Chapter 2

Ryan frowned and studied me in silence, as if he had finally realized something in my voice was different.

He was about to speak when I heard the keypad at the front door.

“Amelia, I brought your favorite matcha cake.”

Vivian walked in barefoot like she owned the place.

She winked at me, then nudged Ryan lightly with her foot.

“Give me your slippers.”

Ryan sighed, crouched down, slipped off his own house shoes for her, and neatly set her shoes aside.

“There are guest slippers in the closet. Why do you always insist on wearing mine?”

He sounded annoyed, but his movements were so practiced it was obvious he had done this countless times.

I watched without saying a word.

Ryan was mildly obsessive about cleanliness.

Even I had never been allowed to wear his shoes.

Vivian, however, had always been the exception.

I had complained about it once.

He told me they had grown up together and that habits like these meant nothing.

But that wasn’t true.

When Ryan and I first started dating, Vivian had been happier for me than anyone.

She even warned Ryan to keep proper boundaries with every woman who could possibly cause misunderstandings—including her.

When the three of us ate together, if Ryan casually passed her a dessert, she would laugh and push it away.

Then the Sinclair family’s investment firm collapsed.

Vivian lost the privileged life she had always known, and Ryan arranged a job for her as an events manager at the Prescott Foundation.

Somewhere along the way, the boundaries between them blurred.

So much that sometimes they looked more like the couple than Ryan and I did.

“Amelia.”

Vivian’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.

She had slipped my engagement ring onto her finger and was holding it up to the light.

“You don’t mind me wearing this, do you?”

I looked at her and caught the smug little glint she failed to hide.

I smiled.

“It’s just a ring. Why would I mind?”

“We’re best friends, right? If you want my fiancé too, take him.”

The smile vanished from Vivian’s face.

A second later, her eyes turned red.

Ryan immediately stepped in front of her, his expression hardening.

“Amelia, that was out of line. Apologize.”

I had said nothing but the truth, and somehow I was the one who owed an apology.

They had made games out of my boundaries over and over again, yet not once had either of them said they were sorry.

I ignored him, walked straight into the bedroom, pulled out a suitcase, and started packing.

Ryan followed, his frown deepening.

“What is this supposed to mean?”

I didn’t turn around.

“It means you can have the Iceland wedding.”

“We’re done.”

His breathing stopped for a beat.

Before he could say anything, Vivian hurried into the room.

“Amelia, you can’t threaten to break up with Ryan every time you’re upset. That’s not how adults handle things.”

“I’ll give the ring back, okay?”

“No need.”

She started to take it off, but Ryan caught her hand.

The brief flash of panic in his eyes disappeared almost immediately, replaced by that same confidence I knew too well.

“We’ve been together for ten years.”

“You’re really going to throw away ten years over a joke?”

“Don’t do this, Amelia.”

“And what about your mother? She’s been looking forward to this wedding for so long. What are you planning to tell her?”

His words landed exactly where he knew I was weakest.

My mother had raised me alone.

Her health had never been good. Her greatest wish wasn’t to see me marry into money. She only wanted to know I had found someone who would truly cherish me.

Ryan knew that.

Once, standing beside her hospital bed, he had promised her solemnly:

“Mrs. Hayes, I’ll give Amelia the wedding she actually wants.”

“And I’ll spend the rest of my life taking care of her.”

That moment still felt like yesterday.

But the man who made those promises had already broken every one of them.

When I stayed silent, Ryan seemed to think he had won.

He stepped closer and stroked my hair like I was a child throwing a tantrum.

“You know the venue now. There’s still time to change your flight.”

“We’ve got the joint bachelor-bachelorette party tonight. You hate crowds anyway, so Vivian and I are heading over.”

“Stay here and cool off.”

With that, he left the apartment with her.

The door slammed shut.

The cake Vivian had brought tipped off the entryway console, smashing onto the floor in a mess of cream and crumbs.

It looked exactly like the relationship the three of us had destroyed beyond repair.

I closed my eyes for a moment, took hold of my suitcase, and left the apartment I had called home for six years.