Chapter 3

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."