“You disappeared on me,” he continues after a moment of silence. “I understand you’re angry, but you didn’t hear my side of the story, Elsa.”

Angry? How about waking up in the middle of the night to find myself crying and my chest squeezing painfully? How about the sense of betrayal I’ve been blocking out so I don’t break into pieces?

His side of the story? Fuck that.

Fuck him.

He has no side of the story. He kept a fucking engagement a secret while I was going berserker on the girl who had more right to him than I ever would.

The bastard reduced me to being the other woman.

It’s such a dirty, humiliating place to be, and I’ll never forgive him for that.

I lift my dress and start to pass him.

Aiden grips me by the arm. His touch would’ve set me on fire before, now it’s just… so cold.

So freezing.

So wrong.

“I said,” he enunciates as if I didn’t hear him the first time. “You didn’t hear my side of the story.”

I wiggle my arm free and surprisingly he releases me.

That’s a first.

I take two steps when his lethal, hard voice stops me in my tracks. “You made a promise, Elsa. Fucking keep it.”

“If you don’t keep your promises, why should I keep mine?” My voice is so calm, it’s kind of haunting.

I don’t turn around or face him.

He chose this. He chose to have us in a place where my back is the only thing he sees.

“I don’t give promises I don’t keep. You’re the one who does that over and over again. I told you loving me is a one-way road. I told you not to say the fucking words if you didn’t mean them.”

I throw a glance at him over my shoulder. “I meant those words. I love you, Aiden, but I also love myself enough to walk away from you.”

And then I head back inside.

The urge to cry hits me like a sudden natural disaster; hard and destructive. Still, I don’t cry. I won’t shed tears for him. I won’t be reduced to the victim he wants me to become.

Pain grips the centre of my chest. It’s deep and affects every layer of my heart.

I thought if I admitted I still love him, the pain would lessen.

I thought wrong.

Will it always be like this? Chaotic and painful? Will I have to walk counting my steps?

One day, I’ll attend one of these parties and watch Aiden waltz inside with Silver hanging off his arm as his wife.

His fucking wife.

Acute nausea coats my throat and sticks my tongue to the roof of my mouth.

I won’t survive that. I can’t.

My thoughts rob my air again. I stop near one of the food tables to catch my breath. There’s another patio to my right. Will anyone notice if I hide out there for the rest of the evening?

Movement catches in my peripheral vision.

In the corner of the patio, a man and woman are shrouded in darkness as they talk in a hushed tone. I can’t hear them due to the music and the general chatter.

There goes my plan to hide out there.

I’m about to turn around when something else catches my attention.

The man speaks so low, it’s almost threatening. The girl shrinks back against the stone railing. The dim light catches in her… green hair?

I barge outside. “Kim?”

The man — Xander — slowly pushes back but not before giving her a harsh glare. “I mean it. Don’t fucking test me.”

And then he’s back inside.

Kim’s chest rises and falls so fast, I’m afraid she’ll have some sort of a heart attack. Her pupils are dilated as if she’s coming down from a high.

I rush to her and take her hands — shaking and sweating — in mine. “What happened? Are you okay? What did he do?”

“I’m fine.” Kim fakes a smile.

She needs to stop faking smiles when she’s this horrible at them.

“Kim!” I scold. “What the hell? You look on the verge of a breakdown.”

“It’s just Xander being Xander.” She waves her hand in dismissal and fixes the hem of her dark green dress. “I missed you.”

Her arms wrap around me. Even though I don’t want her to change the subject, I don’t pull away.

Kim takes shaky breaths and I realise how much she needs this hug. She’s a loner and I’m practically the only friend she has. Except for Kir, her family aren’t the affectionate type. I always feel like she needs human touch more than anything. She’s just not so good at expressing her needs.

“I’m here for you, Kim. You know that, right?”

She nods into my neck without saying anything.

When she finally steps back, a reluctant smile is plastered on her face. “How about you? Are you okay?”

I FaceTimed with Kim and told her all about Aiden’s engagement with Silver, my father, Knox, and Teal.

Every time she tried to ask me about my feelings considering Aiden’s engagement, I shut down and ended the conversation.

I knew she’d bring it up again when we met face-to-face.

“What are you doing here?” I try to deflect.

“Dad brought me. He’s all over fundraisers.” She pauses, narrowing her eyes. “You don’t get to change the subject.”

Brilliant. Here we go.

“King doesn’t see Silver as a woman. Cross my heart and hope to die.” Kim places a hand over her breast. “I would bet Kir’s life on it and you know I’d never do that unless I was sure.”

“They’re fucking engaged, Kim. They’re getting married.”

Every day, I wake up hoping last week’s revelation is a nasty nightmare, but I’m brought back to reality all too soon. The fall hurts, you know. It’s like crashing and burning at the same time with no way out.

“It could be something arranged by their parents.” Kim taps her chin like a detective. “Jonathan King and Sebastian Queens are childhood friends and have been allies for as long as I can remember.”

“Aiden isn’t the type who could be forced into doing anything.”

“This must’ve happened way before you came along, Ellie. King is the logical type, and if he thought marrying Silver would ensure his future and his relationship with his father, he would have agreed to it.”

“Then why did he keep me in the dark about it?”

“I don’t know. He’s the only one who can answer that.” She rubs my arm. “All I know is that King isn’t interested in Silver, and honestly, I think it’s the same for her.”

I raise an eyebrow. “So now you’re an expert on how Silver feels?”

“We were all raised together, remember? Silver and I were friends once upon a time.”

“Wait. What?”

“It was before my fall from grace.” She throws up a hand dismissively. “Anyway, she’s a bitch, but I don’t think Aiden is her endgame. Silver is the type of person who hides her real favourites so no one snatches them away. When we used to play together, she’d take out all her dolls except for her favourite, Anastasia. She hid it in a place I couldn’t find. I hate her, but thinking logically, if she really loves Aiden, she wouldn’t be all territorial about him in public. She would’ve made her moves in the background.”