"Let him go! I'll wait for him to come crawling back on his knees."

I walked out of the reception hall without looking back, leaving Victoria's furious snarl far behind me.

I flagged down a cab. The driver kept glancing at me in the rearview mirror before carefully speaking up. "Where to, sir?"

I sat in the back seat, the anger churning in my chest slowly dissolving into something blank. Where could I even go?

Not long after my parents died, Grandma, still dazed with grief, got into a car accident. The other party demanded a massive settlement, and I had no choice but to sell the house.

It was pouring that day and I couldn't get a cab. Victoria was the one who showed up on a motorcycle and tore through the rain to get me to the hospital. She pulled off her helmet one-handed, revealing sharp, striking features.

"There's no PIN on it. Use it for now." Before I could react, she shoved a bank card into my hand and walked away.

By the time I sorted everything out and tried to pay her back, she was impossible to reach. Then she showed up out of nowhere, leaning against my shoulder like it was the most natural thing in the world, raising an eyebrow at the guy who'd been trying to confess his feelings to her.

"Sorry, no can do. My boyfriend gets jealous."

Her reddish-orange hair caught the sunlight, and just like that, she barged her way into my life.

"Play my boyfriend for now. Just consider it payback for saving your life."

For three years, I followed her around trying to pay her back, and everyone just assumed I was her lovesick, devoted boyfriend. When she wrecked her bike racing outside the city, I was the first one there. When she broke her leg skiing, I brought her meals from the restaurant every day.

Just when I was almost done paying her back, Grandma went missing.

That night, Northridge got hit with the worst snowstorm in a decade. The snow was past knee-deep, and the security footage showed Grandma leaving the house in nothing but a thin sweater.

The police checked over a hundred cameras and couldn't find her. I was losing my mind.

Victoria was the one who rallied tens of thousands of people to search the entire city. The minutes crawled by. The ninth time I collapsed in the snow, she was there, reaching her hand out to me.

"They found her. I already had someone take her to the hospital. She's okay."

I threw my arms around her and sobbed. She wiped my tears awkwardly, trying to keep her voice light. "See? Getting a hug from your girlfriend. It's not a bad deal."

For the first time, I didn't correct her.

"Hey, you alright?" The driver pulled a few tissues from the box and handed them back. That was when I realized my face was already streaked with tears.

"Just drive."

The cab pulled forward, and the scenery on both sides blurred past.

The night before, Victoria had confessed something at Grandma's bedside.

"The person your parents saved at the beach ten years ago was me. My family offered 20 million dollars as a thank-you, but your grandmother turned it down.

"She said you can't put a price on a human life, and that your parents were heroes for what they did."

Her voice softened. "Caleb, we were meant to find each other. I'll love you for the rest of my life, with everything your parents would have given you."

Less than a day later, everything changed. A dull, constricting ache settled in my chest and wouldn't let go.

My phone kept buzzing. It was a video one of the bridesmaids had posted in the wedding group chat.

Spencer was wearing a black-and-gold suit with his arm around Victoria's waist, the two of them laughing as they toasted the guests.

"Someone ditched, so Spencer had to step up last minute."

"Tell me they don't look perfect together. They should just go ahead and make it official."

I held the power button until the screen went dark. For a second, it caught my reflection, cold and still.

"Sir, take me to Kingsgrove Manor."

There was something I needed to find out.

I went straight to the gaming room the moment I stepped out of the cab.

Victoria had hidden a box in here. I caught her once, carefully tucking photos inside. I tried to get a look, but she just laughed and threw herself into my arms. "It's a surprise for when we get married."

So I waited. I kept imagining what might be in that box.

The lock was a four-digit combination. I tried Victoria's birthday, our anniversary, and my birthday, but none of them worked.

My fingers were shaking when I punched in Spencer's birthday, and it opened.

Inside were three thick photo albums, ten sports car keys, and a dark green velvet jewelry case. I opened the first album.

Every page was Spencer, from childhood to the present day. On the back of one photo where a younger Spencer stood on a winner's podium, helmet tucked under his arm, Victoria had written a single line.

"The love of my life. May you always shine."

The date was July 5th, 2016, the day my parents died.

"So you found it." Victoria's voice came from behind me, hoarse. "I did have feelings for Spencer once, but that's all in the past.

"That day, I was going to tell him how I felt, but he just went around hugging everyone, saying we were all like little sisters to him. I never gave him the watch. And every car I bought him after that, I never gave him those either."

"So," I choked out, cutting her off, "the day your confession failed, you got wasted on the beach and the tide pulled you in. And my parents paid for it with their lives."

I was shaking with rage. I lost my parents all because of this absurd, pathetic reason, and then she spent eight years lying to me.

"None of it was a coincidence, was it? You transferred schools out of guilt. You showed up in front of me on purpose. You made sure I owed you 200,000 dollars so I'd spend three years chasing after you."

I stared at her. "Was this all just a game to you, Victoria?"

"No, Caleb, that's not what happened."

Panic flickered across Victoria's face. She reached out to wipe my tears, then felt me flinch and pulled her hand back, trembling.

She took out a lighter and flicked it on. "There's nothing between me and Spencer. Nothing ever happened. If it bothers you this much, then I'll just—"

She tossed the lighter into the box. The flames slowly swallowed the albums.

"If you're still upset, I won't contact him ever again. Is that enough?"

She pulled out her phone, opened her contacts, and started to block and delete Spencer right in front of me. Before she could, Spencer's call came through.

Victoria hesitated for a moment, then answered. "Just one last time. I'll end things with him for good."

Three minutes later, she stormed back in, furious. "Did you upload that video of Spencer catching the bouquet? The whole internet is calling him a player now. You're cyberbullying him!

"Do you have any idea that he has a major world championship match tomorrow? He can't have this kind of scandal hanging over him!"

The accusation was so ridiculous I almost laughed. "Are they wrong, though? He caught the bouquet at someone else's wedding and proposed to the bride."

"I already told you it was a joke! You're really going to ruin his career over something this petty? I didn't think you were this kind of person, Caleb."

Victoria looked at me with disappointment. "I'll have someone use AI face-swap to switch your faces in the video. You just need to put out a public apology saying you made it all up because you were jealous. That should be enough to calm things down."

I was so angry I looped back around to calm. "No. This has nothing to do with me."

"Caleb Mercer!"

Victoria suddenly threw her arms around me and snatched my phone out of my pocket. I reached for it, but her bodyguards grabbed me and shoved me into a storage room.

Her voice came through the door, muffled. "I'm clearing your photo gallery first, so you don't post pictures of us and make things worse.

"Cool off tonight. I'll have the housekeeper let you out tomorrow morning. Once Spencer's match is over, I'll come back, and we'll go to the county clerk's office."

The light in the storage room was broken, and there were no windows. I lasted until morning. When the housekeeper came to unlock the door, she flinched at the sight of me, my eyes bloodshot.

"Sir, are you alright?"

I shook my head, my voice dry and raw. "Emma, where's my phone?"

Emma Lloyd pointed at the coffee table. "Ms. Langley made me cook you some breakfast before she left for her flight last night. She said you should stay off your phone for a few days."

I spotted it tossed on the couch and walked straight past the table to grab it. The second it powered on, the screen flooded with missed calls and texts.

I opened a link my college roommate had sent. The number-one trending topic was a marriage certificate that Victoria had posted alongside a childhood photo.

"Childhood sweethearts. Dreams do come true. @RacerSpencerCalloway."

The comments were all congratulations.

"An heiress and the hottest racer in the sport, and they grew up together? I'm obsessed!"

"Wishing her man a championship win! Go make us proud!"

The second trending topic was a male teacher admitting he'd used an AI face swap out of jealousy. In the video, my face and Spencer's had been switched. I was the one who caught the bouquet and proposed to Victoria.

"Shameless. This guy faked a video to frame the groom yesterday and almost got him disqualified by the organizers."

"I'm going to be sick. This is a teacher? What school does he work at? Someone get him away from students."

My head rang like a bell. My vision went dark and I nearly lost my footing.

The phone rang again. It was the school's administration office.

"Mr. Mercer, your involvement in a domestic scandal has caused serious reputational damage. The school has decided to terminate your employment."

"I didn't—"

The line went dead. I was about to call back when Victoria's number flashed on the screen.

"You used my verified account to twist everything around. I just got fired because of you!"

"Isn't that perfect?" Victoria's voice was husky, almost lazy. "It's not like I can't provide for us both. You don't need to work. Just stay home and be with me.

"Besides, we're 26. Don't you think it's time we started a family?"

I was shaking so hard my chest heaved with every breath. It took a long time before I could find my voice. "You make me sick, Victoria."

I hung up and put my fist through the glass coffee table. Then the hospital called.

By the time I got there, Grandma had already been wheeled into the operating room. The doctor held out a consent form for me to sign.

"The patient experienced a severe emotional episode that caused a cerebral aneurysm to rupture. She's in shock. There's a specialized inhibitor that costs 50,000 dollars per injection. Would you like to proceed?

"The window is three minutes. If you want to use it, we need payment now."

"Use it." I didn't hesitate. "Whatever it costs, as long as it saves my grandmother."

My hands were shaking so badly I could barely sign the consent form. The second I did, I sprinted for the payment counter.

"Payment failed."

Online banking had blocked the transaction for exceeding the limit. I fumbled for my wallet, hands shaking so badly I dropped the card twice before I could pull it out.

"PIN is 062746."

Even my voice trembled when I handed the card over.

"Payment failed."

"Sir, this card has been frozen."

I stared, then realized it was the supplementary card Victoria had given me. When had she frozen it? There was no time to think. I pulled out my own debit card, the one my salary went into, and repeated the PIN.

The nurse's face fell. "Sir, this card has insufficient funds."

"That's impossible."

The room tilted. Four years of paychecks had gone into that account. There should have been over 70,000 dollars in there.

The phone rang, and it was Victoria.

"Spencer won, so I went a little overboard celebrating. My card got flagged for too many charges, so I put some of it on yours. The watch was the big one.

"Just think of it as your gift to Spencer."

"Victoria, that's my grandmother's life on the line!"

The scream tore out of me. My heart was slamming against my ribs.

Victoria scoffed. "Don't be so dramatic. I'll pay you back ten times over when I get home. Bye."

The nurse looked at me with pity and shook her head. "I'm very sorry."

Every ounce of strength drained from my body. All I could do was stand there and watch as they wheeled Grandma out of the operating room, a white sheet pulled over her face.

…

"Vic, you're really not coming to my victory party?"

Spencer reached over and pinched Victoria's cheek. "That's cold."

Victoria didn't pull away. She smiled and raised an eyebrow. "I got someone to do the AI face-swap so you could compete without any drama, and I posted a fake marriage certificate for us online. That's still not enough?

"My boyfriend's still mad at home. I need to smooth things over before he runs off and I have nobody left to come home to.

"I'm on tonight's flight. I'll be back in time for our 5th anniversary tomorrow, and we can go get the license then."

But when she rushed through the front door, no one was in the living room. The breakfast on the table had gone completely cold.