Chapter 2

After dinner began, I slipped out onto the second-floor balcony by myself.

Voices rose from the darkness below.

Adrian's.

“The wedding is over. How much longer are you planning to keep this up?”

Liam gave a lazy laugh.

“What's the rush? Alyssa's already emotional. If I switch back now, it'll only make things worse for her.”

Adrian was silent for a moment.

“What about Nora?”

“She's too controlling.”

There was a note of irritation in Liam's voice.

“She wants to know where I am, who I'm talking to, even what's on my phone. I'm tired of it.”

I stood perfectly still.

Once, he'd told me he loved that about me.

The year he was at his sickest, I'd stayed beside his hospital bed for three days straight.

When he finally woke up, he'd squeezed my hand and smiled.

“Nora, keep me on a short leash. That way I'll never leave.”

Funny how the things someone once loved about you became flaws the moment they stopped loving you.

Adrian's voice turned cold.

“So you're just going to keep lying to her?”

“When Alyssa settles down, I'll switch back.”

Liam paused.

“I'll make it up to Nora.”

“For now, just deal with her for me.”

I almost laughed.

Even now, he still believed that if he decided to come back, I would be waiting exactly where he'd left me.

I turned and went back inside.

The band had already started playing.

I had barely stepped into the crowd when someone shoved me hard from behind.

I lost my balance.

A hand clamped around my waist before I hit the floor.

Liam.

He had caught me on instinct.

I looked up and met his eyes.

For one unguarded second, the panic in them was impossible to hide.

“Nora!”

Alyssa's voice cut through the room.

Liam's hand went rigid around me.

Alyssa walked over with tears in her eyes.

“What exactly are you trying to do?”

“Staring at my husband wasn't enough, so now you have to throw yourself into his arms?”

The room gradually fell silent.

Liam was still holding my waist.

I didn't pull away.

Instead, I said softly,

“You still wear the same cologne.”

His entire body stiffened.

I'd picked that scent for him years ago.

Back then, he'd wrapped his arms around me and said he would wear nothing else.

Liam's face darkened.

“Nora, what the hell are you talking about?”

I gave him a faint smile.

“Nothing.”

“I just realized that even something familiar can belong to the wrong person.”

He stared at me.

Unease flashed through his eyes.

Then, as if desperate to cover it, he abruptly let go.

“You're married now. Act like it.”

With that, he shoved me away.

I stumbled backward into the champagne tower.

Glass crashed everywhere.

Champagne soaked through my dress as I fell into the broken glasses. Pain ripped through my palms.

Blood ran down my fingers.

Liam's face changed. He took one instinctive step toward me.

Then Alyssa cried out.

“Liam!”

He stopped.

A few seconds later, he turned and pulled her into his arms.

When he looked back at me, his expression had gone cold again.

“You brought this on yourself.”

My mother frowned at me.

Ethan lowered his voice.

“Nora, why do you have to take everything from Alyssa?”

I stared at the blood on my hands and said nothing.

No one had ever wanted my explanation anyway.

Mrs. Whitmore turned on Adrian.

“Take your wife out of here.”

“You can't even control your own wife, and now she's throwing herself at your brother in front of everyone.”

Every eye in the room was on me.

Adrian didn't argue.

He crossed the room, crouched in front of me, and draped his jacket over my champagne-soaked shoulders.