Chapter 2

The next morning I expected Julian to confront me. Claire came home instead, and she came in furious.

"You knew Julian has depression. Why would you post something like that just to set him off?

"He swallowed a whole bottle of sleeping pills this morning.

"If I hadn't gotten him to the hospital in time he'd be dead."

So much for the emergency trip. She didn't bother explaining it. She took me by the arm and drove me to the hospital.

"You're going to tell him yourself that it was a misunderstanding.

"As far as Julian's concerned, he and I are the couple."

The whole thing went unreal on me. "What did you just say?"

Her expression barely moved. "He has depression. You need to make allowances."

Julian's room was packed. First time in my life I'd seen all my friends in one place, which was funny, since they couldn't manage it for my wedding.

My mother was there too. Diane's been obsessive about cleanliness my whole life, and there she was, carefully cleaning up after he'd been sick. Last year, when I fell three stories and ended up in a hospital bed of my own, she wouldn't come into the room because she couldn't stand the smell of blood.

Ryan stood off to the side, cold. "Ethan, can you stop being so selfish? Do you understand you nearly cost a man his life?"

My mother glared at me. "Have you lost your mind? You couldn't think for two seconds before posting that? Apologize to Julian. Now."

Nobody else said anything. They were all waiting for it anyway.

Julian had spent five years taking wedding photos with my wife. I was the one who'd been betrayed. And somehow I was the one who owed an apology.

After a long silence I said, "Why? Did I tell him to break up somebody else's marriage? Did I put the pills in his hand?"

Julian went pale. "Break up... your marriage?"

I took out my phone and pulled up our marriage certificate and the video from the ceremony. "We got married five years ago. He's been circling my wife for those same five years. How is that not breaking up my marriage?"

My mother went straight to Julian. "Don't listen to him. You and Claire are the real couple. Everybody here knows that."

Ryan's face twisted. "Ethan, what the hell are you talking about? Claire and Julian are the ones who are legally married."

It landed like a slap. "What do you mean, legally married?"

The room tilted around me.

Julian's breathing changed, and they pushed me out into the hall.

My hands shook as I pulled up the county's marriage records lookup and entered Claire's information. When the page loaded, the blood went out of me. Her spouse of record was Julian, his photograph beside hers. There was no record of me at all.

My marriage certificate was a forgery.

The wedding I'd waited years for. The rings. The seal on the license. Every bit of it staged.

No wonder we couldn't fill the room that day. They'd known from the start that it was a performance.

The door opened and everyone came out after the doctor called them. When they saw I was still standing there, a few of them couldn't hold my eyes.

My voice shook. "Why? Why did every one of you lie to me?"