Chapter 2

After I hung up, a reminder popped onto my phone.

【10:00 a.m., Vogue Bridal Photography Studio】

I looked at the words blinking on the screen, and my eyes stung before I could stop them.

I'd booked this studio more than half a year ago.

Back when I'd pulled Ivor in, full of excitement, to talk over what style we wanted, he always frowned and pulled away.

He said he'd never liked having his picture taken, that a camera made his whole body go stiff, and told me to stop dragging him into it.

In five years together, I didn't have a single decent photo of the two of us on my phone.

I'd always thought he truly couldn't stand the camera.

So it turned out it wasn't the camera he didn't like. It was that in his future, there had never been a place set aside for me in a wedding dress.

I drew in a breath and dialed the studio.

Half an hour later, the phone I'd tossed onto the coffee table lit up.

It was Ivor.

The second I answered, his voice came at me, sharp with accusation, and under it I could hear Kate sniffling in that small, wronged way of hers.

“What are you throwing a tantrum about today? Why is the studio saying our shoot package has been frozen?”

“Now they want another eighty thousand paid in full before they'll go on. Kate's already got half her makeup done. Do you have to embarrass me at exactly this moment?”

“Just transfer the money over, now!”

I closed my eyes for a moment and said, calmly,

“Because that package was one I booked for myself.”

“I'm not doing the shoot anymore, so of course I want the money back.”

The line went silent.

Ivor seemed to move somewhere no one else was, and his tone eased a little.

“All right, that's enough. So I didn't pick up those few calls of yours last night, big deal.”

“I even sent you my location. You're the one who didn't come find me.”

“Fine, I admit I worried you last night, okay?”

“Be good, just pay the money first. A shoot is exhausting anyway. We'll just photoshop your face on later, won't that do?”

Photoshop my face onto Kate's body.

No effort needed, and I'd get the finished photos handed to me.

He said it so grandly, so matter-of-factly, as if it were some great favor he was doing me.

I looked at the red paper that had fallen by the entryway, and it suddenly felt like even wasting one more breath to call him out would be wasting my time.

You can't wake someone who's only pretending to sleep, so let him keep on acting.

“No need.”

“I hope the two of you have a lovely shoot today.”

Before he could say anything more, I pressed the button and hung up.