigid, and her voice came out shaking. "Keith, why are you and Sasha wearing matching rings?"