Chapter 1

The air in the Austin Marriott was thick with the scent of cheap perfume and stale nostalgia. Six years. It had been six years since I fled this town, and the high school reunion felt like a sentence I had to serve.

My ex, Stella Gordon, stood on a makeshift stage, a microphone in her hand, her arm wrapped possessively around Caleb Blakely. She was a master of the spotlight, always had been.

"I have a very special announcement," she declared, her voice echoing through the ballroom. Her eyes found mine across the crowd, a familiar, triumphant glint in them. "Caleb and I are getting engaged!"

The room erupted in applause. People turned to look at me, their faces a mixture of pity and morbid curiosity. They were waiting for the explosion, for the scene I was supposed to make. They remembered me as the guy who orbited Stella, the one she could break and put back together at will.

I just smiled. Taking out my phone, I opened Zelle, typed in Caleb' s name, and sent him $2,000. The notification dinged on his phone a moment later.

"Congratulations," I said, my voice calm and clear enough for those nearby to hear. "A wedding gift."

The reaction was immediate. Whispers replaced applause. Stella' s perfect smile faltered. This wasn' t in her script.

She descended from the stage, her designer dress swishing, and pulled me into an alcove near the restrooms. Her grip was tight.

"What was that, Ethan?" she hissed.

"A gift. People give gifts for engagements."

"Stop it," she snapped, her eyes darting around. "Look, this whole engagement thing... it' s not real. It' s just for show. Caleb' s family is super conservative, and this will get them off his back. After it' s all over, you and I can finally be together. The way it' s supposed to be."

I stared at her, a cold emptiness where six years of pain used to be.

"Stella," I said, my voice flat. "We broke up. Six years ago. I want nothing to do with you or your fake engagement."

I turned to walk away, but she wouldn' t let go.

"It wasn' t a breakup, Ethan! It was a fight! A cold war! You know we belong together."

I just shook my head and pulled my arm free. This was pointless. I started walking toward the exit, needing fresh air, needing to get away from the ghost of the boy I used to be.

Then I heard footsteps behind me. It was Stella, with Caleb trailing her like a shadow.

"Hey, Hughes," Caleb sneered, stepping in front of me. "Still thinking about that night six years ago?"

Stella immediately jumped to his defense. "Caleb, don' t. He' s just sensitive about it."

Sensitive. That' s what she called it.

The memory hit me, sharp and unwelcome. The two of us in my beat-up Ford, driving toward Las Vegas to elope. The sudden, frantic call from Caleb. He was having a panic attack before a tiny gig at some dive bar.

She made me pull over on a remote desert highway. She told me she' d be right back, that Caleb just needed her. She took the car and left me there.

I spent the night hitchhiking back to Austin, the desert cold seeping into my bones. I was the one who had to call the Vegas chapel and awkwardly cancel. I ended up with a nasty case of pneumonia.

While I was shivering in bed, Stella was all over Instagram, posting photos with the caption: "Always here to support my bestie Caleb through thick and thin."

That was the final straw. I broke all contact, accepted a job offer in Seattle, and never looked back.

Now, standing in front of them, I felt nothing but a distant, clinical anger.

"The past is the past," I said, my voice level. "I' m doing great now."

Caleb smirked, a pathetic attempt at machismo. "Look, man, I feel bad. I told Stella we should just cancel the whole thing. It' s not fair to you."

Stella cut him off. "Caleb, your family would be devastated!" She looked at me, her expression a practiced mix of concern and superiority. "He' s right, though. This is hard on you."

Caleb then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. He opened it, revealing a diamond ring.

"Stella had this custom-made for you years ago," he said, a smug look on his face. "I just admired it, and she let me use it. But it' s yours. Take it."

I laughed. A real, genuine laugh. "You want me to take another man' s leftovers? No thanks."

I took the ring from the box, and with a flick of my wrist, tossed it into a nearby public trash can. It landed with a soft, unsatisfying clink.

Caleb and Stella stared, mouths agape.

I turned to leave for good this time.

"Ethan, wait!" Stella grabbed my hand, her fingers closing around my left one.

She froze. Her eyes widened as she felt the cool, solid metal against her skin.

She looked from the ring to my face, her own turning pale with disbelief.

"You' re married?"