Chapter 1

1: 1

The night before the wedding, I realized I'd left something in the hotel suite.

I doubled back and found the door standing slightly ajar.

Nigel Gilbert was down on one knee, lifting Tania Fox's foot.

He bent his head and kissed it, gentle as could be.

Tania was wearing my backup wedding gown, and Nigel was slipping the heels onto her feet.

“Tania, tell me. What if, tomorrow, at the wedding.”

“What if the bride were you instead?”

Tania flushed and pouted at him. “You're insane.”

“I'm not.”

“I'm marrying her because the two families fit together. You know that.”

He stood and pulled her into his arms.

“You're the one I really want to marry.”

“Tomorrow you'll be sitting out there watching, and when the officiant asks if anyone objects.”

“I'll take you and walk.”

Tania laughed until there were tears in her eyes. “You're joking, right?”

“I'm not.”

After a short silence, I turned and walked away.

No need to wait for tomorrow. I'd give the two of you what you wanted tonight.

……

Those few short lines drove into my chest like ice picks.

Seven years.

Nigel and I had been together for seven whole years.

From school uniforms to a wedding gown, I'd thought it was fate.

Turns out, in his eyes, it was only a marriage of convenience.

So those seven years of never leaving each other's side, all of it was just an act?

Tania, the best friend I'd given my whole heart to for ten years.

Wearing my gown, standing in my wedding shoes.

Whispering against my fiancé's cheek.

The two of them wrapped up in each other, so tender, and it left me looking.

Like one complete joke.

Even like an extra person. The one who didn't belong.

I gripped the door handle, and I could hear my own ragged breathing.

For one second I wanted to kick the door in and storm through.

Wanted to point at them and scream, to smash this whole ridiculous scene to pieces.

But the moment the thought rose up, I pushed it back down.

Falling apart over a man whose heart had turned long ago.

Too cheap, and too far from worth it.

Making a scene would only leave a mess, and hand people a show to laugh at.

I drew a deep breath and was about to turn and leave.

Then Tania's voice came again from inside, edged with worry.

“Nigel, if my uncle Farley ever finds out you treated his daughter like this.”

“He'll never let you off.”

Nigel gave a low laugh, his voice full of contempt.

“By tomorrow we'll be long gone.”

“The Farley holdings have already been mostly swallowed up by Gilbert Group.”

“Even if he wants revenge, he won't have the means.”

I went rigid where I stood, disbelief on my face.

So that was it.

This was more than just a change of heart.

All that tenderness across seven years.

In the end it was only a con he'd planned down to the last detail.

Getting close to me, winning me over.

Coaxing my parents into trusting him without a single doubt.

All of it just to set his sights on the Farley empire.

Playing with my feelings, and swallowing what generations of my family had built besides.

Nigel, what a clever little plan you've worked out.

Through the gap in the door, I watched the two of them kiss.

The sight was so vile it turned my stomach.

Slowly I raised a hand and touched the slight swell of my belly.

There was a little life in there, just past two months.

I'd been planning to surprise him with it tomorrow, at the wedding.

Now the thought of it felt like a cruel joke.

I drew my hand back, and the expression on my face went cold, bit by bit.

For him, I had nothing left. Not a shred of feeling.

All that remained was disappointment.

So I turned and left without looking back.

The elevator dropped floor by floor, the mirrored wall throwing back a pale but steady face.

No tears, no panic.

Because when the heart is well and truly dead, a person only sees more clearly.

When I walked out through the hotel doors, the night wind was cool against my face.

I took out my phone and called my father.

He picked up quickly.

From the other end came the same warm, kind laugh as always.

“What is it, sweetheart?”

“You've got the wedding tomorrow. Why aren't you resting this late?”

I lifted my eyes to the huge wedding poster across the street.

On it, the couple smiled, sweet and happy.

But now, in my eyes, it was one enormous joke.

I was silent for a moment before I finally spoke.

My voice came out calm, nothing like a woman who'd just caught two people cheating.

“Dad, this wedding. I don't want to go through with it.”

There wasn't the slightest confusion on the other end.

What came back was my father's voice, steady beyond words.

“You're sure?”

I nodded. “I'm sure.”

Then my gaze fell back to that lit window on the top floor of the hotel.

The corner of my mouth curved, cold and sharp.

“But the wedding tomorrow goes ahead as planned.”