Chapter 2

Sarah kept refreshing her phone for the setup photos her friend was sending over.

Roses had been laid out into a massive heart.

A row of warm yellow fairy lights was strung right down the center of a flower wall.

And draped across the very top was a bold, unmissable sign. "Will you marry me?"

"My friend said my boyfriend's sister even came out to help decorate," Sarah said.

She tapped on a photo and held it out toward me. "It's so late at night, and she's still willing to help. I definitely need to take her out for a nice dinner tomorrow."

In the picture, a woman in a white knit dress was looking up, directing the crew on how to adjust the marquee lights.

She was turned sideways. Dangling from her ear was the pearl earring I had gifted her last year.

Even through a blurry screen, I could recognize her in a heartbeat.

That was Felicia Stein, Ryan's little sister.

She was also my college roommate of four years, a close friend I'd known for 11 whole years.

She was the one who had dragged me home back then and introduced me to Ryan with a playful grin. "Ryan, this is my best friend. Don't you dare make a move on her."

Later, when Ryan and I got married, she bawled her eyes out at the wedding. "Ella, if Ryan ever makes you mad, just come to me. I'll beat him into a bloody pulp for you."

She had wrapped her arms around me, saying we were sisters now and gushing about how thrilled she was that we were finally family.

My parents passed away when I was young.

All these years, I had truly treated her like my own sister.

Sarah was still chattering away with excitement, "Felicia is an absolute sweetheart. The first time I met her, she took my hands and promised she'd treat me like her big sister from then on."

The warmth drained from my fingertips.

"She knew about the proposal tonight?" I asked.

"Of course!" Sarah nodded with a smile.

"From picking out the ring to setting up the venue, she's been running around helping with everything. Honestly, she's more nervous than my boyfriend. She must've called the florist seven or eight times today."

I opened WhatsApp and found Felicia's profile.

Just this morning, she had sent me a text.

"Ella, how's the view in Saintford? You know how Ryan completely tunes out the world when he's working. Don't mind him. Just relax and have fun for a few days."

The text was followed by a warm hug emoji.

As I stared at that emoji, the churning in my stomach flared right back up.

I typed out a line. "Felicia, is the emergency at Ryan's company really that bad?"

Almost the instant I sent it, a reply popped up.

"It's crazy bad. I'm actually at the office helping out too. Everyone is swamped. Ella, try not to call Ryan for now so he doesn't get distracted, okay?"

A second later, my phone buzzed again.

Felicia sent over a photo of an office desk. On it sat a half-empty cup of coffee and a thick stack of documents.

"See? I wouldn't lie to you. Looks like nobody's getting out of here tonight."

I pinched the screen to zoom in on the photo.

The time stamp in the bottom right corner of the laptop screen was from three months ago.

Felicia had posted this exact picture to her Instagram back then.

I had even left a comment underneath, telling her not to stay up so late. And she had replied, saying nobody cared about her like her favorite sister-in-law did.

She didn't even bother coming up with fresh evidence when she lied.

Sarah leaned over, her eyes suddenly catching a glance at my phone screen. "Felicia? Wait, Ella, you know her too?"

I locked the screen. "Not really."

Sarah didn't think twice about it and tapped open a video clip instead.

In the clip, Felicia was standing right in front of the flower wall, holding a bunch of roses to test out the positioning. "Move it a little more to the left over here. Ryan's going to walk out from behind later, so it needs to look perfect on camera."

Felicia's voice came through loud and clear. She sounded ecstatic, her anticipation completely unsuppressed.

That white knit dress she was wearing was the exact one I'd spent three malls searching for with her on her birthday last month.

She had linked her arm in mine back then, telling me the luckiest thing in her life was having me as her sister-in-law. She even blew out her birthday candles, wishing Ryan and me endless happiness.

It had only been one month. And there she was, wearing the dress I bought her, helping Ryan propose to another woman.

Sarah tucked her phone away, letting out a dreamy sigh. "Felicia is honestly so good to me. She told me her brother used to be in a super suffocating relationship and that he didn't even know what love felt like until he met me."

I slowly tightened my grip on the phone. My nails dug deep into my palm, but I felt no pain at all.

"What else did she say?" I asked.

Sarah paused to think. "She said she hopes I say yes right away. That way, their family can finally feel full of life again."

I turned to look out the window into the pitch-black night.

The very last trace of warmth in my chest sank right into the cold dark.

So they had been waiting for a new woman to step through the door all along.

They just forgot to mention it to the old one first.