Chapter 2

I looked almost exactly like Claire, the woman Ethan had never gotten over.

Everyone knew that ten years ago, Claire had dumped the Hayes family’s golden boy and made him the laughingstock of the city.

I’d seized my chance and spent the next ten years in her place.

People called me shameless. They called me a parasite who wouldn’t let go.

But was loving someone a crime?

All I’d ever dreamed of was being with Ethan.

And once, I almost got my wish.

Until Claire destroyed everything without even trying.

She burst into our wedding carrying a bloody knife. Her delicate face was deathly pale, and she trembled like a fragile flower about to fall.

“Ethan, I… I killed someone…”

She sobbed as she spoke.

An eerie silence fell. Every pair of eyes turned toward me.

Ethan tugged casually at his collar. His long fingers tapped a steady rhythm against the sofa as he spoke without warmth.

“You had no trouble dumping me back then. Why come running to me now that you’re in trouble?”

“Sorry. I can’t help you.”

People around us began to smirk, enjoying her humiliation. Only my heart sank.

After so many years with him, how could I not know? That tapping was something he only did when he was rattled.

“But you’re all I have!”

Claire’s voice rose. Then she bit her lip, looking wounded, her eyes full of hope as she stared at Ethan.

For a moment, everything felt unreal. Somehow, at my own wedding, I was the one who didn’t belong.

Someone in the crowd shouted, “Have you no shame? This is their wedding!”

Ethan’s face darkened. With one wave of his hand, the person was dragged outside, screaming.

The room fell silent at once.

Of course. He always protected his own.

I had just never been one of them.

I lowered my eyes to hide the sting of tears and tugged lightly at his sleeve.

“Ethan, ignore her. Can we please finish the wedding?”

By the end, I was almost begging.

I’d seen him lose his mind over Claire too many times. I couldn’t take that chance.

Ethan shook my hand off so hard that I stumbled and fell.

He looked down at me with a mocking half smile.

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

I stared at him, too stunned to understand.

Then a piercing siren shattered the silence. The instant the police burst through the doors, he shoved the bloody knife into my hand. Someone forced me roughly to the floor.

I knew he didn’t love me. I knew I was the only one who felt anything.

But I’d spent ten whole years trying to warm his heart. After ten years, I’d let myself hope for something.

In that moment, the hope shattered.

The stun baton came down, and my vision went black.

Before I lost consciousness, I saw Claire bury her face in Ethan’s chest.

And I caught the flash of triumph in her eyes.

In the end, he testified as Claire’s eyewitness. With ruthless efficiency, he personally saw to it that I was sent to Blackstone Penitentiary.

A prison notorious for its brutality.