Chapter 2

Five years melted away. The rehearsal dinner. The Fairmont Copley Plaza, its ballroom glittering with chandeliers and overflowing with flowers. Two hundred guests, the elite of Boston society, her family, his family. Sarah wore a simple white dress, her heart full. Tomorrow, she would marry Ethan Hayes, her college sweetheart, the man she loved.

She remembered standing beside Ethan, his hand warm in hers, as his father gave a toast. Then Ethan stepped forward, his smile a little too tight.

"I have something to say," he began, his voice echoing slightly in the suddenly quiet room.

He pulled a sheaf of papers from his jacket pocket. Printed papers.

"I thought Sarah and I were building a future. But it seems she' s been... preoccupied. With someone else."

A confused murmur rippled through the guests. Sarah stared at him, her mind blank. What was he talking about?

"Ethan, what is this?"

He ignored her, his eyes scanning the crowd, then fixing on her with a cold fury she' d never seen.

"I have here... messages. Direct messages. Between Sarah and her... other love. Her 'white moonlight,' as she calls him."

He started to read. Phrases twisted, taken out of context. Words she had written, yes, but not to a lover. Words filled with grief, with memory, for Mark. Her brother. Dead three years before she and Ethan were even engaged. He read about a shared online game, a silly thing she and Mark used to play. Chloe Vance, Ethan' s ambitious MBA classmate, now his colleague, stood near the Hayes family table, her expression one of carefully crafted concern. Sarah later learned Chloe had "found" these DMs, "reluctantly" showing them to Ethan.

"Ethan, stop!" Sarah cried, her voice hoarse. "That' s not... It' s not what you think!"

But he didn't stop. He read on, his voice laced with bitterness. He painted a picture of her as a deceitful, manipulative woman, using him, loving another.

When he finished, he threw the papers onto the polished floor.

"The wedding is off," he announced, his voice like ice. "I can't marry a woman who is still in love with someone else."

The room erupted. Shock, whispers, accusing stares. Sarah felt them all, like physical blows. Her mother rushed to her side, her face pale. Mrs. Hayes, Ethan' s mother, watched with a disturbingly composed expression.

Sarah stood there, shattered, the beautiful ballroom suddenly a stage for her public execution. Her world, her future, her love, all destroyed by a lie. She tried to reach Ethan, to explain, but he turned his back, walking away, leaving her alone in the ruins.