Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 5

OLIVIA'S POVThe dumplings were perfect.I stared down at the container in my hands, steam still rising from the edges where I'd just sealed it shut.Marcus loved these dumplings. He had told me the first time I made them for him that they tasted like home, like everything he'd been missing his whole life.That was three years ago. Back when I still believed words like that meant something.The next day was going to be our wedding. Everything was ready. The dress hanging in my closet, the flowers ordered, the venue booked. Three hundred guests who'd be watching me walk down the aisle to marry the man I'd spent three years molding myself into the perfect woman for.I wanted tonight to be special. I wanted to remind him why we were doing this. I wanted to see that look in his eyes from three years ago when he said my cooking made him feel loved.So I'd spent the afternoon in my tiny kitchen making dumplings from scratch. Rolling dough, mixing filling just so he could hover over me and s

OLIVIA'S POVSunlight burned through my eyelids like fire.I groaned and tried to roll over, but my head felt like someone had taken a hammer to it. My body ached in places that made no sense.Where was I?I forced my eyes open.The room spun for a second before settling into focus. Unfamiliar ceiling, unfamiliar walls, everything looked unfamiliar.This wasn't my apartment, it wasn't Marcus's place. It wasn't anywhere I recognized.Panic started creeping up my throat. I sat up too fast and immediately regretted it. The room tilted sideways. My stomach lurched.I looked down at myself. I was still wearing yesterday's clothes. Wrinkled and smelling like alcohol. At least I was dressed, that was something.Then I noticed him. A man in the bed beside me. Dark hair messy against the pillow, face I'd never seen before. Sleeping soundly beside me.Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god.What had I done?My hands were shaking as I looked around the room for clues, hotel room, cheap but not terrible. L

OLIVIA'S POVThe flight back to New York felt like hours and seconds at the same time. Too long and too short. Giving me too much time to think and not enough time to prepare.Ethan worked on his laptop the whole time. Making calls, sending emails. Running his company from thirty thousand feet like it was nothing.I tried to sleep but couldn't. I tried to eat but my stomach was in knots. I tried to read but the words blurred together.All I could think about was facing my mother. About walking into her house with a husband she didn't know existed. About watching her face when she realized I'd actually done it.I'd actually gotten married to someone else.The car Ethan had arranged picked us up at the airport. It was black and expensive. The kind of car my mother would approve of even if she hated everything else."Are you ready?" Ethan asked as we pulled up to my mother's house in the Upper East Side."No." I looked at the familiar brownstone. "But I'm doing it anyway."He took my han