Chapter 2

Even with his fiancée sitting right in front of him, James could think of nothing but another woman.

When I continued to ignore him, his patience began to wear thin. "You know what Lily's like. Why did you have to provoke her? And then you went and posted that announcement where she could see it..."

My head started buzzing. I turned and stared at him, remembering that this was hardly the first time Lily had attacked me only for James to somehow make me the one at fault.

The year before, he'd taken me on a trip with a group of friends. Everyone had been acting suspiciously, disappearing for whispered conversations and keeping things from me, and I'd had a pretty good idea that James was planning to propose. I got dressed up for the occasion and posted a picture on social media, but in my excitement, I accidentally included my location.

Lily tracked us down and showed up right in the middle of the romantic proposal. She slapped me so hard I went down, then grabbed at my dress, wrenching the thin straps aside until my chest was exposed. Our friends rushed to restrain her, but when I got up to hit her back, James immediately put himself between us.

"Why did you post your location?" he shouted at me. "What the hell were you trying to do?"

I stood there stunned, blood on my lip and hair falling messily around my face. Then, on the night he was supposed to propose to me, James abandoned me in front of everyone and left with Lily.

The humiliation followed me long after that night. Everyone knew what had happened, and everyone pitied me for it.

Now, barely a year later, history was repeating itself. The difference was that I had no intention of putting up with it again.

"The wedding is off."

My face remained almost cold beneath the harsh fluorescent light, but James went livid. He sprang to his feet as if I'd said something unthinkable.

Maybe to him, I had. We'd been together for five years, and I'd spent all five chasing after him. James had been the one to initiate our relationship, and somewhere along the way, he'd apparently decided that meant only he got to end it too.

He'd grown so accustomed to my devotion that he couldn't accept me stepping beyond the control he'd assumed he had.

His eyes reddened with anger. "Are you threatening me?"

"Was I?" I asked myself numbly.

Perhaps I would have been once. But I'd learned the hard way that threatening to leave only mattered to someone who loved you enough to fear losing you. James clearly didn't. Whenever there was a choice between Lily and me, I was always the one he abandoned.

Now I didn't want him anymore.

He was more shaken by that than I'd expected. His hand closed tightly around my wrist, and hurt flashed across his face. "Why won't you believe me? There really is nothing between Lily and me. She grew up without a father. I just look out for her more because of that."

I was so tired of hearing about how he was only "looking out for her."

To James, Lily was a cute, spoiled child whose behavior could always be excused. She could hit me, curse at me, humiliate me, and somehow I was still the vicious woman if I dared fight back.

Yet this vicious woman had loved him for five years. I'd stayed beside him while he built his business and struggled alongside him through the hard times.

When people pushed drinks on him at business dinners, I'd stepped in and downed the liquor myself just so he could have one less glass. Lily had taken that and turned it into rumors about how I was some trashy party girl who loved drinking and sleeping around.

"But James, I'm tired of it," I thought to myself.

A tear slipped from the corner of my eye. Not for him, but for myself and the five years I'd given him for nothing.

James stared at me, then suddenly grabbed me and dragged me outside, trying to force me into his car. I knew exactly where he wanted to take me.

Mount Lightspring.

Some of our happiest memories were tied to its summit. What James didn't know was that one of my most painful memories was tied to it too.

During our second year together, we'd planned to watch the sunrise from the top. We were still waiting at three in the morning when Lily called and asked him to come to her.

"Wait for me, Wendy. I'll be right back."

With that, he turned and left, even though I was already crying.

An hour later, it began to rain. I had no choice but to start down the mountain alone, struggling along the trail in the dim light until, halfway down, I came across a disheveled man.

The look he gave me immediately made his intentions clear. Before I could get away, he lunged and knocked me to the ground, his rancid breath filling my nose as he forced his mouth against my face. I screamed, and he slapped me hard enough to make my head spin. After several more blows, I stopped struggling.

But while he thought he'd subdued me, my hand was searching the ground.

My fingers closed around a rock, and I smashed it into him with all my strength, scrambled free, and ran all the way down the mountain.

When I finally made it home and opened the door, I found James making Lily brown-sugar ginger tea.