Chapter 1

When the wedding party came for the bride, my fiancé's ex-girlfriend was standing in front of the wedding car, her whole face a dare.

"Want to get in? First kneel down and bark ninety-nine times like a dog. It'll prove that after the wedding you'll obey the groom completely, like a dog."

The whole thing struck me as absurd. Whoever heard of a groom letting his ex haze the bride?

The woman spread her legs.

"Then crawl through, like a dog. Otherwise your heart isn't sincere."

The crowd broke into jeers, urging me to get down on the ground and crawl through.

I clenched my fists and gave my fiancé one last chance.

"Bryan Simmons, either you come out here yourself, or I find myself another bride."

My fiancé snapped at me, impatient.

"Delilah once promised she'd do all this when she married me. You can't even measure up to her, which just proves you don't love me at all."

I laughed out of sheer anger. A love this twisted, I didn't dare want.

I turned and walked away, and sent my ex a message.

"Five o'clock, the Park Hyatt. Short a groom. You in?"

An ex, well, I happen to have one of those too.

……

Bryan had rushed me toward the wedding car, and I stumbled along in my gown, lifting the hem, almost tripping.

Then a strange woman stepped in front of the car.

I was still puzzling over it.

Bryan's buddy Christian Vance tipped his nose in the air and made the introduction.

"This is Bryan's ex, Delilah Fox. Just back from studying at Harvard."

"She heard you two were getting married, so she came all this way to vet things for him."

A knot of fury flared up in me.

Bringing his ex to the wedding was one thing, but letting her come haze the bride? It was clearly meant to embarrass me, to grind my dignity into the dirt.

I was about to lose my temper.

Delilah looked at me, taunting.

"What, is Miss Winfield upset now?"

"You can't even stand your fiancé having a past? How petty."

I clenched my fists hard, ready to blow up right there.

But my mother was still waiting to attend my wedding, so I swallowed it down.

"However much cash you want in the envelope, I'll give it."

Wedding hazing, after all, usually just came down to handing out a little cash to keep everyone happy.

As long as I could marry Bryan and get the ceremony over with, I could stand this small humiliation for now.

Delilah snorted, as though she'd heard the funniest joke in the world.

She shot me a scornful glance and put on a look of tender devotion.

"Marriage is about a sincere heart, not about money."

"If you want to marry Bryan, you have to prove you love him enough."

Curiosity got the better of me.

"Prove it how?"

"Back when I was with Bryan, I promised him that after we married, I'd be completely faithful to him, like a dog."

"If you can do the same, I'll let you into this car today."

A wave of physical nausea rose in my throat, and I couldn't help sneering.

"You'd rather kneel and be a dog than live like a person, and you're actually proud of it?"

Delilah's face darkened at once, her eyes brimming with venom.

"What are you playing so high and mighty for? Bryan's young, handsome, and the president of his company."

"The people who'd line up to be his dog would stretch all the way to France!"

Her voice shot up several notches.

"Bark ninety-nine times now, and it proves that after the wedding you'll be obedient like a dog, that you'll obey Bryan completely!"

The scene erupted. Christian kept egging me on from the side.

"Olivia Winfield, hurry up. Didn't you always say how much you love Bryan? How can you not even be willing to do this little thing?"

The friends around me were all furious.

I was grinding my teeth so hard they rattled.

But it wasn't over. Delilah suddenly spread her legs, mockery all over her eyes.

"Oh, and barking isn't enough. You have to crawl through here for it to count as sincere."

"Otherwise, forget about marrying Bryan today."

The laughter exploded, and a thick wave of ridicule slammed into me until I could barely breathe.

I stared hard at Bryan.

I knew that without his say-so, no ex would ever dare trample me like this at my own wedding.

But my mother was going in for heart surgery tomorrow, and her greatest wish was to see me married.

That was why I'd rushed to hold the wedding today, to lift her spirits and give the surgery a better chance.

One last chance for Bryan.

"Bryan Simmons, either you come out here right now and leave with me, or I go find myself another groom."

The whole place went silent in an instant, and a flicker of glee shot across Delilah's eyes.

Bryan snapped at me, impatient.

"Olivia Winfield, what's that supposed to mean, you dare threaten me?"

"Delilah was willing to do all this for me. You can't even measure up to her, which just means you don't love me."

"If you don't do it today, the wedding is off!"

Anger turned to a laugh, and the last thread of feeling in my heart vanished for good.

A love this twisted and this groveling, I couldn't afford it, and I wanted no part of it.

"Fine. You won't be my groom, so I'll find another one."

Without hesitation I turned and walked away, pulled out my phone, and sent my ex a message.

"Five o'clock, the Park Hyatt. The wedding's short a groom. You in?"