Chapter 1

The elevator cable snapped. The sudden weightlessness slammed me hard against the metal wall.

Suffocating from my failing heart, I gasped for air. Instinctively, I dialed my boyfriend, Ethan’s, number.

Busy. Then, he hung up.

A second later, a photo popped up on my Snapchat: "Chloe sprained her ankle. I’m at the ER getting her checked out."

In the five years we lived together, my weak heart sent me to the ER fifty-six times.

Every single time I called him in a panic, his response was always the same:

"Chloe needs me right now. I'll help her out first, then come find you."

But he never showed up. Not once.

I went to the ER fifty-six times alone. And fifty-six times, he was by Chloe’s side.

Even on the day I got my terminal cardiac arrest warning, I was hit by a delivery truck at an intersection.

When I called him, Chloe was the one who picked up.

"Nora, I'm so sorry, my arm is acting up again," she had cooed.

"Ethan is busy cutting up my steak right now. His hands are full, so he can’t take your call."

Now, sparks flew as the elevator plummeted from the thirtieth floor toward the basement.

"Ding." A message from Ethan popped up on my phone:

"Chloe is fine now."

"Are you still working late at the office? I’ll come pick you up."

I clutched my agonizing chest, my tears finally spilling over.

Five years. He was finally offering to pick me up.

But with a deafening crash, the elevator slammed through the concrete basement floor.

He had no idea. This free-falling elevator...

...had buried my tomorrow forever. He would never pick me up again.

And I didn't need him to anymore.