Chapter 2

The first clip showed the entrance to a restaurant.

Julian was down on one knee.

Vivian covered her mouth, the pink diamond on her hand so big it caught the light.

My mother applauded beside them.

My father held up a glass of champagne.

Chloe cheered.

The date appeared in the lower right corner.

February 14, three years ago.

That night, I'd sat in another restaurant until closing because Julian had texted to say something urgent had come up at work.

He'd told me more than once, "Proposals are just a formality."

I'd believed him.

In the end, I'd saved three months of paychecks to buy the watch he'd been eyeing.

Then I'd asked him, "Julian, should we get married?"

The second clip showed a private hospital suite.

Julian supported Vivian's elbow with one hand and hovered the other just behind her back as they walked slowly down the hall.

My parents trailed behind them.

The date was last September.

While they'd been there, I'd been in the ER with acute appendicitis, signing my surgical consent forms alone.

I'd called Julian.

He'd said he was entertaining a client.

My mother had said, "It's a minor procedure. Do you really need someone to hold your hand?"

Every time they'd brushed me off, they'd been somewhere else.

With Vivian.

I stepped back into the rear hallway and called Julian.

He let it ring for a long time before picking up.

"What is it?"

His voice was low.

"I moved the wedding to the eighteenth," I said. "Are you free that day?"

Vivian's voice came through the phone.

"You promised you'd take the baby and me to the beach."

"Amelia, there's no rush to get married," Julian said immediately.

I peeked around the pillar.

He stood beside the stage, one hand resting on Vivian's shoulder.

"What if I insist on getting married on the eighteenth?"

Silence.

Then his voice softened.

"I know planning the wedding hasn't been easy on you."

"But you don't have to be so hung up on the details. A wedding is just a ceremony. It doesn't matter when we have it."

"I'm busy today. I'll come home and spend time with you later."

He hung up.

A new clip appeared on the screen.

Julian and Vivian's wedding.

At Hale Manor.

With the most famous band money could buy.

I'd spent six months planning my wedding.

The entire budget wasn't even a tenth of what this one cost.

On the screen, Julian's mother, Eleanor, took out an emerald necklace and fastened it around Vivian's neck in front of everyone.

"Vivian, the Hale family owes you so much. You're the one we accept as Julian's wife, not Amelia."

Another wave of applause swept through the hall.

I gripped the doorframe so hard my nails nearly dug into the grain of the wood.

When Vivian couldn't find a job after graduation, I'd called in favors with my professor and my friends to get her application into that investment bank.

I'd helped her prep for the interview too.

Everyone praised her beauty, her talent, her competence.

I was the ungrateful one, the petty one, the selfish one.

I didn't need to see any more.

I turned around and drove back to my apartment.

Julian's things were everywhere.

His shirts filled half the closet, his shoes sat by the door, and the Lego set we'd spent two months building sat on the coffee table.

I left all of it where it was.

I opened my laptop and emailed a real estate agency.

I wanted to sell the apartment.

Half an hour later, an agent called.

"Are you sure you have the right property, Ms. Ashford?" he asked. "This apartment is held by a trust for a separate family trust of the Ashford family. The sole beneficiary is Vivian Ashford."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"My parents bought one apartment for me and one for my sister."

Keys clicked on his end.

Then he sounded impatient.

"Both apartments are in Vivian Ashford's name. Please don't waste my time."

He hung up.

I opened the closet.

An entire row on the left held Vivian's old dresses, the ones she'd handed down to me.

On the right were the only two dresses I'd bought new.

There was only one lipstick on the vanity. I'd worn it down to the nub.

In a drawer, I found a photo album I'd never seen before.

I opened it.

Every picture was of Julian and Vivian.

The love I'd imagined had never been mine to begin with.

I packed the last of my things and rolled my suitcase toward the door.

My phone buzzed.

"I'm on the plane."

"I've had my assistant take you to our house. The deed is in your name."

I opened the door.

A black Maybach was waiting downstairs.

At nine that evening, after the christening reception ended, Julian tried to call me.

I didn't pick up.

"Where did Amelia go?" he asked.

Chloe glanced at her phone and suddenly cried out.

"Amelia just posted a wedding invitation on Instagram."