Sophie's POV
I should have known something was wrong when Marcus didn't answer my third text.
The elevator doors opened onto the top floor of the Sterling Hotel, where crystal chandeliers sparkled above polished marble floors. My engagement party wouldn't start for another hour, but I'd left work early to surprise my fiancé. Maybe we could steal a quiet moment before facing two hundred guests celebrating our perfect future together.
The event coordinator pointed toward the coat room when I asked about Marcus. Mr. Sterling went that way a few minutes ago.
I smoothed down my red dress, the one Marcus loved, and headed down the hallway, smiling at the thought of his face when he saw me early. We'd been together five years. Engaged for six months. Tonight was supposed to be perfect.
I pushed open the coat room door.
And my entire world shattered.
Marcus had his hands tangled in someone's blonde hair, kissing her like his life depended on it. The woman's back was to me, but I recognized the emerald dress I'd helped pick out last week. The one I'd told my best friend would look stunning on her.
Victoria.
The room spun. My purse slipped from my fingers and hit the floor with a loud thud.
They broke apart. Victoria's lipstick was smeared. Marcus's shirt was untucked. Neither of them looked surprised, just annoyed that I'd interrupted.
Sophie. Marcus didn't even sound guilty. You're early.
Early? My voice came out strangled. That's what you have to say?
Victoria turned fully toward me, and I waited for horror, for apology, for something that looked like remorse from my best friend of eight years. Instead, she just dabbed at her ruined lipstick with a tissue.
Soph, I can explain she started.
Explain what? Explain why you're kissing my fiancé? Hot tears burned behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Not yet. How long?
Marcus sighed like I was being difficult. Does it matter?
HOW LONG?
Fourteen months, Victoria said quietly.
The number hit me like a physical blow. Fourteen months. Over a year. That meant... that meant last Christmas when the three of us went skiing. Last summer when Victoria helped me pick out wedding venues. My birthday two months ago when she gave a speech about how I deserved the world.
All lies.
You need to calm down, Marcus said, straightening his shirt. You're being dramatic.
Dramatic? I just caught you with my best friend!
See, this is exactly your problem, Sophie. Everything is always so intense with you. So emotional. Marcus spoke in that patronizing tone he used when explaining business deals to people he thought were stupid. Victoria and I didn't mean for this to happen. But sometimes you can't help who you fall in love with.
I stared at him, this man I'd planned to marry, and saw a stranger. You're not even sorry.
I'm sorry you had to find out this way, Victoria said, and now the tears started—perfect, delicate drops that made her eyes shine. But Marcus and I... we connected on a level you wouldn't understand. It's real, Sophie. It's real love.
Real love? I laughed, and it sounded broken. You've been sneaking around for over a year. That's not love. That's betrayal.
You're overreacting, Marcus said. We'll cancel tonight, give you time to process—
I'm overreacting? My voice rose. You cheated on me with my best friend for fourteen months and I'm overreacting?
The coat room door opened. My mother walked in, followed by my younger sister Jessica. They must have arrived early too.
Mom. Relief flooded through me. Finally, someone on my side. Thank God you're here. Marcus and Victoria have been
We heard yelling, Mom interrupted, her expression tight with disapproval. Sophie, what's going on? You're making a scene.
I'm making a scene? They've been having an affair!
My mother's eyes flicked to Marcus, then Victoria, then back to me. Is this true?
Mrs. Mitchell, I never meant to hurt Sophie, Victoria said, her voice trembling perfectly. But I fell in love with Marcus. I tried to fight it, I swear I did, but
Oh, sweetie. My mother actually hugged Victoria. Hugged her. These things happen. Love is complicated.
I couldn't breathe. Mom, she betrayed me. They both did.
Don't be so dramatic, Sophie, Jessica said, scrolling through her phone. You're almost thirty. Relationships end. It's not the end of the world.
We were engaged!
And now you're not. Marcus's voice was cold. You need to accept that and move on with some dignity.
Dignity? I felt something crack inside my chest. You destroyed our relationship and you want to talk about dignity?
I think everyone needs to calm down, Mom said in her let's be reasonable voice. Marcus, perhaps it would be best if you and Victoria left through the back entrance. Sophie, you'll go home and collect yourself. We'll issue a statement tomorrow about the engagement being called off by mutual agreement.
Mutual? I couldn't believe what I was hearing. None of this was mutual!
Sophie Michelle Mitchell, lower your voice right now. My mother's face flushed with anger. The Sterlings are important people. Marcus's father has been very generous to this family. You will not embarrass us by throwing a tantrum.
The words hit harder than any of Marcus's lies. My own mother cared more about his family's money than her daughter's pain.
You're taking his side. It wasn't a question.
There are no sides, sweetheart. Just unfortunate circumstances that need to be handled maturely.
I looked at each of them—Marcus smirking, Victoria crying her fake tears, my mother worried about appearances, my sister bored with the whole thing. These were the people I'd loved most in the world. And none of them cared that I was breaking into pieces right in front of them.
My phone buzzed. A text from Marcus: You're embarrassing yourself. Don't come back.
He'd sent it while standing five feet away from me.
Something inside me went very still and very cold.
You're right, I said quietly. I'll go.
I walked out of that coat room with my head high, even though my legs shook. I made it through the elegant hallway, past the event coordinator asking if everything was okay, into the elevator.
The doors closed. I was alone.
And I started screaming.
The sound ripped out of me, months, maybe years, of swallowing my feelings, making myself smaller, being the easy girlfriend who never complained. It echoed in the elevator until my throat was raw.
The doors opened on the ground floor. Rain pounded against the hotel windows. I should call a car. Go home. Cry into my pillow like a normal person.
Instead, I walked straight past the exit and into the hotel bar.
It was dark and nearly empty. Perfect. I slid onto a barstool and ordered a martini. Then another. Then another.
I was on my fourth when someone sat down beside me.
You look like you're having the worst night of your life, a deep voice said.
I turned and met silver-gray eyes that held the same exhaustion and pain I felt burning in my chest.
The stranger wasn't smiling. Wasn't trying to pick me up. He just looked... broken. Like he understood exactly what it felt like when your whole world fell apart.
Second worst, I heard myself say. The worst was this morning when I still thought my life was perfect.
He signaled the bartender for a drink, and something in his expression made my breath catch. This man—whoever he was—knew betrayal. Knew heartbreak. Knew what it meant to have everything you trusted turn to ashes.
What are we drinking to? he asked quietly.
I raised my glass, meeting those storm-colored eyes. To the people who destroy us.
And to surviving them, he added.
Our glasses clinked together in the dim bar lighting, and I had no idea that the stranger with the silver-gray eyes was about to change my life in ways I couldn't imagine.
No idea that three weeks from now, I'd walk into my new job and discover this moment wasn't an ending at all.
It was the beginning of everything.