Chapter 4

The room erupted in suggestive laughter.

When Bethany saw the color drain from my face, her smile turned smug.

"Wait, Julia, you seriously don't know about that? Charles didn't know what he was doing when we first got together. I'm the one who taught him everything, so really, you should be thanking me…"

I cut her off. "Are you done? Do you have to take a shot at me every chance you get?"

As I reached for my glass, my hand clipped the bottle in front of me. It tipped over, spilling across the table and splashing Bethany's dress.

She shot to her feet with a shriek.

"My dress!"

She looked at me as if I had done it on purpose.

"I was just joking! Everyone here knows that's just how I am. But throwing things at me because you can't take a joke is completely out of line."

Without hesitating, Charles took off his jacket and laid it across Bethany's lap.

It was a limited-edition jacket I had saved for months to buy. I had searched all over the city before finally tracking one down.

He frowned at me. "It was a joke. Do you have to take everything so personally? Everyone came here to have a good time. Stop ruining the mood."

My chest tightened until I could barely breathe. Bethany started the whole thing, yet somehow I was the one being blamed.

Charles's friends immediately jumped in.

"If you can't take a joke, then leave. Why are you sitting there glaring at everyone?"

"Charles, I thought you said no one was bringing their girlfriend tonight. She's always the one killing the mood. She clearly doesn't fit in with us, but she keeps forcing her way into everything."

Eva took a sip of her drink, wearing an innocent smile as she delivered the insult.

"Come on. Some people get insecure when they're not used to being around successful people. When you somehow land a guy like Charles, I guess it makes sense to keep him on a short leash."

She turned back to Bethany.

"Okay, next question. What's the sweetest thing Charles ever said to you?"

This time, tears suddenly filled Bethany's eyes. She looked straight at Charles and said, her voice trembling, "He told me he'd marry me."

I instinctively turned toward the man beside me, but something sparkling beneath the table caught my eye.

It was the rhinestones on Bethany's heel.

Hidden beneath the table, she had lifted her foot and was slowly running it up the leg of Charles's dress pants.

Charles didn't stop her. His expression didn't change at all.

Nausea surged into my throat. I covered my mouth, hurried to the restroom, and dry-heaved over the sink.

After wiping the tears from the corners of my eyes, I walked out of the bar without looking back.

I didn't have much to pack. Everything I owned fit into a single suitcase.

I had just zipped it shut when the front door flew open. Charles stood in the doorway, out of breath, panic written across his face.

For one foolish second, I thought he had come back for me.

Instead, he grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet, his expression ice-cold.

"Did you make that post?"

"What post?"

Charles shoved his phone in front of my face.

A local gossip account had posted:

[Top SAT Scorer's Sister Caught in Messy Love Triangle].

The post had already climbed to the top of the local trending page, with thousands of comments underneath.

I glanced at it and shook my head.

"It wasn't me."

Charles gave a humorless laugh, his voice rising.

"You're still denying it? No one knows more about Beth and me than you do. Who else could have posted it? Do you have any idea what people are saying about her online? She's falling apart! What did she ever do to deserve being framed like this?"

Framed?

Most of the top comments were accusing me of being the other woman, with Eva leading the attack. Only a handful of people were criticizing Bethany.

Did he honestly not see that, or did he simply not care?

I forced the words out. "Look at the comments. Most of them are attacking me."

Charles acted as if he hadn't heard me.

"Apologize to Beth."

That was the last straw.

"Are you blind, or do you just not care?!" I screamed. "I'm the one they're tearing apart online! Me!"

Charles froze, but the accusation was already out of his mouth.

"Are you really that desperate to get married? Are you so scared no one else will want you that you'd do something this disgusting just to force me into it?"

My throat tightened until I could barely breathe.

So that was what he truly thought of me.

All this time, I was the only one looking forward to our wedding.

"Fine. I did it. I'm so desperate to marry you that I'll do anything. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

His only answer was the deafening slam of the door.

My eyes burned, but no tears came. I pulled my suitcase into the elevator. As it carried me down, something inside me finally went still.

Once I was on the train, I saw Bethany's latest Instagram post.

[I was having a rough night, so he drove across town to get tacos from our favorite place near our old high school. Nothing beats having someone who always shows up for you.]

Charles's watch was visible in the corner of the photo.

As the train pulled away from the station, a message appeared on my phone.

[Apologize to Beth, and the wedding can still happen as planned.]

I didn't respond. I blocked him on the spot.

It didn't matter. I had stopped wanting to marry him a long time ago.

I would be just fine without him.

-

Julia Graham remained silent until the night before the wedding.

Charles refused to reach out first, convinced she would eventually give in. He even planned to keep his groomsmen at the hotel and arrive late to the venue the next morning, just to make her panic and teach her a lesson.

Instead, one of them called him first and immediately started yelling.

"Charles, what the hell is going on? You canceled the wedding and didn't bother telling any of us! Are you messing with us?"