Chapter 2

I shook out a handful of pills and shoved them into my mouth, forcing them down dry. The bitterness spread across my tongue. I sank back into the couch, tipped my head against the cushion, and stared at the ceiling without moving.

Celeste had always believed that I had lied to her, that I had betrayed her.

Five years ago, at our wedding, I had walked out in front of everyone. I left her standing there alone and turned her into a joke across the whole of Mayworth City.

That night, she grabbed me by the collar and screamed until her voice broke.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you? You wanted to humiliate me."

I tried to explain, over and over.

"My mom was old, and she lived so far away. I never planned for her to come to the wedding. But she came on her own without telling me, and on the way there, the tractor she was riding flipped. She didn't make it."

It did not matter what I said. She would not hear a single word of it.

She pulled off her wedding ring and hurled it at the wedding portrait hanging on the wall. The frame crashed to the floor, and the glass shattered on impact. A shard even caught my face.

Celeste stared at me through bloodshot eyes, her smile cold and thin. "You're still lying to me. I should've listened to Kieran and stayed away from you. They were right. You came from nowhere, and you just married me for the money."

She turned away and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'll hate you for the rest of my life, Everett."

After that, it was exactly the way she said it would be. We destroyed each other.

After I walked out on our wedding, her first love came back to the country without bothering to hide it, and the two of them grew closer by the day. I became the punchline in every conversation.

"Everett Hartley. You know, the one who married Celeste Kendrick? He shouldn't have bothered. She doesn't even go home."

"Oh, and get this. Apparently, Celeste and Kieran getting back together is all thanks to Everett. He practically set them up himself."

Five years of marriage, and every time I tried to reach her, my call was routed to her company's front desk. All I ever got was the same line from the receptionist.

"Ms. Kendrick is busy."

Celeste never blocked me on any of her social accounts. Every post was deliberate, every photo curated. She knew I would see all of it. She wanted me to understand that she was doing just fine without me.

The worst it ever got between us was three weeks after my mother died. Between Celeste's hostility and the weight of losing my mother, everything that had been pressing down on me finally crushed me. I broke down completely.

I called Celeste's number again and again.

"Please, just let me talk to her. I'm begging you. Please help me."

The receptionist's voice was cold and faintly disgusted. "I'm sorry, Mr. Hartley. Ms. Kendrick has a very full schedule."

The line went dead, and after that, the number would not connect at all.

I destroyed everything in the apartment that I could get my hands on. When I looked down at the broken pieces scattered across the floor, I picked one up without hesitation and dragged it across my wrist.

In the end, it was the housekeeper who found me and rushed me to the hospital.

When I woke up, Celeste was sitting beside my bed. Her gaze drifted to the bandages around my wrist, and there was nothing in her expression but indifference.

"Is this really the best way you can think of to get my attention? It's getting pathetic. Next time, cut deeper. And if you want to die, do it somewhere I don't have to deal with it."

She stood up and turned to leave. I reached out and grabbed her sleeve with what little strength I had.

"I wasn't lying to you. Everything I told you was the truth. Please, don't do this to me."

She shook my hand off and looked down at me. "Whether you lied or not doesn't matter to me anymore. I came here to tell you that I fired the housekeeper because of you. Is this just what you do? Ruin everyone who gets close to you?"

The side effects of the medication hit all at once. My chest tightened until I could barely breathe, and all I could do was gulp down air in shallow gasps. My vision blurred and dimmed.

Sleep like this was the only kind that did not bring nightmares.