Chapter 1

The night I caught Fabian Fox and Stella Butler in bed together, wrecked beyond words, I got a call from myself five years in the future.

"They were set up. Someone wanted to break you and Fabian apart."

"Stella is your best friend. Because you refused to forgive her, she jumped off a building. Hurting you was never what she wanted. She's in pain too."

"I'm you, five years from now. I don't want you to lose your fiance and your best friend at the same time, and end up dying young, worn down by grief."

I sat collapsed on the living room carpet all night, going back over the days when the three of us grew up together in the orphanage.

In the end, because of that call from five years in the future, I chose to forgive.

For the three months after that, whenever something they did crossed a line and left me uneasy,

that call from the future always came, right on cue, insisting over and over that I was only imagining things, that they were the two people in the world who loved me most.

And just when the constant push and pull had worn my nerves ragged, I overheard Stella and Fabian talking.

"Natalie Summers really is a fool. Call from the future? All I did was use a voice changer and I had her spinning in circles."

"But I'm sick of keeping up the act now. When exactly are you going to break up with her? You're not actually planning to marry her, are you?"

I pressed my hand hard against my mouth, terrified of making a sound, but the tears still fell, one heavy drop after another, running down the back of my hand.

The call from the future was fake. The betrayal was real.

Then when this show ends is no longer something the two of you get to decide.

1

Fabian pulled Stella onto his lap, every line of his face soft with affection.

"The company's right at the critical stage before the IPO. I can't afford a scandal in my personal life."

"Don't worry. Once we go public, you're the only one who'll get to stand beside me for the world to see."

Stella clearly liked what she heard, her expression a mix of coy and smug.

"She really is dumb as a rock. You have no idea. Every single time on the phone she cries until she can barely breathe, saying she wants to believe us but can't stop feeling hurt and reading too much into things."

"Ha, I'm going to die laughing. She saw us lying in the same bed and she still brainwashed herself. Unbelievably stupid."

The others in the room chimed in through their laughter.

"Yourself from the future? Only an idiot like Natalie would fall for something like that."

"Fabian, man, ten years with a woman that stupid. I actually feel for you. No wonder you built the company this big."

"If you ask me, Stella's the right fit for you. At work or off the clock, who doesn't say the two of you are a perfect match?"

Listening to all that mockery in the room, I couldn't stop the cold from rolling through me in waves.

Fabian had called me earlier and said the team was doing a company outing tonight, that he'd be home late.

But Fabian always got headaches when he drank, and Stella couldn't stand the cold.

When it got late and he still wasn't home, I finally went out, carrying the hangover pills for Fabian and a coat for Stella.

I lowered my head and stared blankly at the things in my hands.

In that moment, I suddenly thought they were right. I really was dumb as a rock.

I scrubbed hard at my tears, took two deep breaths, then pushed the door open and walked in.

The moment they saw me, the whole room went silent, and Stella, still on Fabian's lap, froze.

Fabian recovered first, shoving Stella off and coming to stand in front of me.

"Nat, it's so late. What are you doing here?"

I didn't miss the panic in his eyes, as if he was afraid I'd heard something I shouldn't have.

It wasn't the time to lay it all out yet, but I wasn't about to swallow this humiliation either.

I pointed at Stella and looked at Fabian, my voice a little hoarse.

"What were the two of you just doing? Why was she sitting on your lap?"

"Don't tell me this is a misunderstanding too?"

Maybe because I hadn't mentioned the fake calls, Fabian let out a barely noticeable breath of relief, and Stella came right up to me.

"Oh, Nat, don't read too much into it. We were just playing a game."

"Truth or Dare, you know how it goes."

"Oh, is this coat for me? Nat's the best, you know I get cold so easily..."

Before Stella could finish, I turned and walked straight out of the room and went home.

I hadn't been lying in bed long when I felt a familiar warmth close over me.

But right now, that warmth made my stomach turn.

Fabian's voice was low, with a coaxing edge to it.

"Don't be angry, hmm? Today was my fault. From now on I'll be careful about how I act."

I didn't answer him. I just lay there quietly, waiting for what would come next.

Sure enough, ten minutes later,

my phone rang.

That so-called "self from the future" was calling again.