Her Man, Her Best Friend

I sat at the city' s most expensive restaurant, waiting for Donovan, my fiancé, to celebrate his company' s massive success. We had built it together for five years.

He never showed up. Instead, I found an Instagram story from my best friend, Karmen, showing Donovan passed out on her sofa, shirtless, with her playfully covering her mouth. The caption read: "He works so hard! Had to make sure my favorite CEO got home safe ."

The man I was supposed to marry was with my best friend, again. When he finally stumbled home, he gave me a cheap smart home hub – the basic model Karmen had just thrown away. The next morning, Karmen was in his car, flaunting the expensive version. When I told her to get out, she smirked, "Make me."

Rage flared. I grabbed her arm, and she shrieked, throwing herself out of the car. Donovan rushed over, shoving me aside, and cradled her, glaring at me. "You've got some serious issues, attacking your own friend." He sped off, his back tire catching my leg, fracturing my fibula.

At the apartment, Karmen was lounging, eating peaches Donovan had peeled for her – peaches he' d always been too busy to get for me. Then I found my grandmother' s locket, her last gift, on Karmen' s dog' s collar, covered in teeth marks.

Donovan just stood there, disapproving of me. "Is that how you see it, too?" I asked. He said nothing. I clutched the ruined locket, wheeled myself out, and left without looking back.

Chapter 1

Hailey Brown sat at the best table in the city' s most expensive restaurant. She waited.

The product launch for Donovan Herrera' s tech company had been a massive success. She had been by his side for five years, since it was just an idea in his garage.

He never showed up.

At 2 AM, her phone buzzed. It was an Instagram story from her best friend, Karmen Hendricks. Karmen was an intern at Donovan' s company.

The video showed Donovan passed out on Karmen' s sofa. He was shirtless. Karmen was lying next to him, a hand playfully covering her mouth.

The caption read: "He works so hard! Had to make sure my favorite CEO got home safe ."

Hailey stared at the screen. The man she was supposed to marry was with her best friend. This wasn' t the first time he had been "too busy" for a big moment.

She looked at the perfectly arranged, untouched celebratory dinner. A cold emptiness filled her chest.

She scrolled through her contacts and found the name Jameson Carney. He was a landscape designer she' d worked with on a project. He had been kind and openly admired her work.

She typed a text: "That offer for a new start you mentioned... is it still on the table?"

Her phone rang almost immediately. Jameson' s voice was warm and filled with concern.

"Always. I'll pick you up in the morning. We're getting you out of there."

"Okay," she said. "In one week, let's do it."

She hung up and stood. She started packing. This apartment, holding five years of her life, now felt like a prison.

At 7 AM, Donovan stumbled through the door. He smelled of cheap alcohol. He saw the untouched dinner and pulled her into a hug, his voice thick with fake concern.

"Hailey, baby, you shouldn't have waited. When I'm grinding this hard, you gotta take care of yourself. It kills me to see you like this."

He kissed the top of her head.

"Happy launch day," he whispered. "Next week is the big tech conference. After that, it's just us. No more anniversaries of the company launch, just the anniversary of our engagement!"

"Yeah," she said, pulling his hands off her waist. "No more of those anniversaries."

Because soon, there would be nothing left between them. She would not marry a man who slept with her best friend the week he planned to propose.

He sensed her coldness and pulled a small box from his pocket.

"I got you something. A little launch-day bonus."

It was a generic, mass-produced smart home hub.

"Next year, it'll be a big diamond, I promise!"

She turned the device over in her hands. It was plastic and felt cheap. She remembered a post Karmen made a few days ago.

"OMG, the best boss ever got me the limited edition designer hub and threw in a little extra gadget! Anyone want the basic model? I have no use for this little thing!"

The picture had shown this exact device. The one Karmen kept was sleek, metallic, and expensive.

His gift to her was the freebie he gave his intern. After five years together, this was what he thought she was worth. Or maybe he was just that certain she would never leave.

Donovan insisted they go out for a celebratory breakfast. He ran back upstairs after realizing he' d forgotten his wallet.

Hailey went down to the parking garage.

She pulled open the passenger door of his Tesla.

Karmen was sitting there, applying lipstick in the vanity mirror.

"Hey, Hailey! I didn't get breakfast either. Hope you guys don't mind if I tag along!" Karmen said, her voice sickly sweet. "Oh, and do you like my new smart hub? It's amazing."

She pointed to the sleek, designer device plugged into the car's console.

"Ugh, you don' t actually like that clunky basic model, do you?" she asked, her eyes wide with fake innocence.

"Get out," Hailey said, her voice cold. "The passenger seat is my seat. You can sit in the back."

She didn't want a scene. She just wanted this to be over.

"No, I think I'll stay here," Karmen said, looking Hailey up and down. "I was up all night... networking. I'm exhausted!"

"I'm telling you one more time. Get out," Hailey' s voice was low, a dangerous edge to it.

"Make me," Karmen smirked, fiddling with the designer hub. "I think I've earned this spot."

Rage, hot and sharp, flared through Hailey. She grabbed Karmen' s arm to pull her from the car.

"Ow! Hailey, you're hurting me!" Karmen suddenly shrieked, looking over Hailey' s shoulder. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I'll move!"

Then Karmen threw herself sideways, tumbling out of the car and onto the concrete floor. The designer hub she was holding clattered beside her.

"Hailey, what the hell is wrong with you? She's your friend!" Donovan yelled. He shoved Hailey aside and scooped Karmen into his arms.

Karmen had a tiny scrape on her hand. She buried her face in Donovan' s chest and started sobbing.

"Donovan, it's my fault," she whimpered. "I shouldn't have tried to come with you. I just wanted to celebrate with my boss..."

Donovan glared at Hailey. "She just wanted to have breakfast with us. You've got some serious issues, attacking your own friend."

He turned his back on Hailey.

"You're clearly not hungry if you have this much energy to assault people. Stay home and cool off."

He gently placed Karmen in the passenger seat, then got into the driver's side without a second glance at Hailey. He slammed the car into drive and sped away.

The back tire caught her leg as he peeled out of the space.

A sickening crack echoed in the garage. She collapsed, the sound of her own bone fracturing mixing with the squeal of the tires.

He did it on purpose.

As the Tesla disappeared, a searing pain shot up her leg. This was the man she had loved for five years. He would leave her broken on a garage floor over a lie.

She pulled out her phone and called an Uber to take her to the emergency room.

The X-ray confirmed it: a hairline fracture in her fibula. She needed a cast and crutches.

A laugh, humorless and dry, escaped her lips. This was good. Now there would be no second thoughts. No moment of weakness.

"Hailey? Are you okay?"

Jameson Carney rushed into the ER, his forehead damp with sweat. He saw her cast, and his eyes grew dark with a mix of anger and worry.

"Hailey, I'm so sorry I wasn't there."

He gently lifted her into his arms and carried her to his car. He carefully placed her in the passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt. His face was close, his concern real and palpable. It was a kind of intimacy she and Donovan had never shared.

"Where to?" he asked softly.

"Take me back to the apartment," she said, staring out the window. "I have a few things I need to get."

A life with Jameson might not be so bad. He never blamed her. He never raised his voice.

In the parking garage, Jameson offered to help her upstairs.

"You wait here," she insisted. "It won't take long."

She maneuvered her wheelchair out of his car and rolled herself into the elevator.

When she opened the apartment door, Donovan and Karmen were there. Karmen was lounging on the sofa, one of Hailey's expensive silk face masks on. Donovan was in the kitchen, carefully peeling a peach for her.

"Karmen, babe, I peeled your favorite white peach," Donovan said as he walked out of the kitchen with a small plate. He froze when he saw Hailey.

His eyes traveled from her face down to the thick cast on her leg.

"What did you do now?" His voice was full of annoyance. "The tech conference is next week. Are you trying to embarrass me, showing up in a wheelchair?"

"Oh, Hailey," Karmen giggled from the couch. "You're not really going to be the bride in a wheelchair, are you? How tacky."

Karmen held out the plate of peaches Donovan had just given her. "Donovan stood in line forever to get these organic peaches from the farmer's market. You should have some."

Hailey stared at the peaches. She had begged Donovan for weeks to go to that market with her. He always said he was too busy with work.

"No thanks," Hailey said, her voice flat. "I don't want anything you've touched."

She turned her wheelchair toward the bedroom to get her things.

"Ah-" Karmen cried out as if she'd been bumped. The plate of peaches crashed to the floor. "Hailey, I know you don't like me, but you didn't have to knock over the fruit Donovan worked so hard to get!"

As Karmen knelt to pick up the broken plate, she "accidentally" sliced her finger on a shard.

"Karmen, don't touch it," Donovan rushed over. He pulled her up and led her to the sofa, tending to the tiny cut as if it were a mortal wound.

He glared at Hailey. "She's a guest in our home, Hailey. I am so disappointed in you."

"I'm glad you're happy," she replied, wheeling herself into the bedroom.

She was only there for one thing: her grandmother's vintage locket.

Her grandmother had given it to her on her sixteenth birthday, just before she died. "Our Hailey is all grown up," she had said, her voice weak. "Grandma can't be with you forever. When you're scared, hold this tight, and know I'm always with you."

She wore it until the chain was nearly broken, then stored it safely in the jewelry box on her dresser.

Today, she would take the locket and leave forever.

But it wasn't there. She searched the drawer, then the next, her movements frantic. She knew she had left it right here.

She wheeled herself back into the living room, her hands shaking with fury. As she was about to ask Donovan if he had seen it, the doorbell rang.