Chapter 1

Our dream home, months in the making, was finally ready.

Owen, completely ignoring my glare, insisted on letting his drunken childhood best friend stay the night.

His excuse? She had nowhere else to go. He couldn't just leave her on the street.

The moment his best friend, Harper, sprawled across *our* wedding bed, I told him the wedding was off.

"Clara, can you stop overreacting for once?"

"Are you really going to cancel the wedding?"

I looked at him. "Yes, I am. Cancel it."

"There's no point in us lying to ourselves anymore. This is over."

I stood at the bedroom doorway, my fingers digging into the doorframe, knuckles white.

Owen's childhood best friend was lying on the wedding bed I had carefully chosen.

She was wearing a dark blue silk pajama set, the one I'd bought for our honeymoon. Our initials were even embroidered on the cuffs.

And now, it hung loosely on another woman's body.

Owen stood beside the bed, his hair a mess, his pajama collar askew, like he'd just been... tangled with.

"What's with that face? Harper drank too much last night, she had nowhere to go. I couldn't just leave her on the street, could I?"

I didn't speak, my gaze shifting from his face to the bed.

Harper looked like she’d just woken up, rubbing her forehead as she sat up. Her voice dripped with fake apology: "Clara, I'm so sorry, I totally blacked out last night… Did I do anything out of line?"

Her mouth mumbled apologies, but her eyes flicked past me to Owen, a smirk playing on her lips, a clear hint of triumph.

I stared at her, my voice chillingly cold. "Out of line? Like lying on my wedding bed, wearing my bridal pajamas?"

Owen's face darkened, and he cut me off. "She just borrowed them! Do you have to be so dramatic?"

His voice rose, laced with sharp anger. "We've been planning this wedding for half a year, and you're going to cancel it over something so small?"

I didn't rush to argue. Instead, I pulled out my phone from my pocket, swiped a few times on the screen, and handed it to him.

"These are your SnapChat messages from the past three months." My voice was ice-cold, a quiet menace beneath the surface. "You went out seventeen times in total. Every single time, the excuse was 'helping Harper with her relationship problems.'"

Owen's face twitched, but he quickly jutted out his chin. "So what? She got dumped. As her best friend, am I not allowed to comfort her?"

"And you had to stay out all night, every single time?"

I stared him down. "Last Friday, I left work early. I saw her in your car, and your hand was on her *thigh*."

A flicker of panic crossed Owen's eyes. "That was an accident! I just bumped her!"

"An accident?" A humorless laugh escaped me. "Then why did you immediately drive away, looking so nervous in your rearview mirror?"

Owen's breath hitched, and his fingers unconsciously tightened on the hem of his pajamas.

Harper conveniently cut in, her voice dripping with feigned distress. "Clara, you've really misunderstood. Owen and I have been friends for over twenty years, how could we ever…"

"Twenty years?" I cut her off, my gaze sharp. "But the way you look at him, it's never been like a friend."

Harper chose that moment to throw off the covers and get out of bed. The hem of the dark blue silk pajamas brushed the sheets, leaving a fresh wrinkle.

She stood barefoot on the floor, her back deliberately straightened, a hidden boast in her posture.

"Clara, please don't be mad. I'll leave right away. I won't bother you two anymore."

"Stop." I stepped aside, blocking the doorway, my face icy. "Take off the pajamas."

Owen shrieked. "Clara! Are you crazy? What do you expect her to wear if she takes them off?!"

"That's her problem." I stared directly into Harper's eyes. "My things, once tainted, are fit for the trash. They're definitely not for someone else's body."

Harper's face instantly flushed a mottled red.

Her clenched fingers went white, and she gasped for air, but she didn't dare meet my gaze.

Owen suddenly lunged, grabbing my shoulders, his nails digging into my skin. "What do you want? Are you really going to burn everything down over a pair of pajamas?"