Chapter 1

Right before the wedding was set to begin, my best friend called me out of nowhere.

"Pauline Swanson, please, lend me some money. I'm sick, and the treatment costs three million."

"I'll die without it. You have to save me!"

Cold sweat broke over me. I turned and called my fiancé at once.

But I called ninety-nine times, and he never once picked up.

So I scraped it together from everywhere I could, even taking out a loan to make up the full amount.

The second I'd wired it to her, I raced to the hospital without stopping.

I pushed open the door to her room, and a familiar voice pierced my heart like a needle.

She was sitting up in the hospital bed, laughing into her phone.

"Rufus Gilbert, that trick of yours really worked. You not only got her out of the way, you fleeced her good on top of it!"

"I'll just call this rescue money my wedding gift to the two of you. You owe me dinner one of these days!"

Rufus's voice came through from the other end.

"The wedding was never for her anyway. She's only good enough to be a mistress."

Something warm and metallic rose in my throat. I was about to walk in and demand answers.

Then I turned my head and saw the wedding livestream playing on the TV.

In the dressing room, Rufus was down on one knee, softly kissing the back of his ex-girlfriend's hand.

Amid the cheering, he said the very words he'd once said to me.

"I'll make you the happiest bride in all of Riverton."

I pressed a hand to the dull ache in my chest and laughed until my eyes filled with tears.

So it turned out that promise had never belonged to me.

1

I stood in the doorway, nailed in place.

The livestream went on.

Rufus pulled out a stack of red-covered deeds, his eyes tender as water.

"These are some properties and shops around Riverton. As of today, they're all yours to manage."

"And this is the transfer agreement for five percent of the Gilbert-Swanson Group. From now on, it's my way of giving you security."

Flora Fox took them and, glowing, held each one up to the camera one by one.

It was like a basin of ice water dumped over my head. My whole body shook.

I'd stayed up through countless nights with Rufus, drunk through countless bottles.

I'd walked with him every step of the way, from a broke nobody to the head of a listed company.

And yet he had never once promised me so much as one percent.

I stood frozen, watching Rufus adjust her wedding gown.

It was exactly like mine.

Except mine had never fit, and this one sat perfectly on her frame.

I remembered when the gown was first finished, too small on me, and I'd wanted to ask the shop to alter the size.

Rufus had dragged me away, impatient.

"Altering the gown is a waste of time."

"The wedding's just going through the motions. What does it matter whether it fits?"

So that gown had never been mine from the start.

And it wasn't that he had no time. He just wouldn't waste it on someone he didn't care about.

Flora smiled shyly for the camera.

"Rufus made this himself. He stayed up so many nights over it."

"Such a fool. Wasn't even afraid of ruining his eyes."

A shriek pulled me out of the memory.

On the screen, Flora was covering her nose, nestled against Rufus.

"Who brought this bouquet? I'm allergic to pollen!"

My best friend answered into her phone on this end.

"Pauline made it."

"How does she manage to disgust you even when she isn't here!"

At that, Rufus's face darkened, and he flung the bouquet away.

Then he turned and handed her a bouquet made of pure gold.

"I knew you were allergic. I had this ready for you long ago."

"Don't be upset. It won't be pretty if you cry your makeup off."

The crowd there teased them for being unbearably sweet.

In a corner no one cared about, the bouquet rolled a few times across the floor, then got stomped hard underfoot.

Rufus's buddy ground the petals to pieces in disgust.

"A vicious, ugly woman like Pauline doesn't come close to Flora!"

"All she ever did was spend Rufus's money. Nothing like Flora, beautiful and successful!"

"She should be like this bouquet, trampled underfoot forever."

I stared blankly at the bouquet.

When his proposal got scrapped a dozen times over, I was the one who fixed it for him, who won him nearly a million in commission.

Back then he'd sworn up and down that he'd always be on my side.

And now he was grinding me into the mud.

I wanted to keep watching, but the screen suddenly went black.

Only then did my best friend notice me. Her mouth opened, but not a single word came out.

I tugged at the corner of my mouth. "Why turn it off? Weren't you looking forward to it?"

She started to explain on reflex. "No, I, I'm sorry, but I really didn't mean to."

"I just, I just…"

Looking at her panicked face, the ache in my chest nearly drowned me.

For the past ten years, when I was bullied she was the first to step in front of me, when I was upset she was the first to speak up for me.

She'd treated me as her closest friend, and I'd taken on millions in loans for her.

I'd even borrowed my parents' retirement savings just to help her.

And yet this illness turned out to be a con.

Ten years of friendship, and in the end it was all a joke.

I gave her one long look and turned to leave.

"Do you really have to go running off to be the other woman!"