Chapter 2

By the time the motorcade reached St. Patrick's Cathedral, the rain had picked up.

The bodyguards held huge black umbrellas around the car door. Ethan got out first. He stood in the rain, staring at his phone instead of reaching for my hand as he usually did.

His thumb flew across the screen, his brows drawn tight.

"Ethan?" I called from inside the car.

He seemed to snap awake. He shoved the phone into his jacket pocket and turned to give me his hand.

"Sorry," he said, helping me out, the rain soaking his shoulders. "Something urgent came up at the company."

In four years, I could count on one hand the number of times he'd lied to me. And every single time, the lie was full of holes.

I stepped onto the soaked red carpet. My heels sank into its thick pile as I made my way toward the bridal suite.

Jenna, my makeup artist, and the stylist swarmed me right away, fixing my windblown veil and train.

"Mrs. Green, you left your bouquet in the car. One of the groomsmen went to get it," Jenna said with a smile.

Ethan stood in the doorway, his jacket damp and cold from the rain. He checked his watch. It was a quarter past ten.

"I'm going out for a cigar," he told me. "I'll be right back."

"Okay." I sat in front of the mirror and let the stylist touch up my powder.

When he turned to go, he was moving so fast he bumped into the metal candlestick by the door.

There was nothing casual about the way he hurried off for a cigar.

Once the door closed, I opened my clutch and took out a second, older phone.

An unread email from the Royal College of Art's admissions office read, "Dear Ms. Linden, your enrollment is complete. The keys to your London residence will be available from eight p.m. local time tonight."

I deleted the email and emptied the trash.

Then the door of the bridal suite swung open.

It wasn't Ethan, and it wasn't Tessa. It was my mother.

She wore an expensive Chanel suit and the emerald necklace Ethan had given her last year. Her face was pale. She locked the door behind her and hurried over to me.

"Celina's back." My mother kept her voice low and urgent. "Did you see the message in the group chat?"

"I saw it." I looked at her in the mirror.

She was both Celina's mother and mine, but all my life, she'd only ever had eyes for dazzling Celina. Celina was a cello prodigy. She played a solo at Carnegie Hall at 14 and appeared in Time magazine at 16. I was just the shadow backstage, carrying her cello and handing her towels.

"She just called me. She said she's at the apartment on Fifth Avenue." My mother grabbed my wrist. "Aria, listen to me. If Celina shows up at the church today, you absolutely cannot lose it."

I turned to look at her. "It's my wedding today."

"What do you mean, your wedding!" Her voice shot up, then dropped again in a panic. "If Celina hadn't left back then, she'd be the one standing here! Ethan waited four years for her. Do you really think he's marrying you because he loves you?

"For four years, you've enjoyed everything the Green family has to offer, and Ethan paid off all of the Linden family's debts. You've been sitting in your sister's place for four years. You can't be this ungrateful!"

Ungrateful. From my own mother.

Four years ago, the Linden Group went bankrupt and my father jumped from a building. Celina took the family's last three million dollars in cash and disappeared, leaving a note saying she was going to Paris to chase artistic freedom.

Debt collectors smashed our doors and windows and splashed paint all over the stairwell. I was the one who got down on my knees in front of Ethan and begged him to lend us the money to pay off my father's debts.

Ethan sat on an expensive designer leather sofa, looking down at my dust-streaked face.

He said, "I can help you."

I hadn't even had time to feel relieved before he added a condition.

"But I don't do charity, Aria. You're going to say yes to the proposal I made you the other day."

My relief curdled into shock and confusion so quickly I must have looked like a fool.

I remembered what he'd said at the airport a couple of days earlier, as if he were giving an order. "Then you marry me."

I tried to find my voice. "Why? Ethan, do you... love me?"

By the end, my voice was shaking. I knew how stupid the question was. I just couldn't help it.

At least Ethan didn't humiliate me any further. He only answered the first question.

"You two have the same face. As long as you do as you're told, Aria, I'll wipe out the three hundred million dollars the Linden family owes."

I did love Ethan, but until then, I'd never thought of putting a price on my love. His offhand proposal hadn't been enough to make me give in.

But now, thinking about the total mess my family was in, I gave in.

That marriage agreement was practically a bill of sale for myself, and I signed it without hesitating.

For four years, my mother lived on a luxurious estate the Green family provided. She had a driver and wore the jewelry Ethan had given her. She told everyone she met what a wonderful son-in-law he was.

But now that Celina was back, I'd gone from stand-in to "ungrateful thief."

"Mom," I said, pulling my wrist out of her grip, "don't worry. I'm not going to fight her for anything."

My mother blinked. She obviously hadn't expected me to go along with it so easily.

The tension went out of her face, and she even squeezed out a little fake tenderness. "I know you've always been understanding. After today, if Ethan's still willing to keep you around on the side, or give you a trust fund, you'll be set for the rest of your life..."

"Go on out," I cut in. "The ceremony's about to start."

My mother smoothed her collar, opened the door, and walked out.

From the stairwell at the end of the hall came the muffled sound of an argument.

I got up, went to the door, and looked out through the crack.

Ethan stood at the top of the stairs with his back to me, a lit cigarette between his fingers. Ash fell onto his handmade shoes, and he didn't even notice.

The call was on speaker. A woman's voice came through, defiant and tearful at once. That tone belonged to Celina and no one else.

"Ethan, are you really going to marry her? You know she's just my shadow!

"You picked today on purpose to get back at me for leaving without a word, didn't you? Come find me right now. If you come get me right now, I'll smash my cello, I'll never leave New York again, and I'll marry you!"

Ethan's hand was shaking.

He took a deep breath, his voice painfully hoarse. "Celina, the ceremony starts in 20 minutes."

"So what?!" Celina screamed. "Back then, you smashed three cellos at an auction house looking for me! You swore you'd never marry anyone but me! Are you going to tell me you've fallen for Aria? Are you going to tell me that when you look at that face, you're not thinking of me?!"

A dead silence filled the stairwell.

Ethan didn't say anything.

He crushed out his cigarette. He didn't argue, and he didn't hang up.

That silence was sharper than anything he could have said. It cut through four years and shredded every tender moment.

"Stay at the apartment," Ethan finally said, his voice low and shaken. "Wait until I've dealt with things here."