Chapter 1

The day before we were supposed to sign our marriage license, we were at our new house trying on my wedding dress. My fiancé, Logan, took a quick phone call and rushed out the door.

Half an hour later, he Snapchat-ed me a photo of a home equity refinance agreement.

[Hailey’s brother got into some trouble and needs to pay damages. I just took out a $600,000 second mortgage on our house to help her out.]

[It’s not easy for her to raise her brother all by herself. Don’t you still have that small apartment under your name? Let’s just move in there and get married first.]

[Use your salary to cover the mortgage payments for now. And don’t tell my mom this is because of Hailey. Just tell her you wanted to upgrade to a bigger place.]

I peeled off my wedding dress and texted back:

[Got it.]

I didn't want the house anymore. Why should I recycle garbage when I could just throw it away?

"What do you mean by 'got it'? Is that all you have to say?"

Logan’s call came through just as I was folding my wedding dress.

I zipped the dress into its dust bag, pulling the zipper all the way to the top. "Exactly what I said."

"I know you’re upset, but Hailey is in a real crisis. Her brother totaled a Porsche. The owner demanded $600,000 to settle it out of court, or he'd call the cops—"

"So you didn't even bother to consult me? You just went ahead and mortgaged the house?"

He went silent for a few seconds.

"Would you have agreed if I did? By the time you finished overthinking it, her brother would already be behind bars."

"Logan, the down payment on this house was eighty thousand. I paid fifty thousand. Before you went and mortgaged it, did it ever cross your mind to ask me?"

"We're literally about to get married. Why are you keeping score? It sounds so petty."

I popped open my suitcase. My makeup bag, curling iron, spare pearl earrings—I stuffed them in, one by one. The wheels of my suitcase rolled across the hardwood floor, echoing loudly in the empty room.

He heard the noise through the phone. "What are you doing?"

"Packing."

"Packing for what? We're signing the marriage license tomorrow—"

"Not anymore."

Three seconds of dead silence.

Then, he let out a dry laugh. "Chloe, the invitations are already out. Our parents fly in tomorrow morning. And you're telling me we're not getting married?"

"Yes."

Before he could finish his sentence, I hung up.

Twenty minutes later, the front door unlocked. Logan pushed the door open, his collar messy and his hair windswept. His eyes immediately fell on the ring and the wedding dress bag sitting on the coffee table. His face darkened instantly.

"Are you serious right now?"

"Dead serious."

He stormed over and started pulling my things back out of my suitcase. "Can you stop throwing a tantrum? The wedding is tomorrow—"

"It won't be a problem if there is no wedding."

I shoved my clothes back in; he pulled them out. After two rounds of this, he grabbed my wrist tightly. "Chloe, the six hundred thousand is just an emergency loan. I didn't give it to her to blow through—"

Suddenly, his phone lit up. Facing upward on the table, the caller ID showed two words:

Hailey 🌸

He instinctively flipped the phone over, but he was too late. I had already seen it.

"Just friends, right? Do you usually put flower emojis next to the names of 'just friends'?"

"It’s just a contact name—"

Hailey’s call timed out, but she immediately called again. This time, he didn't hesitate. He walked out to the balcony, lowering his voice to answer it.

Fragments of his voice drifted in through the glass door: "...stop crying..." "...I'll handle it..." "...just take care of yourself first..."

Three minutes later, he walked back inside, his face tight with anxiety. "Hailey’s brother's situation is worse than we thought. I have to go over there. Don't leave yet. We'll talk about tomorrow when I get back—"

"There's nothing left to talk about."

I slid the engagement ring across the coffee table, grabbed my suitcase, and walked toward the door.

He chased after me, grabbing the handle of my suitcase. "Chloe, I'll apologize, okay? I should have told you about the house beforehand—"

"It’s not about whether you told me or not." I pried his fingers off the handle.

"You made the decision and then simply notified me because you never thought you needed my consent in the first place. You threw away six hundred thousand dollars like you were ordering takeout, and I didn't even have the right to cancel the order."

"What do you want me to do? Let her brother rot in jail?"

I opened the door and walked out without looking back.

"Logan, go run to your precious Hailey. My marriage doesn't need a husband who keeps another woman in his phone with flower emojis. As for who you want to marry next—go ask her."

Ten minutes later, a voice message popped up on my Snapchat.

His voice still sounded incredibly confident: "Calm down. I’ll come find you tomorrow morning. We are getting married, and you know it."