Chapter 1

1.

Seven years of marriage. My husband ran from our wedding thirteen times.

The first time, his personal assistant sprained her ankle. I stood alone under the flower arch, waiting from sunset until midnight.

The second time, she had a migraine. He left the ring box on the altar and walked away.

After that, every single time we set a wedding date, something happened to her. Food poisoning. Anxiety attack. A leak in her apartment. Thirteen times. Every single one.

After the thirteenth, I finally decided to let go.

But the moment I walked toward another man, he went insane trying to drag me back.

...

Seven years of marriage. Elliott Carrington and I never had a wedding.

Today was our seventh anniversary, the day we'd stood in front of a city clerk and exchanged vows. It was also the day he'd promised, for the thirteenth time, to finally give me a real ceremony.

At the anniversary party, I stood off to the side. Everyone was busy toasting Elliott and the woman who never left his side. I sat alone by the towering cake, drinking my own champagne. He didn't look at me. Not once.

The party was supposed to be mine. It ended with Elliott's indifference and the guests' carefully averted eyes.

Afterward, he was supposed to come with me to the wedding studio and finalize Sunday's ceremony. Instead, he left me on the curb.

Outside the restaurant, his black Cadillac Escalade pulled up right in front of me. I reached for the passenger door. He spoke first.

"Serena had too much to drink. I need to make sure she gets home safe. Handle the wedding stuff yourself."

"I won't be back tonight. Don't wait up."

He was already rolling up the window before I could even react.

I pulled my gaze away from Serena Renée, sitting in the passenger seat where I rarely sat. Before the window closed completely, I said it.

Calm. Level.

"Sure. Drive safe."

Elliott had braced himself for her to scream, to cry, to demand why he was leaving again. Nothing came. She was so calm. Like she was saying goodbye to a stranger.

It made something unfamiliar twist in his chest. But he was in a hurry to get to Serena. He shoved the unease down.

His voice loosened, just slightly. "I'll be there this time."

The window went up. He drove off without looking back.

Late autumn in New York. The cold bit into me as I watched his taillights disappear. It wasn't the autumn cold. It was the kind of cold that seeps out from inside your bones.

Elliott rarely let me sit in his passenger seat. He never offered me that kind of careful, attentive escort. I used to think he was just a cold person. Now I understood. It was just the person in the seat who was different.

I married him at twenty-two. Seven years of marriage. Not a single complete wedding.

I'd known before we married that he had someone in his heart. Someone he'd loved since he was young. He agreed to marry me because his grandmother practically commanded it. And because that person had abandoned him and left for the West Coast.

Now she was back. His personal assistant. Glued to his side day and night.

I took a deep breath. Set my glass down.

Some things need to end.