Chapter 1 - The Dare
The first thing I noticed was the ring.
Not the diamond engagement ring on my finger.
The gold wedding band on his.
I was standing behind the reception desk of the Bellamy Hotel when Daniel walked through the glass doors at 9:14 on Valentine’s morning, looking like a man who had slept three hours and regretted two of them.
His best friend, Marcus, was beside him.
Both were laughing.
Both were wearing tuxedos.
And Marcus was wearing the same gold band I had seen in the photograph that would destroy my life.
“Daniel?”
My fiancé stopped.
His smile disappeared.
Marcus looked at me.
Then at Daniel.
Then back at me.
“Emma,” Daniel said carefully.
I looked at his hand.
“Take it off.”
His face went pale.
“It’s not what you think.”
“That sentence usually means it is exactly what I think.”
The lobby suddenly seemed too bright.
Sunlight poured through the enormous windows overlooking downtown Los Angeles. Couples were checking into Valentine’s weekend suites. Flowers stood everywhere—white roses, red roses, arrangements of lilies and orchids.
Romance was practically hanging in the air.
And my fiancé was standing in front of me wearing a wedding ring.
“Daniel,” I whispered. “Who did you marry?”
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Marcus finally stepped forward.
“It was a stupid dare.”
I stared at him.
“A what?”
“A dare,” he repeated.
Daniel shot him a warning look.
Marcus swallowed.
“Last night, we went to that party. People were drinking. Someone joked that neither of us had the nerve to do something crazy before midnight.”
I looked at Daniel.
“And?”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“They dared us to get married.”
I laughed.
I actually laughed.
Because there are moments so absurd that your mind refuses to accept them as real.
“You got married,” I said slowly, “because somebody dared you to?”
“It was supposed to be a joke.”
“You’re engaged to me.”
“I know.”
“You have been engaged to me for eleven months.”
“I know.”
“And you married someone else.”
His silence answered me.
I looked down at my ring.
Eleven months ago, Daniel had proposed to me on a quiet beach in Malibu.
He had gotten down on one knee while the sunset turned the ocean gold.
He had promised that I was the woman he wanted to grow old with.
I had believed every word.
Now he was wearing a wedding band.
“Who?” I asked.
Marcus looked away.
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Chloe.”
My stomach dropped.
Chloe Bennett.
His best friend since college.
The woman who had always been “like a sister.”
The woman who had hugged him at our engagement party.
The woman who had once told me, You don't have anything to worry about. Daniel sees me as family.
Apparently, family had become his wife.
“When?” I asked.
“Last night.”
“Where?”
“A little chapel in Vegas.”
“Are you still married?”
Daniel hesitated.
That hesitation hurt more than the answer.
“Yes.”
I removed my engagement ring.
His eyes widened.
“Emma.”
I placed the ring on the marble counter between us.
He stared at it.
“You need to understand,” he said quickly, “the marriage isn't real. We were drunk. We haven't—”
“You signed a marriage certificate.”
“Yes.”
“You exchanged rings.”
“Yes.”
“You stood in front of a stranger and promised to be husband and wife.”
His face crumpled.
“It didn't mean anything.”
I looked at him for several seconds.
Then I picked up my phone.
Daniel stepped closer.
“What are you doing?”
“Sending you a message.”
“You're standing right here.”
“I know.”
I typed.
My fingers didn't shake.
That surprised me.
Then I pressed send.
Daniel's phone buzzed.
He looked down.
His face changed.
The message contained only one sentence.
You don't have a fiancée anymore. You have a wife. I hope the dare was worth it.
He read it twice.
Then he looked up.
“Emma, please.”
I walked away.
“Emma!”
I kept walking.
Behind me, I heard Marcus say quietly, “Daniel…”
Then Daniel's voice.
Broken.
“What did I just do?”
I didn't turn around.
Because the truth was finally clear.
He hadn't lost me because of the dare.
He had lost me because, when given the chance to protect our future, he had chosen to gamble with it.
And I had spent eleven months believing I was the woman he would never risk losing.
I was wrong.
But Daniel was about to discover something I hadn't told him.
There was another reason I couldn't forgive him.
A reason that had nothing to do with Chloe.
May you like
And everything to do with the message I had received at 6:02 that morning.
Emma, don't marry Daniel. I know what happened three years ago.
