Chapter 1

For three years, I moved ten times with my boyfriend, Ethan Rivers.

All because of the ex-girlfriend he could never seem to shake, Sienna Blake.

Every time we moved into a new apartment, she found us almost immediately.

Twice, she even walked straight into our home without permission.

The first time, she snuck in and cut my wedding dress to pieces, forcing us to postpone the wedding.

The second time, I woke up in the middle of the night and found her standing beside my bed.

I was so terrified that I miscarried.

More than once, I'd asked Ethan to get a restraining order.

Every time, he refused.

"She's not dangerous," he'd say. "She just needs help."

So we moved.

Again. And again.

And today, Sienna Blake entered our apartment for the third time.

Ethan finally lost his patience and called the police.

The two of them argued all the way to the station. I followed behind, staring at a Reddit post that had just popped up on my phone.

I recognized the poster immediately.

It was Sienna.

[My first love has moved ten times trying to avoid me, but my fingerprint has always stayed registered on the smart locks at every apartment. Every time he moves, he also has our mutual friends leak his new address to me.]

[He obviously still loves me, but he got engaged to his current girlfriend anyway.]

[Do you guys think I still have a chance if I'm brave enough to go after him now?]

Almost everyone in the comments told her not to wreck someone else's relationship.

Only one person encouraged her to fight for true love.

The profile picture looked familiar, and my stomach churned.

It was Ethan's alt account—

the one he'd created when he was looking up the marriage license process for us.

I looked up at the two figures walking ahead of me,

so close their shoulders almost touched.

My entire body started shaking.

I left a reply of my own:

"Of course."

Three years.

Ten moves.

It turned out Ethan hadn't been unable to escape her.

He'd never wanted to.

So I was done being the fool in someone else's love story.

Ethan, I'm leaving you.

For good.

...

Inside an interview room at the police station, Sienna's voice was barely audible.

"I didn't mean to..."

"I got off work late, and someone kept following me. I was terrified. That's why I went to your apartment."

There was a police station right downstairs from our building, yet somehow she'd decided our apartment was the safest place to run.

It was obviously just an excuse.

The officer handling the incident looked over his notes, then raised his eyes to Ethan.

"Let me make sure I understand this. Her fingerprint still works on your smart lock?"

Ethan went silent for a second.

"Yes."

The officer frowned.

"And you never revoked her access?"

Ethan didn't answer.

A chill spread through my chest.

The officer looked between the three of us, his impatience becoming obvious.

"If she still had authorized access to the unit, I can't treat this like a straightforward break-in."

He set down his pen.

"If you don't want her coming back, revoke her access. Tell your building management in writing that she's no longer authorized to enter the unit."

He paused and looked at Ethan again.

"And make it clear to her now that she is not welcome back."

Silence filled the room.

Finally, Ethan turned to Sienna, his expression dark.

"If someone's following you, go to the police."

"Don't come to me again. I don't want anything to do with you anymore."

His words were cold, but his eyes lingered on her.

He looked away quickly, but my heart had already sunk.

I'd been with Ethan for three years.

I knew him.

He'd been checking whether Sienna was hurt.

He was worried about her.

The officer seemed to notice it, too. His expression grew even more impatient.

"This is a police station, not couples' therapy."

He tipped his chin toward Ethan.

"If you want her out of your life, then act like it. Revoke her access and stop giving her a way back in."

Ethan frowned.

But he didn't argue.

He didn't agree to do it, either.

Suddenly, I almost wanted to laugh.

A complete stranger had figured out in five minutes what had taken me three years to understand.

The person Ethan truly loved had never been me.

It was Sienna.

The officer turned to me.

"If you want this incident documented, I can add your statement to the report."

"If she enters your apartment again, especially after her access has been explicitly revoked, call us."

I nodded.

"Yes. I want it documented."

Ethan finally turned to me.

He frowned immediately.

"Grace."

I ignored him.

"I want it on record that she came into our home without my permission."

Sienna's face went pale.

"Grace, I told you, I was being followed. I didn't know where else to go."

I looked at her.

I said nothing.

Forgive her.

Make peace.

Pretend none of it had ever happened.

I'd played that part in their little routine too many times.

I was tired.

Genuinely, bone-deep tired.

Ethan's voice dropped.

"Nothing even happened tonight. Why are you trying to turn this into something bigger than it is?"

I laughed softly.

Nothing happened?

He called having our wedding postponed over and over again "nothing."

He called the miscarriage I'd suffered after she terrified me in my own home "nothing."

And now Sienna had shown up inside our home for the third time, and he still thought—

Nothing happened.

"She's your first love, not mine."

"Why she was followed, why she was scared, and why she just had to run to our apartment have nothing to do with me."

I looked at the officer.

"Please put it in the report."

"Cut it out, Grace."

Ethan's expression turned completely cold.

"We'll talk about this at home. Don't make a scene in front of strangers."

I turned to him, my voice calm.

"I'm not the one embarrassing myself in front of everyone."

His frown deepened.

"She already explained herself. Someone was following her, and she panicked, so she came to us. Why do you have to keep dragging this out?"

There it was again.

Every single time, Ethan found an excuse for Sienna.

On my birthday, Sienna broke into our home and smashed my cake. My mother's blood pressure shot up so badly that she had to be rushed to the ER that night.

Ethan told me that as long as Mom pulled through, everything was fine and I shouldn't dwell on it.

The night before our City Hall appointment, Sienna called Ethan sobbing and claimed she'd swallowed a bottle of pills.

Ethan rushed out in the middle of the night and took her to the ER.

The next morning, he told me, "Sienna's not doing well. We can't go today."

He said we could always reschedule our marriage license appointment.

We could go another time.

And now the excuse was that she'd been followed and had nowhere else to go.

When I still insisted on having the incident officially documented, Ethan grabbed my wrist and lowered his voice.

"Well, I know you're upset about the honeymoon being ruined. Once I finish this project, I'll make time to take you on another one, okay?"

"Enough, Grace."

That was what he always did.

He'd choose Sienna over me without hesitation, then buy me something afterward and act like that made everything okay.

I used to think everything would be fine if Sienna simply stopped finding us.

She was the problem.

Not us.

Sienna was obsessive.

But now I finally understood.

If Ethan truly hadn't wanted her to find us, all he'd had to do was delete one fingerprint.

All he'd had to do was tell building management she wasn't authorized to enter our apartment.

All he'd had to do was genuinely tell her one word.

No.

But in three whole years, he'd never managed to do it once.

I looked at Ethan standing there, instinctively positioning himself between Sienna and me.

I couldn't lie to myself anymore.

Slowly, I pulled my hand free from his grip.

"Ethan, let's break up."