es on wet pavement and the blinding glare of headl

ss and broken, being pulled from the wreckage of my car. I saw the flashing l

rmath. I watched Liam, the man I had loved for ten years, the man for whom I ha

ng the mourners. My mother, Brenda, was dabbing her eyes, leaning on the arm of he

tered the last remnants of my love and

t, my stepsister, the woman he always called his "soulmate," the woman for w

ne I had once pointed out

emotion he never once showed me. "Chloe is gone. T

te, desperate kiss, right there at my funeral. Our friends, the ones who were supposed to be mourni

trayal was absolute. My entire life, a sacrifice for a lie. My love, a

sp, my heart hammer

window in my old bedroom at my mother's hous

r the failing online store Liam and I ran. I scrambled out of bed and looked in the mirror. My face was the face

owards it, my hands shaking as I touched t

subject line glowing

er: Prestigious

e screen read

g. The day Liam would come to me with hi

I had a se

ut it wasn't a tear of sadness. It was a tea

e no sacrifice. This tim

y heart, instead of fluttering with love like it d

y steps firm and measu

ten years in my memory, a charming smile on his hands

silk. "I have something amazing to tal

. This time, I just stared at

s on the table. He took my hands

g with what I once thought was love, but now recognized as calcula

comes, I

ants to be an architect. She's so fragile, and this is her last chance. If you give her your internship spot... I promise, I will marry

The sheer audacity of it, the col

torn between my dream and the

his. I looked him straight in the eye,

N

landed in the silent room

, as if he'd misheard me. "What? Chloe, wh

clear and steady. "I will not give my inter

racked, revealing the self-serving man underneath. "Are you craz

path that led to me working myself to death while you kept your 'soulmate'

a venomous echo from a fu

ral? What are you talking abo

n a very long time, I've found it. I'm taking the internship. I'm going to New Yor

e couldn't understand the woman standing before him. The naive, love-struck girl he knew w

And it started with him wal