The Fiancé's Warning, Her Second Chance

It was the perfect moment I had dreamed of since w

was a version of him from five years in

etrayal. He was sleeping with my best

hitectural firm. She would sabotage my father' s

a future pregnancy to end in tra

my future-was a lie. The two people I tr

oadmap to escape. So I drove my car off a cliff and faked my own

pte

Flowe

. He was cheating on me with my best friend and business partner, Kimberly. She would steal my architectural firm using his venture capital funds. Kimberly would sabotage my father's life-saving kidney transplant. A

onfident, held a soft vulnerability. He asked me to marry him. My heart soared. We had been together since childhood. I always imagined this moment. It felt right, inevitable. I said yes

ne to call Jadon. His number was already on my screen, but it was an incoming FaceTime call. I smi

"I was just thinking about you. The fireworks were amazing. The pro

d only see a blurry outline. There was a

n?" I

, whispered something in the backg

light. "Is Kimberly still celebrating with you guys? Tell

eyes were hollow, etched with a deep, consuming regret. His hair was streaked with gray at the temples. He

east five years. The face was his, the shape of his jaw, the angle of his brows. But ever

ly beside him. Her red hair spread out on the pillow. Her arm was thrown across his chest. She looked comfortable,

was raspy, broken. It sounded like

screen. "You deserve to know. This started tonight.

trength. The truth hung he

ontinued, his voice barely a whisper. "I have no right to ask anything of

d dread seeped into my bones. The s

iamond on my finger felt like ice. I twisted the ring, trying to make sense of what I had just seen. It wa

ed Kimberly. Her phone was off. My heart pounded in my chest. A sickeni

uly revelers. Their laughter felt distant, foreign. I drove to Kimberly's apartment. The lights were on. A

pers. The other was a pair of men's leather shoes. My blood ran cold. I recogni

knock. I couldn't make a sound. My phone vibrated in my hand

ge read. "Go home. Look

t off, holding it up to the dim hallway light. I squeezed my eyes shut,

and Jadon. It clearly rea

wall. The ring, a symbol of my shattered dreams, cut into my p

ding the message to future Ja

it. She wanted you to know. She found the original design with yo

She had hugged me tightly. A sharp, almost frantic squeeze. I remembered her eyes. To

y face was buried in my knees. Th

ghts in Kimberly's apartment eventually went out. I stood up, my bo

od over him for a long time. My memory replayed every moment of our twenty years together. Our first me

amed under the moonlight. I spent the rest of the night on the livi

the living room. He saw the ring on the table. He picked

ce soft. He took my hand, sliding the ring back onto my

mistook them for tears of

whispered into my hair. "

hroat was tight. The

n was asleep, I messag

asked. "The first tim

enior year of college. You were away studying abroad. She was h

ing our weekly video chats. I had believed her. I had sent her care packages from abroad-her favorite snacks, a scarf I'd knitted mys

Kimberly about how much I missed Jadon-and she had listened, offered comfort, told me everything would be okay. She had already been sleeping with him. Every "

usea washed over me. The bittern