Chapter 1

1

The wedding ceremony was in full swing when my husband's female best friend sent him a message.

"I wish you happiness. Goodbye, my boy."

Attached was a photo of a blood-streaked wrist and a crimson-stained fruit knife.

Zane looked at me, his eyes frantic. "Vivian has severe depression. If I don't go right now, she's going to die!"

I smiled calmly and said, "Fine. Go."

Then, I slid off the diamond ring he had just placed on my finger and tossed it into the trash can.

...

This wasn't the first time Vivian Miller had tried to end her life.

Zane Chambers always told me she had deep-seated mental health issues and was prone to self-harm.

In the beginning, I actually felt sorry for her.

Vivian's husband was an abusive piece of trash. She refused to leave him for the sake of her son. Every time I saw her, she was covered in bruises of various sizes.

I tried to help her more than once. "Call the police, Vivian. Or just take the kid and run."

But she would always shake her head through her tears. "I can't let my son grow up without a father."

Back then, I genuinely wanted to save her.

What I didn't realize was that she didn't just want a father for her child. She wanted my husband to be that father.

The first major incident happened when Zane and I went to the courthouse to get our marriage license.

The clerk was literally reviewing our IDs and paperwork.

Vivian had taken a handful of sleeping pills and sent a scheduled text to Zane, asking him to handle her funeral arrangements.

Zane turned to me and said, "We grew up together, Haley. We can get the license any day, but I have to save her life right now."

I couldn't argue with that. It was a life at stake, after all. And she was his oldest friend.

The second time was on New Year's Eve. Zane was at my parents' house for dinner.

We were all gathered around the fireplace, enjoying a cozy night, when he got a call from the police.

I watched his face turn from relaxed to terrified. He dropped everything, ignored my parents, and bolted out the door.

He was so panicked that he forgot his shoes. He ran straight into the blizzard in his socks.

My parents tried to comfort me. "Zane is a hardworking man. It must be a work emergency. Don't be mad at him. You still have us to ring in the New Year with."

I leaned into my mom's arms, but my heart was already sinking. I had a feeling I knew exactly what was happening.

Two hours later, my gut feeling was confirmed.

I scrolled through the local news on my phone and let out a bitter laugh.

Vivian was at it again. This time, she had climbed to the roof of the tallest skyscraper downtown.

Every New Year, the city puts on a massive fireworks display. Thousands of people gather in the square to count down.

That skyscraper was right in the center of the action.

In the viral videos, people filmed Vivian standing on the very edge of the roof, wearing nothing but a thin white silk nightgown.

Hundreds of cops were there. Paramedics were setting up air cushions, and a SWAT team was scaling the building. Female negotiators were on the roof, trying to talk her down.

The girl filming the video was crying. "She looks so lonely," she sobbed. "Like she has no one to spend the holiday with."

Suddenly, the crowd in the video started cheering. "Someone's up there! It looks like a man!"

"She's coming down! Thank God!"

"Oh my god, they're hugging! They're kissing!"

"She looks so beautiful, like a broken angel. This is like a scene from a movie. So tragic and romantic."

I turned off my phone.

Predicting it was one thing. Seeing it with my own eyes was another.

The girl's camera was high-definition. It captured the moment Zane and Vivian locked into an embrace perfectly.

He held her as if she were the most precious, fragile treasure in the world.

When Vivian tilted her head up to kiss him, Zane didn't pull away.

His hand was buried in her long black hair, pressing the back of her head as he leaned down to kiss her passionately.