Chapter 1

For ten years, I was Claire Bennett’s stand-in. At last, Ethan Hayes and I were getting married.

Then Claire burst into our wedding with a knife in her hand and tears streaming down her delicate face.

Just like that, she destroyed every dream I had.

Ethan held her carefully in his arms and looked at me with a sneer.

“Haven’t you always wanted to prove you’re different from her? Then go to prison for her.”

The instant the stun baton knocked me unconscious, all I could see was their interlocked fingers.

Later, I really did become different from her.

And he begged me to change back.

On the day I got out of prison, I turned on my phone and found nearly a thousand intimate photos.

Every single one was of Claire and Ethan.

I knew what this was. Claire was rubbing her victory in my face.

The sunlight made the scar on my cheek burn. I narrowed my eyes against the discomfort.

A shrill honk made me realize a car had pulled up beside me.

It was Ethan.

After three years apart, he looked much more mature.

I didn’t dare look for long. I lowered my head and hurried past.

A hand seized me.

“What’s this? Ignoring me on purpose?”

His voice held a dangerous edge. He sat in the shadow of the car window, his expression unreadable.

My body jerked. Goose bumps rose all over me, and I clutched the hem of my shirt in panic.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to… I just didn’t see you…”

My voice grew quieter with every word, but I couldn’t hide the fear.

He pulled me into the car. I let him move me however he wanted, keeping my head down and my eyes on my shoes. I didn’t dare move.

My reaction seemed to irritate him. He slammed the door and frowned.

“Look up.”

“What happened to all that nerve? It’s not like I’m going to eat you alive.”

No, he wouldn’t eat me alive. But he could send me somewhere that would, without lifting a finger.

I raised my head and met his stunned gaze.

The rearview mirror reflected the ruined half of my face, crisscrossed with hideous scars.

It took him a long time to find his voice. Then he asked darkly who had done it.

I gave a bitter smile. If I told him it was Claire, would he believe me?

Or would he fly into a rage and send me back?

I turned away from his unreadable stare and murmured,

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

The air around us seemed to turn colder.

After a long silence, he spoke.

“It won’t happen again.”

Again? Did we even have a future?

Neither of us spoke for the rest of the drive, though I could feel his intense gaze on me.

The car stopped at the Hayes family estate.

If I remembered correctly, today was the anniversary of his great-grandmother’s death.

No wonder he’d come to pick me up. She had adored me when she was alive, so the Hayes family always brought me along to the annual memorial in her honor.

I touched the scar on my cheek. After hesitating, I called out to Ethan as he strode ahead.

“Ethan, maybe I shouldn’t go…”

If she could see me now, looking like this would only hurt her.

He turned around. I dropped my head in fright, my heart pounding.

His voice was cold.

“She treated you so well, and after just a year you’re already tired of showing up for her?”

“I don’t want to hear that again. Don’t be disgusting.”

The blood drained from my face.

Disgusting. That was the word I’d heard most often in prison.

They’d watched me crawl on the floor and wolf down spoiled food, spitting at me over and over.

“Fucking disgusting.”

My distraction made him impatient. He picked up a pebble and flicked it at me.

My forehead began to swell.

He froze, as though he hadn’t expected it to hit me.

I watched his mouth open and close. In the end, all he said was, “Keep up.”

And so I entered that lavish, immaculate hall in my ragged clothes, with an ugly scar across my face.

I didn’t belong there.

Mocking, contemptuous looks came at me from every direction.

He’d done it on purpose.

He left me standing alone in the middle of the hall, helpless and panicking.

“Well, well. Feeling charitable today, Ethan? Where did you find this beggar? She’s filthy and hideous. Almost scared me to death.”

An elegantly dressed woman covered her mouth and laughed, her disgust plain to see.

Ethan paused but said nothing.

I merely forced a smile and rubbed my battered hands.

He raised an eyebrow at me in surprise.

Of course. The old me would have torn into her without a second thought.

Ethan had always been the only person I made exceptions for.

But the beatings in prison had taught me a brutal lesson.

There was no one standing behind me.