Chapter 1: The Promise of Tomorrow

PROLOGUE

SOFIE

I stood in the penthouse suite on the 124th floor, staring at James Alexander Reed, a man I barely knew, who now held the title of my husband.

Just hours ago, I was a jilted bride.

One signature. One decision. And my future didn’t belong to me anymore. It belonged to a stranger.

He was tall. Imposing. The kind of man who stepped into a room and silenced it before saying a word. His green eyes didn’t just look at me. They stripped something away. My pulse thudded. Too fast. Too loud.

Is it fear? Fascination? God... both.

The way he held himself, like nothing could touch him, should’ve made me want to run. It didn’t. I felt steadier somehow. Which made no sense.

There was something buried deep in him. Controlled. Restrained. You had to really look to catch it. But I was looking. And I didn’t know why, but that quiet control made me feel safer than I should’ve felt.

Then it hit me.

All of it.

The exhaustion. The disappointment. The sick twist of disbelief that curled low and sharp inside me.

This wasn’t the wedding I’d dreamed about. The one I’d pictured since I was five had turned cold and wrong and nothing like love.

I was supposed to feel joy. Or hope. Or something.

But all I felt was a dull ache where those things were supposed to live.

And I couldn’t even figure out how I’d gotten here.

This was real now. There was no undoing it.

I was married.

Not to someone I trusted.

Not to someone I knew.

Not to someone I loved.

The words he’d spoken echoed sharp and final.

“It’s done.”

He hadn’t raised his voice. He hadn’t needed to.

It filled the room anyway.

I’d watched his hands, steady and unhurried, as he folded the marriage certificate and handed it to his lawyer. Like he’d just signed off on a deal. Not a life.

Too late now.

I turned to the glass wall behind me and pressed my palms against it. Cold. Unmoving.

Below, New York stretched in every direction. Loud and glittering and alive. And I stood sealed above it. Apart from it. Not belonging to it anymore.

My eyes blurred. The skyline smudged, soft, and useless.

Up here, there was nothing. No sirens. No footsteps. Not even the hum of traffic. The city’s voice couldn’t reach me through all this glass and altitude.

Only silence. Only steel.

Like the world had dropped away, and I was the last one left.

I felt untethered. Like a paper boat drifting in black water. One current away from disappearing completely.

The future unrolled in front of me. Blank. Shapeless.

No map. No voice guiding me forward.

The wind slipped between the buildings. I couldn’t hear it, but I knew it was there. Tugging at the edges of me. Like it wanted to carry me somewhere.

Somewhere far from where I thought I was supposed to be.

And that’s what scared me most.

Not the man.

Not the silence.

The part of me that wasn’t sure I wanted to go back.

* * *

SOFIE

Yesterday - 5:00 PM EST

The oncology department buzzed with a strange kind of energy.

The usual heaviness of grief, diagnosis, and waiting felt duller today. It pressed lighter somehow, softened around the edges. 

Something unspoken ran beneath everything. Smiles. Hushed congratulations. A little more light in people’s voices.

And somehow, it was about me.

Sofie Davis.

Bride-to-be.

The wedding checklist spun in my head. Relentless. Looping. Chewing through every quiet second. I moved through the corridor on autopilot. Smile. Nod. Speak. Keep moving.

But Andrew’s voice stayed at the edge of it all. Not what he said. How he said it. Too measured. Too neutral.

Like it was supposed to sound perfect.

But something felt... off.

A thread out of place.

And I couldn’t stop pulling it.

The elevator chimed. Each ping felt like a countdown.

Closer to the life I’d waited for.

Closer to Andrew.

But part of me stayed back. Not all in. Not really.

A week ago. The ring fitting.

The jeweler smiled as he slid the band onto Andrew’s finger. Asked if he wanted something engraved inside. A phrase. A date. A name.

Andrew stared at the ring like it meant something else.

Not love. Not commitment. Something colder.

The silence stretched. Too long.

“No,” he said finally. Clipped. Eyes unreadable.

His jaw locked tight.

I’d laughed, said something about how unromantic he was. He smiled. Kissed my cheek.

But the moment had landed wrong. Flat in my chest before I understood why.

And now it looped in my head. That pause. That no.

It hadn’t been empty.

It had been full of something he didn’t say.

Why didn’t I listen harder?

The elevator doors opened. Clean. Gleaming. Quiet.

The gateway to the life I thought I understood.

Still, I hesitated.

Because that silence, his silence, was suddenly louder than everything else.

But nothing had happened since. No big red flags. No second pause. Just Andrew. Steady. Focused.

So I shook it off.

Tomorrow, I was marrying him.

That had to mean everything was okay.

* * *

JAMES

I leaned against the elevator wall. Still. Calm on the outside.

Inside, my muscles stayed tight. Every one of them.

My eyes stayed fixed on her.

Sofie.

She smiled. Quiet. Polished. Tranquil in a way that made my chest ache.

I was close enough to see the freckles on her nose. Close enough to see how far away she still felt.

How can she be this close and still feel so far?

My pulse kicked hard. She didn’t even glance at me. I was no one. Just another face in the crowd.

A colleague spoke beside her. “Excited about the big day tomorrow?”

Her smile widened. “Yes. I can’t wait. I just hope everything goes as planned.”

Her voice was sunlight. Her words, a dagger.

The door slammed shut on whatever chance I thought I had.

It echoed louder than I cared to admit.

I clenched my jaw. The quiet hope I’d let grow inside me cracked in two.

Stephen had warned me. Showed me her background. Her schedule. Her kindness. Told me it was just for the deal. For the hospital.

But I’d known the truth the whole time.

It was about her.

A few more people stepped in on the third floor. I moved to the side. She stepped back. Her shoulder grazed my chest.

She looked up, startled. “Oh. I’m sorry.”

I swallowed. “No problem.”

Her perfume lingered. Clean. Feminine.

It wrapped around me like a memory.

She turned away. I shut my eyes. Held on to the feeling. Filed it somewhere I could keep it.

Unspoken words clawed at my chest. I didn’t let them out.

My heart still wanted her. But my mind already knew.

She was about to marry someone else.

My time was up.

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.

Her happiness is what matters. That has to be enough.

The elevator opened. She walked out.

The hospital doors parted. And she disappeared.

Swept into the chaos of the city, like a leaf caught in a stream.

Swept into her future.

While I remained fixed in place, wrapped in silence, breaking apart as I watched her disappear.

Her life surged forward, full of plans and promises.

Mine stood still. Quiet. Empty.