Chapter 1

My fiancé, Jadon, proposed on the Fourth of July. It was the perfect moment I had dreamed of since we were kids. That night, he called me on FaceTime.

But the man on the screen wasn't him. It was a version of him from five years in the future, his face hollow with regret.

He laid out a horrifying timeline of betrayal. He was sleeping with my best friend and business partner, Kimberly.

She would use his venture capital to steal my architectural firm. She would sabotage my father' s life-saving kidney transplant, leaving him to die.

And she would maliciously cause a future pregnancy to end in tragedy, murdering our unborn child.

My entire world-my love, my friendship, my future-was a lie. The two people I trusted most were plotting my complete ruin.

This broken man from the future, desperate to atone, gave me a roadmap to escape. So I drove my car off a cliff and faked my own death, determined to rewrite the story they had written for me.

Chapter 1

Elinor Flowers POV

My fiancé, Jadon, called me on FaceTime on the night of our engagement, during a spectacular Fourth of July fireworks show. He was calling from five years in the future. He showed me a devastating series of betrayals. He was cheating on me with my best friend and business partner, Kimberly. She would steal my architectural firm using his venture capital funds. Kimberly would sabotage my father's life-saving kidney transplant. A future pregnancy would end in tragedy because of Kimberly's malicious actions. The call ended abruptly, leaving me in a silent, empty room, the joyous echo of fireworks outside mocking the sudden hollowness inside me.

The dazzling display of fireworks had just reached its crescendo, painting the sky with bursts of color. Jadon had dropped to one knee. He held a small velvet box. His eyes, usually so confident, held a soft vulnerability. He asked me to marry him. My heart soared. We had been together since childhood. I always imagined this moment. It felt right, inevitable. I said yes. He slid the ring onto my finger. It sparkled under the faint glow of the city lights. We kissed, the cheers of the crowd mingling with the explosions in the sky. It was perfect. A dream.

I walked home on air, the diamond heavy on my hand. I wanted to share this joy. I picked up my phone to call Jadon. His number was already on my screen, but it was an incoming FaceTime call. I smiled, thinking he wanted to see my reaction again. I answered, a giddy laugh catching in my throat.

"Hey, you just called at the perfect time," I said, my voice bright. "I was just thinking about you. The fireworks were amazing. The proposal... it was everything I dreamed of, Jadon. I love you so much."

The screen was dark for a moment. I could only see a blurry outline. There was a pause. I thought it was a bad connection.

"Jadon?" I asked.

A woman's voice, soft and familiar, whispered something in the background. My smile faltered slightly.

"Who's that, honey?" I asked, still trying to keep my voice light. "Is Kimberly still celebrating with you guys? Tell her I'll call her in a bit. I want to tell her all about it."

The screen flickered. The camera rotated. Jadon's face sharpened into view. He looked different. Older. His eyes were hollow, etched with a deep, consuming regret. His hair was streaked with gray at the temples. He didn't smile. He just stared at me with an intense, weary gaze. His face held a stillness that unnerved me.

It was Jadon-but not the Jadon who had just knelt in the park. This man was older by at least five years. The face was his, the shape of his jaw, the angle of his brows. But everything behind it had been hollowed out by time and something that looked a lot like grief.

Then, the camera moved again. It showed a bed. A rumpled sheet lay across it. Kimberly was there, sleeping peacefully beside him. Her red hair spread out on the pillow. Her arm was thrown across his chest. She looked comfortable, deeply asleep. The sight hit me like a physical blow. The air left my lungs. My mouth fell open. I couldn't breathe.

Jadon cleared his throat. His voice was raspy, broken. It sounded like he hadn't used it for a long time.

"Elinor," he said, his eyes fixed on mine through the screen. "You deserve to know. This started tonight. After I proposed to you. I came here. She was waiting."

He paused, gathering his strength. The truth hung heavy in the air between us.

"She kept waiting for me for years. It was wrong. All of it. I know." He continued, his voice barely a whisper. "I have no right to ask anything of you. But you need to decide. Do you still want to marry me, knowing this?"

The question hung in the air. A cold dread seeped into my bones. The screen froze. The call disconnected.

I stood there in my dark bedroom, the phone still pressed to my ear. The silence screamed around me. The diamond on my finger felt like ice. I twisted the ring, trying to make sense of what I had just seen. It was a nightmare. It had to be. Jadon loved me. Kimberly was my best friend. They wouldn't do this. Not to me.

I tried to call Jadon back. His phone went straight to voicemail. I tried Kimberly. Her phone was off. My heart pounded in my chest. A sickening feeling twisted in my stomach. I had to know. I had to see for myself.

I grabbed my keys and ran out the door. The streets were still alive with the last trickles of Fourth of July revelers. Their laughter felt distant, foreign. I drove to Kimberly's apartment. The lights were on. A faint glow spilled from the living room window. My hands gripped the steering wheel. I parked and got out.

Two pairs of shoes sat neatly by her front door. One was a pair of women's slippers. The other was a pair of men's leather shoes. My blood ran cold. I recognized them. They were Jadon's. His favorite pair. He always kept them so polished.

I stood in the hallway, frozen. My breath hitched. I couldn't knock. I couldn't make a sound. My phone vibrated in my hand. It was a message from Jadon. Not my Jadon. The future Jadon.

"Don't knock," the message read. "Go home. Look at your ring. The inside."

My fingers trembled. I fumbled for the ring on my left hand. I twisted it off, holding it up to the dim hallway light. I squeezed my eyes shut, then forced them open. My gaze fell on the tiny engraving inside the band.

It wasn't "E&J" for Elinor and Jadon. It clearly read "K&J." Kimberly and Jadon.

My legs gave out. I sank to the floor, my back against the cold wall. The ring, a symbol of my shattered dreams, cut into my palm. Tears streamed down my face. My breath came in ragged gasps.

"Why?" I typed furiously, sending the message to future Jadon. "Why is this on my ring?"

The reply came slowly. "Kimberly changed it. She wanted you to see it. She wanted you to know. She found the original design with your initials. She told the jeweler it was a mistake. An oversight."

My mind raced. I remembered the proposal. Kimberly had been there, laughing, cheering. She had hugged me tightly. A sharp, almost frantic squeeze. I remembered her eyes. Too bright. Too knowing. I thought she was just happy for me. I thought she was my sister.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. My face was buried in my knees. The sound was raw, choked with pain.

I don't know how long I stayed there. The hallway was empty. The lights in Kimberly's apartment eventually went out. I stood up, my body stiff and aching. I walked home in a daze. The city was quiet now.

Jadon was asleep in our bed. The covers were pulled up to his chin. He looked peaceful, innocent. I stood over him for a long time. My memory replayed every moment of our twenty years together. Our first meeting at six years old. Our first date. Our first kiss. All of it. Now, it felt like a lie. A cruel joke.

I placed the ring on my bedside table. The ugly "K&J" engraving gleamed under the moonlight. I spent the rest of the night on the living room sofa, staring at the darkened window. Sleep was impossible.

The next morning, I heard the bed creak. Jadon walked into the living room. He saw the ring on the table. He picked it up. His brow furrowed in confusion. He walked over to me.

"Hey, why did you take off your ring?" he asked, his voice soft. He took my hand, sliding the ring back onto my finger. He kissed my forehead gently. "Don't you like it?"

Tears welled in my eyes. He mistook them for tears of joy. He pulled me into a hug.

"I love you, Elinor," he whispered into my hair. "Always have. Always will."

I said nothing. My throat was tight. The words wouldn't come.

That night, after Jadon was asleep, I messaged future Jadon again.

"When did it start?" I asked. "The first time? After the proposal?"

His reply came swiftly. "No. It started years ago. During our senior year of college. You were away studying abroad. She was here. We were lonely. It was just a comfort. Or so I told myself."

Senior year. The year Kimberly stopped calling me as often. The year she said she was just "busy with finals" and apologized for missing our weekly video chats. I had believed her. I had sent her care packages from abroad-her favorite snacks, a scarf I'd knitted myself-worried she was overworking herself. I had called my mother and told her how proud I was of my best friend, how dedicated she was.

Now, the picture reframed itself like a photograph developing in reverse. Every missed call, every unanswered message from that year, every time I'd confided in Kimberly about how much I missed Jadon-and she had listened, offered comfort, told me everything would be okay. She had already been sleeping with him. Every "it's going to be fine, Elinor" had been delivered by a woman who was actively betraying me. The kindness I had been so grateful for was guilt wrapped in a smile.

My stomach churned. A wave of nausea washed over me. The bitterness felt like bile in my throat.