Chapter 2

A loud roar hit my ears, and my mind instantly went completely blank, the world around me fading into distant, muffled static.

A fake marriage?

Valerie's parents died when she was young. It was my parents who brought her and her sister home, raising them as their own flesh and blood.

The three of us grew up together.

On her eighteenth birthday, Valerie bought a pack of sparklers, ducking into my arms against the cold ocean breeze.

"Owen, let me stand by your side for the rest of our lives."

I truly believed we would hold each other up until we were old and gray.

My best friend, Mark Kingsley, joined in, trying to reason with me.

"You can't force love. Your family took her in, yeah, but you can't expect her to pay off a lifelong debt with her own happiness. That's just selfish."

I stared at him in utter disbelief, my gaze slowly sweeping over every face in front of me.

Every single one of them was someone I loved dearly.

Yet right now, I was standing completely alone, pitted against them all.

"Valerie, do you think I'm forcing you too?"

She avoided my eyes, sinking into a long, suffocating silence.

When she finally looked up, her gaze held nothing but bone-deep exhaustion and a brutal, merciless honesty.

"Owen, I do feel grateful to you. I respect you, and... I loved you once. But standing next to you, I slowly started to suffocate.

"You're too good. You have to win at everything, be first in everything. Over time, I couldn't tell anymore if I just admired you or if I actually loved you."

She pointed at Dylan behind her, her expression instantly softening.

"But Dylan is different. He's not as capable as you. He can't even cut vegetables without cutting his own fingers."

"Every time I see how clumsy and sweet he is, all I think about is wanting to protect him and stay by his side forever."

My mind went completely numb for a second, floating back to that night on the beach. It turned out a vow like that could be given to me, and then given to someone else just as easily.

An agonizing, hollow ache twisted inside my chest, and I took an instinctive step toward her.

"Stay away from us!"

Seeing me step closer, Valerie reacted like a cornered animal, violently shoving me back.

She used every ounce of her strength. Caught completely off guard, I stumbled backward, my back slamming hard against the iron gate.

The gunshot wound on my chest burst open. Blood spurted out, instantly staining my white shirt crimson.

Cold sweat broke out across my forehead from the blinding pain. My legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the pavement, warm blood dripping slowly through my fingers.

Dylan let out a faint gasp, his knees buckling as he fell backward.

"Dylan!"

Valerie's face turned deathly pale. She pulled his head into her lap, frantically covering his eyes with her hand.

"Don't look at him!

"Don't you know Dylan faints at the sight of blood? He just recovered from a serious illness. What if the sight triggers a relapse?"

I watched with wide, lifeless eyes as Valerie screamed at me for the sake of another man.

Suddenly, compared to the agony tearing through my soul, the physical wounds didn't hurt as much anymore.

Stella rushed over too, spitting on the ground right in front of me with pure disgust.

"Look at you, all muscle and violence, fighting and killing every single day. You're terrifying to look at. No wonder my sister couldn't take it anymore!

"Who would want to marry a brute who pulls a gun at any second?"

Archer ran over as well, aiming his water gun straight at my gushing wound and squeezing the trigger repeatedly.

Cold water mixed with my warm blood, streaming down my chest and pooling onto the dirt.

"Archer, sweetie, come back. Don't touch him, he's dirty."

Mark scooped the toddler up with rare tenderness, looking down at me with a heavy sigh.

"Owen, know when to stop. Do you really have to drag this out until it gets this ugly? Valerie doesn't owe you a thing anymore. You're the one clinging on, and it's pathetic."

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. For the first time in my life, he felt like a total stranger.

We had known each other since grade school.

When Mark got bullied, I was the one who raised my fists and fought off the thugs for him.

From that day on, we had each other's backs through thick and thin for twenty whole years.

The pain in my chest slowly turned to a dull, numb throbbing. I forced myself to stand using the gate for support.

Suddenly, sirens wailed outside the yard.

Two police cruisers screeched to a halt outside the gate, and several uniformed officers rushed inside.