Chapter 4

"Oh, that must be Winston!" Karmen exclaimed. She jumped up and ran to the door.

A small French bulldog in a designer sweater bounded into her arms.

As the dog wiggled, Hailey heard a faint, familiar metallic jingle. Her eyes locked onto the dog' s collar.

Dangling from it was her grandmother's locket.

Hailey pushed herself up, using her good leg for support. She snatched the dog from Karmen' s arms.

"Don't touch my dog! Winston, bite her!" Karmen shrieked.

Hailey ripped the locket from the collar just as the dog snapped at her hand. She shoved the dog away. It yelped as it bumped into the wall.

"Hailey, are you insane? You threw my dog!" Karmen cried, cradling the bulldog like a baby.

"This locket was my grandmother's. You knew that. Why was it on a dog?" Hailey demanded, her voice trembling with a rage so deep it felt like it could split her in two.

She looked down at the locket. The delicate silver was covered in tiny teeth marks. The clasp was bent. It was ruined.

"It's just a piece of metal. I can buy you another one," Karmen scoffed. "Besides, your grandma's been dead for years. You're the only one who treats that old thing like it's treasure."

Karmen pulled a crumpled twenty-dollar bill from her purse and threw it on the floor.

Hailey almost laughed. The absurdity of it was crushing. She turned to Donovan.

"Is that how you see it, too?"

He knew. He knew how much that locket meant to her. And he let this happen.

Donovan said nothing. His expression was one of disapproval-at her, for making a scene.

"Fine. You two are perfect for each other," she said. She clutched the ruined locket in her hand and wheeled herself out of the apartment.

The moment her back was to them, tears streamed down her face, blurring her vision.

"Hailey..." Donovan started to follow her.

Karmen grabbed his arm. "Let her go, Don. She's so dramatic. If she acts like this now, imagine what she'll be like after you're married."

The footsteps behind her stopped.

She left without looking back. Every attachment was severed.

Jameson saw her tear-streaked face as she reached his car. He said nothing. He just drove her to her own small condo across town, a place she had kept as an investment.

A week later, Hailey sat in a sun-drenched room in a Napa Valley villa. She wore a simple, elegant white dress.

Jameson knelt before her. He wasn't holding a ring, but a beautifully crafted orthopedic boot that matched her dress.

"Ready to start our new life, partner?" he asked.

She smiled, her heart feeling steady for the first time in years.

Miles away, Donovan and his groomsmen stood outside Hailey's condo. He knocked, but there was no answer.

A neighbor opened his door, annoyed. "What's all the noise? The woman across the hall left with her new husband this morning. Looked like they were headed out of town."

Donovan froze. "What? No, she's just mad at me. We're getting married today. We promised each other forever."

His face drained of color. He looked down at the bouquet of expensive roses in his hand, the thorns digging into his palm.

He started muttering to himself, "No, she wouldn't. She loves me."

Then he saw it. Her new Instagram post. A picture of her and Jameson, their champagne glasses clinking.

The caption: "To new partnerships and new beginnings. #Napa."

He dropped the flowers. He ran out into the street, chasing a car he imagined was hers, screaming her name until his voice was raw and he collapsed, sobbing, in the middle of the road.