Chapter 1

The clink of champagne glasses was a happy sound, Ava thought, or it should have been.

She stood by the large window, looking out at the city lights, her fiancé Liam Peterson' s arm around her waist.

This was their engagement party, held at a trendy downtown club their parents had helped secure.

Everyone who mattered in their small city was here.

Ava wore a white dress, simple but elegant, a dress she and her best friend, Chloe Davis, had picked out together.

Chloe was supposed to be right beside her, sharing this joy.

But Chloe was currently glued to Liam' s other side, laughing a little too loudly at something his father said.

Ava tried to shake off the unease that pricked at her.

Liam squeezed her waist, then let go.

He walked to the small stage where a band had just finished a set.

"Friends, family," Liam began, his voice amplified by the microphone, "thank you all for coming."

A warm applause filled the room. Ava smiled, her heart swelling. This was it.

"I have an announcement to make," Liam continued, his smile not quite reaching his eyes.

Ava' s own smile faltered. Something was wrong.

"Tonight was meant to celebrate Ava and me."

He paused, and the room waited.

"But I' ve realized something. My heart has had a sudden, undeniable change."

Ava felt her blood run cold.

He wouldn' t. Not here. Not now.

Liam' s eyes scanned the crowd, then briefly met hers, cold and distant.

"I can' t marry Ava," he declared, his voice firm.

A collective gasp went through the room. Ava felt hundreds of eyes turn to her.

Her face burned. She couldn' t breathe.

"The truth is," Liam went on, his voice taking on a regretful tone that sounded utterly false to Ava' s ears, "I' ve fallen in love with someone else. Someone who truly understands me, someone I can' t live without."

He turned, and his gaze found Chloe.

Chloe, who looked down, a picture of demure surprise, but not before Ava saw a flicker of triumph in her eyes.

"Chloe Davis," Liam said, extending a hand to her. "She' s the one."

Chloe walked to him, taking his hand, and stood beside him on the stage.

They looked like a couple.

Ava stood frozen, the white dress suddenly feeling like a costume for a fool.

Murmurs erupted. Shock, then titillation, then judgment.

"He' s with Chloe?"

"Ava' s best friend?"

"She must have known. How could she not?"

"Poor Ava, but honestly, Chloe and Liam always had chemistry."

The words, whispered but audible, struck Ava like physical blows.

Liam then had the audacity to look at Ava with feigned pity.

"Ava, I' m sorry you had to find out this way. But it' s better to be honest now than to make a mistake we' d both regret."

Chloe added, her voice soft but carrying, "We didn' t mean for this to happen, Ava. It just... did."

Ava felt a wave of nausea. Her best friend. Her fiancé.

She wanted to scream, to run, to disappear.

But she was trapped, the center of a humiliating spectacle.

Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them back fiercely. She wouldn' t give them the satisfaction.

She turned, her movements stiff, and walked towards the exit, each step an agony.

The laughter she thought she heard behind her might have been her imagination, but the shame was real, clinging to her like a shroud.

She pushed open the doors and fled into the night, leaving behind her shattered dreams and the snickering gossip that would follow her for days, weeks, months.

The city lights that had seemed so beautiful moments ago now blurred into mocking streaks.

Her life, as she knew it, was over.