Chapter 1

1

The wedding video started playing on the big screen, and I froze.

It was Jake, my childhood best friend, standing on a rooftop, threatening to jump.

His voice was cracking as he called out my name, begging.

"Chad, I did everything you said! I even got a vasectomy so I couldn't get Amy pregnant. The doctor says I have terminal cancer and won't last long anyway! Please, just let me have Amy back!"

Amy, my fiancée, went ballistic.

She called off the wedding right then and there.

The local news started broadcasting live footage of Amy rescuing Jake from the rooftop and then proposing to him, right there on the spot.

My face went white.

I clutched my cancer diagnosis and dialed Amy's number for the thirty-ninth time.

Still blocked.

That wedding video went viral.

The internet was roasting me, but Amy was pulling out all the stops to find Jake the best medical care possible.

I got kidnapped.

I begged Amy to come save me, but she was too busy celebrating Jake's birthday.

I told her I had cancer and didn't have long to live, that this might be the last time we talked.

She just laughed.

"Chad, Jake faked an illness to get my sympathy. You trying to copy him is just disgusting."

The line went dead.

I managed a bitter smile.

What she didn't know was Jake was faking it.

But I was really dying.

...

The kidnappers called Amy for the nineteenth time.

The call went straight to voicemail.

Then the phone was off.

The kidnappers got angrier.

A cold blade pressed against my neck.

"Aren't you supposed to be her fiancé?"

"How come she won't come rescue you, even when you're about to die? The gossip rags make it sound like she's head over heels for you!"

I stared blankly at the crumbling warehouse, a bitter smile creeping across my face.

"It's the gossip rags. You can't believe any of that crap."

Head over heels?

Maybe once upon a time.

But that was before Jake decided to project that video during my wedding, sabotaging everything.

Without any evidence, he straight up accused me of forcing him to get a vasectomy.

All because I found out he was the one who... you know... helped Amy out after she got too drunk at a bar.

Amy believed him instantly.

She shoved me away and ran to him, her eyes bloodshot.

It felt like my heart was ripped out.

I begged her to believe me.

She wouldn't hear anything I had to say.

She just snapped.

"You think someone would joke about their own life? Chad, Jake is standing on that roof right now. Do you really think I can watch him die and then go through with this wedding without it messing me up? And now you're saying that Jake is faking everything? Do you have no empathy?"

I watched the news broadcast, shaking.

Amy, in her wedding dress, ran to the rooftop and stretched out her arms.

"Jake, come here. I'll catch you!"

Jake, with tears of joy, jumped into her arms.

The gossip rags gave it a big headline.

# Childhood Best Friend > Fiancé: Turns Out Jake Is Amy's One True Love #

I put down my phone, swallowing the tears.

Stuff like this had happened so many times.

No matter what Jake said, she never questioned it.

She just believed him and cleaned up his messes.

But now, I was done.

"You guys are wasting your time. She's not coming."

My voice was quiet, trembling a little, but filled with resignation.

The kidnappers looked at me, not believing it.

"I'm warning you, don't try any tricks!"

"If Amy doesn't show, we'll take you out. You don't want to lose your life, do you?"

"Call Amy again!"

When I was brought to this abandoned warehouse, I found out these kidnappers were Amy's enemies.

Amy ran a legit business, but she pissed a lot of people off along the way.

She stepped on a lot of toes.

Because of the gossip rags, they thought Amy was head over heels for her fiancé Chad.

They thought that if he wanted the stars, she would get them.

That's why they targeted me.