Chapter 2

Half an hour after Connor left, my phone chimed.

Someone had sent me an anonymous video.

My mother, Roxie Boyce, who was supposedly paralyzed, appeared on the screen, beaming at my ex-fiancé and Carla's engagement party.

She slipped the emerald bracelet off her wrist and put it on Carla's. "Ariana's so domineering and unhinged. You've had to put up with so much from her all these years, my sweet goddaughter.

"I can't just stand by and watch her hurt you. As long as the two of you are happy, I'm willing to pretend I'm paralyzed for the rest of my life, so she won't have the energy to cause any more trouble."

My own mother had been scheming against me with every word.

I gripped my phone as my heart seized.

For the past three years, I'd worked three jobs at once to scrape together money for her medical bills, all in the hope that she might recover one day.

It turned out she'd had another daughter all along.

Resentment burned away my reason, and I followed the location in the video to find them.

Hearing the commotion at the door, Mom froze for a moment, then instinctively stepped in front of Carla.

"If you've got a problem, take it out on me. Don't hurt those two again. Tomorrow's their wedding."

My heart sank painfully, and I let out a self-mocking laugh. "So you faked being sick and lay in bed for three years, all for one wedding?"

She hadn't said a single word to me or spared me a single glance, and all the while, she'd been calling Carla her "daughter" behind my back.

Carla looked at me timidly, but she couldn't hide how well she was doing. She looked like a pampered little princess.

Mom yanked me toward her, tears streaming down her aging face. "Carla's father died young. I promised her dad that I'd take care of his daughter, and I can't go back on my word.

"Besides, haven't you been happy since you remarried? Connor treats you so well. What more could you possibly want?"

Right. What more could I possibly want?

She was willing to throw away her own daughter's lifelong happiness for the daughter of her first love.

So what did that make all the worry and guilt I'd carried for her all these years?

Carla took my hand in a show of friendliness, her voice thick with tears. "Ariana, I've always saved the officiant's spot for you. I don't want to lose you as a friend."

I pulled my hand away in disgust.

Before I could say anything, Connor and my ex-fiancé both stepped in front of Carla to shield her.

Connor's tone left no room for argument. "Come to the wedding tomorrow and be Carla's officiant. Otherwise, she'll be branded the other woman for the rest of her life, and her depression will never get better."

I said calmly, "She is the other woman."

"Enough." He cut me off sharply. "Carla has never tried to compete with you for anything. She just wants to marry for love. You're being way too hard on her."

As he spoke, he pulled out a stack of pixelated photos. I could vaguely make out my own face. "If you refuse to go, I'll leak these."

It suddenly came back to me that a few days ago, he'd been in an unusually playful mood and had coaxed me into letting him take a lot of intimate photos.

"Don't blame me for being ruthless. You did the same thing to Carla, after all. Let's just call it an eye for an eye."

I staggered back two steps and finally saw the man in front of me for the stranger he was.

Beside me, Mom kept shoving me, her eyes red from crying. "That was three years ago! Why can't you let it go?

"Carla's pure-hearted. She's not vicious like you. She can't handle anyone attacking her!"

The blood in my veins froze inch by inch. For the first time, I felt utterly alone.

I finally unclenched my fist. "Fine. I'll go to their wedding."