Chapter 2

The moment I pushed open the doors, pink roses flooded my vision, and blue dolphin balloons floated in the air.

It was exactly the wedding I had fantasized about a thousand times.

The bride was surrounded by a crowd. The gorgeous mermaid bridal gown she wore was a carbon copy of the design draft I had kept on my computer for three years.

A design draft I had only ever shown to Serena.

A wave of dizziness hit me as the sheer absurdity of the situation rushed to my head.

Just then, a lady at the reception desk stopped me. "Hi, honey, are you a guest of the bride or the groom?"

Everyone turned to look. The moment they saw my face, a collective gasp echoed through the room.

The bride looked at Ethan, confused. "Who is she?"

"Just a colleague from the New York branch. It was a last-minute invite, so she didn't get a formal card," Ethan replied smoothly. His voice was calm, as if he hadn't just told me how much he missed me on FaceTime last night.

Serena squeezed through the crowd, grabbed my wrist, and dragged me out.

She whispered harshly, "All the family and friends are here, Natalie. Don't do anything crazy. We can talk about this tomorrow."

I stared at her in silence.

Serena dragged me into the emergency exit stairwell before letting go.

"Chloe spent three months planning this wedding. She lost almost ten pounds from the stress. We just want today to be perfect for her."

Her very first words were about her pity for Chloe.

"What about me?" my voice cracked as I stared into her eyes.

"I've spent three years in New York, working day and night, too afraid to even take a sick day. I saved every single hour of my paid time off just to fly back and see him."

Tears fell uncontrollably.

I remembered how she would always see me off at the airport, hugging me and promising, "Don't worry, Natalie. I'll keep an eye on Ethan for you. No basic bitch is going to steal my bestie's man."

It turned out I was the only fool who took that promise seriously.

"Natalie, Chloe is different from you."

"How is she different?"

"You're strong. You can survive without Ethan. But Chloe has a congenital heart condition. Ethan has been the only one taking care of her."

"And when she graduated, Ethan was the one who asked the Chairman to transfer you to New York. He did it because he didn't want you to find out about her and make things difficult."

It felt like a lightning bolt struck my brain. I froze.

When I first got the transfer notice, I wanted to decline it.

I had just bought a house in LA and wanted to bring my sick mother over to get better medical treatment.

But Ethan practically begged me. He said, "Natalie, my promotion to the Board of Directors depends entirely on this New York project. You're the only one I trust to handle it."

"Just three months, I promise. I'll bring you back, and then we'll get married."

So I agreed.

But three months turned into another three, and the distance between Los Angeles and New York never shrunk.

My throat burned with dry pain. "So, the transfer requests I sent to return to LA over the last three years..."

Before I could finish, Serena's eyes filled with pity. "Ethan blocked every single one of them."

I stumbled back a step.

I missed my mother's kidney transplant surgery. I missed the moments she needed me most in her hospital bed. I even missed... her last breath.

My phone buzzed. It was a message from Ethan.

[Go home first. I'll explain everything to you tonight.]

I stared at the words, my fingers gripping the phone until my knuckles turned white.

Then, I turned around and walked right back into the ballroom.