Chapter 1

"Sienna, this is a huge milestone for Declan, so what did you get him?"

"Don't tell me you're wrapping yourself up as the present!"

The crowd whistled and jeered as several hands pushed the two of them together.

Sienna Caldwell stumbled, losing her footing and falling right into Declan Reeves' arms, where his hand landed squarely on her chest.

Instead of pulling away, he gave her a firm, deliberate squeeze.

Sienna let out a breathless, playful gasp, burying her face into his chest. "Stop it. You're hurting me."

Declan's lips curved as he tightened his grip. "Come on, what's my present? If it's not exactly what I wanted, I'm not letting up."

Just then, Sienna fished a key out of her pocket and placed it in his hand.

"This apartment is right by the hospital where you're interning, so consider it my gift to you."

That was the exact apartment she and I had bought just a little while ago to be our future home.

We had agreed that she would cover the down payment, and I would handle the mortgage. I had only been making payments for two months, yet here she was, handing it over to someone else on a silver platter.

The moment Declan accepted the key, his eyes flicked toward the door and caught sight of me standing there, completely exhausted.

The key slipped from his hand and fell to the floor as he put on a frightened expression.

"I'm sorry, Spencer! I don't want Sienna's gift, so please don't hit me."

The rest of the room snapped out of it, instantly stepping forward to shield him.

"Try anything today, and see what happens because we're all witnessing this!"

"You've been bullying him since college, and we're just celebrating now that he's finally landed a solid internship opportunity. Did you really have to crash the party?"

I ignored them.

Instead, I locked my eyes onto Sienna's through the gaps in the crowd.

A flash of embarrassment crossed her face before she pushed through the crowd and walked over to me. "When did you get here?"

Looking at her flushed face, I felt a wave of exhaustion wash over me, and I realized there was no point in confronting her when the truth was staring me right in the face.

My heart had already died out there on the snow-capped mountain.

"What's the matter? Are you not happy to see me make it off that mountain alive?"

Sienna immediately frowned. "You don't need to be so passive-aggressive about it. Fine, I admit that I only posted that on Instagram because I lost a bet with them, but it was also a test to see how much you actually love me.

"It's not like I haven't hiked that mountain before, so it's really no big deal."

I gave a faint hum in response.

Looking past her, I tilted my chin toward Declan. "Keep the key. It's a gift from your ex-girlfriend, so you should enjoy it. Consider the two months of mortgage payments I already made as my present to you."

With that, I walked straight past them, slumped onto the couch, and downed a glass of liquor in one shot.