Chapter 1

Prologue

I chased Julian for five whole years, gladly putting up with his coldness just because I thought he was the guy who jumped into the water and saved my life.

Until our anniversary, when I saw him kneeling in the underground garage, tenderly tending to another woman.

The gift I spent half a month hunting down sat alone on my passenger seat.

And the moment I saw her face, it hit me: the entire time, I was merely her stand-in.

That very night, I handed off everything at my company and booked a one-way ticket abroad.

When we crossed paths again, Julian begged for me back, his eyes bloodshot.

A handsome man stepped in front of me, cutting him off:

"Julian, let go of my wife, unless you want that wrist snapped in half."

Chloe's POV

I chased Julian for five full years.

I swallowed all his coldness and refused to walk away, solely convinced he was the hero who jumped into the water to drag me out of drowning years ago.

Until tonight, on our anniversary, when I caught him half-kneeling on the concrete floor of the parking garage.

Slumped in the backseat was a woman, dead drunk. It was Tara.

Tara had thrown up all over herself.

Julian pulled out a thick wad of napkins, tilting his head down as he wiped her face.

After cleaning her up, he pushed back her tangled hair and wiped each of his soiled fingers clean, one by one.

He twisted open a bottle of water, gently cradling the back of Tara's head to help her rinse her mouth.

When water trickled down the side of Tara’s lips, Julian caught it with his bare hand.

I sat in my car not far away, the engine still humming.

On my passenger seat sat the gift I had spent half a month tracking down, scouring three different warehouses just to pick it up.

Right now, the silk ribbon on the box was crushed beneath my white-knuckled grip.

A janitor holding a mop stepped forward to offer a hand, but Julian looked up, his glare freezing the man in his tracks and forcing him three steps back.

My younger brother, Lucas, rushed over and reached out to support Tara.

"Don't touch her."

Julian didn't even look up as he snapped the command.

In the five years I'd known him, I had never seen Julian bend down for anyone.

He wouldn't even let another living soul touch his pool cues.

Back then, I always thought it was just the proud arrogance of a genius, and my heart constantly ached for him.

Turns out, his spine wasn't too stiff to bend. He just refused to bend it for me.

Lucas stood by the car door, his voice hushed and urgent. "Let's get her upstairs first. What you're doing isn't right."

Julian didn't move. With one knee planted on the hard concrete, he crumpled the dirty napkins into a ball.

"I gave it to you straight," Julian murmured, his eyes locked on Tara, his tone dead flat. "The only reason I kept Chloe around is because her face looks just like Tara's."

Sitting in the shadows, my nails bit deep into the meat of my palms.

Lucas cursed under his breath. "Chloe is my sister! Who the hell actually has your heart?"

"I know."

Julian stood up, brushing the gray dust off his knee.

"Not a word of tonight goes to her."

Julian bent down, scooped Tara into his arms, supported her neck, and slid her into the passenger seat before buckling her in.

His car pulled out of the garage, sliding right past mine. Julian stared dead ahead, never glancing in my direction once.

The garage fell dead quiet.

I looked down at the gift on my passenger seat.

For tonight, I had deliberately worn a dress Julian had looked at twice before.

I used to think he was just emotionally detached by nature. It turned out I had just been making excuses for him all along.

All he ever wanted was a face.

Even more sickening, he immediately moved to shut Lucas up, fully intending to keep using me as a replica.

I slammed the shifter into reverse and backed out of the garage.

I was done playing along.

Stopped at a red light, I stared at my reflection in the rearview mirror.

Everyone on the outside said I was out of my damn mind, leaving my own company to run itself while I spun circles around a professional pool player day in and day out.

Just because Julian called me "Ms. Vance" when we met, I dedicated five whole years to him.

I swallowed all that disrespect because I believed I owed him my life.

The guy who dragged me onto the riverbank had left a metal-cased zippo lighter on the rocks before disappearing.

Later on, at a pool hall, I saw Julian holding the exact same lighter, with identical wear on the corners.

I thought Julian was my savior.

I pulled up beneath my apartment building. Lucas was leaning against the entrance door, smoking, with two butts already crushed beneath his sneakers.

"Owen asked me to give this to you."

Lucas handed over a paper bag, his eyes shifting away, keeping quiet about what went down in the garage.

I took the bag and turned to head upstairs.

"Chloe."

Lucas called after me, running a hand through his hair.

"The guy who jumped into the water to drag you out back then... it wasn't Julian."

I froze, my hand hovering mid-air over the door handle.

Lucas didn't have the guts to meet my gaze.

"It was Owen."

"He bought matching lighters with Julian."

"Chloe, you had the wrong guy the whole time."

The motion-sensor light clicked off, plunging the hallway into pitch darkness.

I stood on the concrete steps gripping the paper bag, completely still, without making a sound.

Owing Julian my life was the only reason I put up with his bullshit for five years.

Turns out, I didn't owe him a single damn thing.