Chapter 1

The day Mortimer Barnes cheated on me, he saved me from falling apart and got badly hurt in a car accident.

The doctors said he'd gone blind and had severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

When he had an episode, only Felicity Pruitt, the woman he'd been getting close to, could calm him down.

Everyone swore to me they'd keep an eye on Mortimer.

Mrs. Abbott even handed me the family heirloom.

My sister said, too: "If he ever dares mess around again, I'll stab him myself."

So I set my heart at ease and ran from hospital to hospital.

After one more failed search for a cure.

I got a message out of nowhere, from someone claiming to be me, ten years from now.

【Mortimer isn't blind. It's all a lie. They've been deceiving you.】

My finger trembled as I tapped into the chat room she'd sent.

The first thing I saw was a message from Mortimer.

【Thank you all for helping me keep this from Patricia Fox. Next week, Felicity and I will treat you all to dinner.】

My sister: 【It's nothing, no need for dinner. We're waiting to drink at your and Felicity's wedding.】

My best friend: 【As long as Felicity's happy, that's enough. We've got everything handled. Patricia's so easy to fool.】

My eyes blurred a little.

So it turned out this whole thing had been a play they were putting on.

And I was the only one in the audience.

But now, I didn't want to be that audience anymore.

……

Another message from Mortimer popped up.

【I'm not going to pick Patricia up. The painting competition results are coming out soon, and Felicity's a little nervous.】

I stared at the message, dazed.

The screen went dark, and my fingers felt a little numb.

After the accident, Mortimer's moods were wildly unstable, his behavior extreme.

Worse still whenever I picked up a paintbrush.

He'd come stumbling over to smash my drawing board, would turn a knife on himself.

The doctors said it was best not to provoke him too much.

So I gave up the painting I'd held on to for years.

Gave up the competition too.

But now the blindness was fake.

The PTSD was fake.

The only real thing was keeping me from painting.

If I didn't enter, Felicity's chances of taking first place went up.

My eyes started to burn.

I stepped off the high-speed train.

One by one, the people around me were picked up by their families.

In the end, only I was left standing where I was.

A message jumped up in the group chat.

Best friend: 【So no one's going to pick Patricia up today, then? Mortimer, aren't you going to smooth things over with her?】

Sister: 【She's made her own way home these two years, hasn't she? She's not that fussy.】

Mortimer: 【It's fine. In a bit I'll fake being sick and give her a call. She'll go soft.】

The group chat buzzed a while longer.

At the end my best friend said: 【Patricia's easy to fool and easy to soothe. Keeping this from her is a piece of cake.】

Tears dropped onto the screen.

The darkened screen reflected my pale face.

The phone rang.

Mortimer's hoarse voice came through the other end.

"Patty, I… I wanted to come get you… but I feel so awful right now… I don't want you to see me like this.

"Will you blame me?"

Every word he spoke carried a faint tremor.

Like he was in terrible pain.

Before, at moments like this, my heart would ache so much I couldn't stand it, wanting nothing more than to be at his side.

But now I didn't want to keep acting this out with him.

"Is that so?"

He gave a small, aggrieved "mm."

"Or is it that you'd rather keep Felicity company? Why don't you just marry Felicity, then."

The other end went quiet for a moment.

I heard Felicity's coy, wheedling voice.

The call was cut off with a snap.

I gave a short laugh and got a cab home myself.

I just hadn't expected the best friend and sister who'd both claimed to be busy would be waiting for me at my door.

Before I could get a word out, my sister's hand came across my face.

"Patricia, how did you become like this?

"Mortimer hurt his eyes saving you. How could you say something like that to him?

"Can you really not stand to have Felicity around?"

My head buzzed, and everything went black in front of me.

It was a long time before I came back to myself.

Anger hung between my sister's brows.

"Patricia, you've disappointed me so much."

I watched my sister's back as she walked away.

She'd always spoken so gently before.

But today, for the sake of a lie.

She raised her hand to me.

My best friend Alison Dickerson tried to comfort me: "Evangeline Fox was just too angry. Patty, don't be sad. But…"

"Get out."

I cut her off.

She froze for a second.

"I heard that abroad…"

"I'm tired."

Alison's smile stiffened on her face.

I knew what she was going to say.

Nothing but news of another eye specialist somewhere, someone who'd developed some new drug.

But every time, the hope came to nothing.

Either the specialist didn't exist at all, or the hospital didn't.

For a while I thought it was just my own bad luck.

But only now did I understand.

All of it was a lie they'd made up to get me to leave.

I should give up too.