Chapter 1

Lily Hartley—the scholarship girl Sebastian had been bankrolling for years—had a thing about weddings. As long as she was still single, she couldn't stand to watch anyone around her walk down the aisle.

Sebastian and I had announced our engagement fourteen times. She'd crashed it fourteen times.

Every single time, Sebastian said the same thing. "Don't stoop to her level, Mia."

Tonight was number fifteen.

She shoved the champagne tower off its pedestal and told the guests to get the hell out. Then she scattered private photos of me and Sebastian all over the floor.

I stood on the podium like the butt of her joke, watching the whole night fall apart, my face as pale as the tablecloth.

Sebastian's closest buddies were jeering and placing bets from the sidelines. "Come on, girl's obsessed with him. Hundred bucks says she sucks it up like she did the last fourteen."

I held Sebastian's silent stare and slid the ring off my finger.

The room cracked up. Phones came out. Flash, flash, flash."No fucking way. Little Miss Doormat finally grew a spine?"

Sebastian stubbed out his cigarette and smiled, slow and pleased with himself.

"Pay up, boys. Venmo it to Lily."

One of his friends groaned. "Seb, come on. How do you always call it? What's your secret, man?"

Sebastian leaned back against the leather, lazy, eyes on me like I was a magic trick he'd already seen too many times."If I couldn't read her, what would be the point of keeping her around?"

Ten years.

I'd given this man ten years, and that was what I'd been to him. Something to read. Something to keep.

He climbed up onto the podium, pulled me against his chest, pressed a soft kiss to my temple like a man soothing a tantrum."Don't be mad. Lily swore this was the last time. She just needs to get it out of her system."

I pushed him off. My mouth twisted into something that wasn't a smile.

"There won't be a next time. I hope you and Lily have a long, happy life together."

I was done performing.

……

The whole room went dead quiet.

Then Sebastian's best friend started laughing."Mia, cut it out. You weren't even drinking tonight. What's with the drama queen act?"

Another one jumped in. "If you're gonna be jealous, at least do it with some class. Take notes from Lily."

"Yeah, when has Lil ever thrown a fit at us?"

"Honestly, Lily's just easier. Sweeter. More fun."

Lily smiled, soft and small, playing her part. "Guys, stop. She just found out she wasn't a real Hartley. It's a lot. Of course she's acting out."

Sebastian frowned, cut her off with a wave. "Enough."

But his eyes were still on my face, waiting for me to crack.

I didn't.

Something cold flickered through his expression. Impatience. He stepped closer, slid his arms around me, dipped his head to my ear. From the outside it probably looked tender. The words weren't.

"Mia. So your identity's fake. So what? Doesn't change how I feel about you. But you've gotta give me something here. You've killed the vibe. Lily's upset. Go apologize to her and we'll pretend none of this happened. Okay?"

I stared up at him. My nails bit into my palms until I felt blood.

Ten years.

Ten years with Sebastian Blackwood.

High school. Senior pep rally. He'd grabbed the mic in front of the whole gym and said he'd love Mia Hartley till the day he died. The videos were still floating around on someone's old Facebook.

Senior year of college, his father had tried to force him into an arranged merger-marriage with the Ashford girl. Sebastian said no. His father had him dragged into the study and beat him bloody for it. He didn't walk straight for a week. He still came to my dorm that night, swollen and limping, and told me he was marrying me and nobody in the world was going to stop it.

Then the doctor told me I'd never carry a child. A surgery I'd had at sixteen. Irreversible.

His whole family turned on me. His mother spent six months telling him I was a dead end. She wanted an heir. She wanted a Blackwood bloodline.

He never told me any of it. I only found out later.

What he did was double down. More flowers. More public dinners. More events on his arm. More cameras.

"I, Sebastian Blackwood, will love Mia Hartley until the day I die."

He said it in front of rooms full of people. Over and over. Like saying it louder would make the rest of them shut up.

Then Lily came back. The real Hartley daughter. Lost at birth, found at twenty-two.

And somewhere between then and now, I'd stopped being the love of his life and started being the running joke.

Sebastian brushed my hair back from my face. Pulled me out of the memory.

I stepped back. Looked at him. Really looked.

"I can't do what you do, Sebastian. I can't be this fake."

"The eighteen-year-old you? He'd be disgusted by what you've become."