Semua Bab TWO RIVALS CRAVE ME: Bab 1 - Bab 4

~MAREN HOLLIS~People say heartbreak has stages. You cry. You heal. You move on. Mine never bothered with the order.I didn't cry when Caleb left that night. And I've healed, technically—if healed means I can hear his name without flinching.Barely.But I'm not over him. Not even close. I'd rather die than admit that to him, though.Right now I'm standing outside the hotel where my best friend, Sandra, is celebrating her engagement. She's the reason I found out Caleb was cheating in the first place.She's also the first in our friend group to land herself a rich man—the kind of life I always thought would be mine if Caleb had stayed.I told myself coming here wouldn't hurt. Wildly optimistic.Something's already stinging in my chest. I'm older than Sandra, and she's getting married before me.Such is life, I guess.I shake the thought off and tug at the bodice of my amethyst gown. I'm here to celebrate my best friend, not feel sorry for myself.Just as I reach for the hotel's glass do

~Maren~The ballroom is exactly what you’d expect from a man with far more money than sense: every detail deliberate, expensive, aggressively showy. Caleb’s always been like that when he wants to prove a point.God, I miss him.Three long tables stretch across the room under white linens, crowded with crystal and heavy silver plates. Soft string music drifts through the low light.I scan the crowd until I find him: dark suit, top buttons undone, laughing easily with a cluster of older men in tailored business attire. Board members, most likely.Sandra brushes past me without a glance, heading straight for the platform up front. I don’t mind. The farther away she is right now, the better.The moment she reaches the stage, every head turns toward her. People wave, a few guests blow kisses across the space. She waves back, soaking it in like she’s walking a runway instead of hosting her own engagement party.I retreat into the shadows near a stone pillar, rendering myself practically inv