Chapter 1Wedding's in five days. Max is at the table, flipping through invitation envelopes when he suddenly stops.
"Need to tell you something."
I look up from my phone. "Yeah?"
"I have a wife. Legal one."
I blink. "What?"
"If you're cool with it..." He grabs his lighter and flicks it. "Invitations still go out. Wedding still happens."
The cigarette catches fire between his fingers.
"Family thing from way back. Took her on, so now I'm stuck with it."
My brain short-circuits. It takes me a full minute to even speak.
"What... what are we then?"
"Means I'm an asshole." Ash falls into the tray. "Ball's in your court now."
My hand drops to my stomach. There's something growing there I was supposed to tell him about today. This truth slams into me like a truck.
"Six years and you never—"
"What would telling you have done?" Smoke curls up from his mouth. His lips twitch, but it's not a smile—there's this weird confidence in it.
"Lily. You and me? We don't need that official crap."
Don't need it?
I'm staring at these stupid invitations in my lap. So that's why he never wanted a wedding. Not because he's "practical." Because he's hiding a whole other marriage.
My stomach lurches. I run to the bathroom and gag over the toilet.
"Jesus, it's not that serious!"
He follows me in and puts his hand on my back, rubbing small circles.
"She's just some country girl my relatives dumped on me. Can barely read. Won't even try to learn."
He takes a drag from his cigarette. "She took care of my folks back home for a while. I brought her to the city last year and set her up in an apartment."
Another exhale. "I swing by once or twice a month. Hand her some cash."
I turn around to look at him. Still tall. Still in that suit. Still the guy I've loved for six years. But his eyes are ice.
"So every time you said you were going home to see your parents..."
"I was seeing her." Like it's nothing. "Parents are old. Somebody's gotta look after them. She's... fine at it."
Fine.
I want to laugh but my face won't move. Six years. Two thousand-plus days. He could've handled this anytime—picked her or picked me. Instead he just stood there soaking up double the comfort.
Another cramp hits low in my belly. I press my hand there without thinking.
His eyes drop to my hand, and his eyebrows pull together. "You look like shit."
He reaches for my forehead. I slam backward into the tile wall.
"Do not touch me."
His hand freezes in mid-air. Then his phone buzzes. He glances down and declines the call. It buzzes again, and he declines again. The third time he picks up, clearly annoyed as hell.
Crying comes through on the other end.
"Max... I'm not taking the pills... just come over..."
He rubs his face hard. "Fine. Sending my assistant."
He hangs up and looks at me, his voice going softer. "She's always sick. It's exhausting."
I don't say anything. Just stare. This has happened a hundred times before—his phone always blowing up, and I always said: "Go. It's fine."
Turns out all those nights he rushed out, all those holidays he bailed on—he was with his other wife.
I'm laughing now. Crying too.
"Take me to her."
"No." His face goes hard.
"No?" I grab the invitation list and throw it across the room. "Six years! I gave you everything—my twenties, my future, all of it! And now you want me to choose? Choose what? Whether I'm okay being the side piece?!"
He looks at the mess on the floor.
"Nobody's a side piece. I hid this to protect what we have. You didn't do anything wrong. Don't feel guilty."
This righteous bullshit makes me want to puke.
"Lily, I love you."
"What about her?"
Long silence hangs between us. Finally he says: "That's just duty."
Duty. One little word that crushes six years of belief.
My phone rings now. Mom's voice blasts through the speaker:
"Lily! Sent all the invites! Everyone says Max is such a catch—says you're so blessed!"
I swallow the sob in my throat. "Mom I gotta go—"
I hang up quickly. His voice cuts through the quiet, cold and steady:
"Invitations? Sent. Venue? Booked. Photos? Done. Gave you every ceremony you wanted."
I look up at him. "So what, you're guilt-tripping me now? Want me to shut up and do this fake-ass three-way wedding?"
"Not guilt-tripping." He walks to the window with his back to me. "I'm saying you can choose. Walk or stay."
"Just think it through. Six years of us. All those plans. Your mom. Your friends. You really gonna torch all that over paperwork?"
Paperwork. I almost laugh.
"She's not paperwork, Max! She's a human being with a legal marriage to you! It's not about a stupid certificate!"
He turns around with his face completely blank, like I'm being hysterical over nothing.
"So what do you want?" He's asking like I'm the problem. "Want me to go divorce her right now?"
The words die in my throat. My heart's slamming in my chest.
"So... what, as long as she's alive I'm just your dirty secret? Even after the wedding? Even when everyone thinks we're married? I'm just sitting here sharing you with that marriage license, waiting for you to pencil in time every month to do your duty?"
Max stares at me for what feels like forever. Finally he exhales slowly.
"You're spiraling. I'm not hiding you. After the wedding you are my real wife. You're the one having my kids. She won't be at our parties. Won't touch your life. You'll never even see her."
His tone sounds like he's doing me a favor.
"You're the only one I actually care about. I'm giving you everything I can."
Everything he can. Except loyalty. Except a future that doesn't have her in it.
Chapter 2
A sharp laugh bursts out of me.
I suddenly remember this dinner from years back when Max's company was just starting out. Some overweight executive had a young girl glued to his side. Obviously not his wife. He got drunk and started slapping Max on the shoulder.
"Max, buddy! You know what we're really working so hard for?"
"So we can have everything!"
"Keep the wife happy at home, have fun on the side. That's real skill!"
"Look at me. The one at home takes care of my parents and kids. Never complains."
"This one here?" He squeezed the girl's waist. "She knows how to keep me happy. Looks good at events too."
"They stay separate. Perfect setup!"
Max had smiled back then. Raised his glass all smooth and polite.
"Come on, Mr. Henson."
"Just keeping Lily happy is a full-time job."
Everyone laughed. Called him devoted. Said I was lucky.
I thought that meant he was different. That he respected me.
Now I see he wasn't disagreeing at all.
He's got "the one at home." His legal wife, taking care of everything quietly.
He's got "the one outside." That's me, looking good at his work events.
Staying separate. He's been doing this the whole time. I was just too blind to notice.
"Get out."
He goes still. "Lily..."
"I said GET OUT!"
I grab the nearest thing and throw it at his head as hard as I can.
He doesn't move. The vase clips his forehead, leaves an instant red mark.
"You're too upset right now. You'll regret whatever you say or decide." His voice stays calm. Way too calm. "Just remember what I said. No baby means you still have options. You can still choose."
So that's what he thinks? No kid means I can just leave easily?
I dig my nails into my palms until it stings. The pain helps fight the sick feeling rising in my throat.
"I'll check on you later."
The door clicks shut.
I slide down the wall until I'm sitting on the floor. There's this cold empty hole in my chest now.
Six years. Everything I believed, everything I planned. All of it was built on nothing. And now it's all collapsed.
My phone buzzes. Mrs. Harper from back home.
I take a shaky breath and answer. "Mrs. Harper?"
"Lily!" She sounds frantic. "You need to come home! Three months without visiting? Barely any details about the wedding? Your mom is so worried!"
"...Yeah."
My throat feels tight. She's right. These past months I've been so focused on Max and our future that I forgot Mom was waiting for me.
"When you hung up earlier she started crying..." Mrs. Harper sighs heavily. "I shouldn't say anything, but I can't keep quiet anymore. Lily, your mom doesn't have much time."
I freeze. "What do you mean?"
"It's cancer. Terminal. She didn't tell you because she was scared you'd lose the baby from stress. She's been holding on just to see you get married."
The phone slips from my hand and hits the floor. I'm crying so hard I can barely breathe.
I cry until there's nothing left. Then I pick up my phone with shaking hands and call him.
"Lily?"
It takes everything I have to force the words out. "The wedding. We're doing it."
When I see Mom, I don't tell her what I know.
I just sit there and let her talk. She goes on about good luck for the wedding day, how to take care of myself during pregnancy, what to do after the baby comes...
Her voice has that familiar warmth, but there's something heavier underneath. She's making sure every detail is covered.
I nod and agree to everything. I massage her legs. Help organize the dowry she's been collecting for years.
Sunlight pours into the living room the same way it always does.
But when I get up to pour water and see myself in the mirror, I look ten years older. It's only been two days.
Before the wedding, I tell Max I need to meet her.
He agrees. Maybe he thinks once I see her in person, I'll just accept his arrangement. See how plain she is, how scared, how different from me.
He knows I'm proud. He knows I'm soft. And he knows my mom adores him. Knows how badly she wants to see me settled.
The car pulls into this quiet, expensive neighborhood on the west side.
My stomach drops.
This doesn't look anything close to "just some place" he set her up in.
We stop in front of a white three-story house.
A housekeeper opens the door with a big smile. "Welcome home, sir."
Inside, everything is done in that trendy Italian style. Expensive. Tasteful.
Then I see her.
She's standing halfway up the stairs. Young. Mid-twenties maybe. Her face is delicate, fragile.
"Max!"
Her voice is soft and sweet with a slight accent.
Max makes a low sound in his throat. "Why are you barefoot again? I've told you a hundred times the floors are cold."
"I heard the car..."
She whispers it while twisting her shirt between her fingers.
"This is Lily."
That's all he says. Doesn't explain who I am. Doesn't introduce her properly either.
She glances up quickly then looks back down. "Ms. Carter... hi. I'm Emma."
I stare at her.
Young. Pretty. Fragile.
She's exactly what he described. Simple. Needs someone to take care of her.
He said he tried to give her other options. School. A job at his company. So she could support herself.
But she refused. Too scared of strangers, too scared she'd fail, too scared of everything.
All she wanted was to stay in this house, waiting for him to come back or remember she exists.
I'm about to say something when Max just walks over and picks her up.
He calls to the housekeeper. "Martha, get Mrs. Bennett's slippers."
The girl leans into his neck naturally.
I'm frozen, watching him kneel down and put slippers on her feet.
Mrs. Bennett. That title should have been mine.
The way he takes care of her is automatic. His body knows what to do without thinking.
This is years of routine. Pure habit.
The whole time, his tone with her is half annoyed, half gentle. But the way he moves around her is so practiced it's second nature.
The answer has been obvious since the second I walked through that door.
If this wedding happens, it's just going to destroy one more person.
Chapter 3
I'm out of there in under three minutes. "I'm leaving."
Max stands up with me. "Let me walk you out."
We're heading through the hall when some servant stops him about dinner plans. That leaves just me and Emma standing there.
I turn to go, but she blocks my path.
That shy, scared act drops off her face in a second. Now she's smirking at me.
"Get a good look?"
Her voice goes low and nasty. "You think you can just waltz in and replace me? Long as I'm here, you're nothing. Just some side chick waiting to get dumped. Clear?"
I go completely still. She steps even closer, her voice dripping with venom.
"Heard your mom's been mailing out wedding invites to everybody. God, that's embarrassing! How dumb can one woman be? Her daughter's a homewrecker and she's throwing a party about it..."
"Don't you dare."
I whip around, fury burning through me.
I thought she was trapped too. Another person Max had screwed over.
If she wanted to hate me, scream at me, fine. I'd take it.
But my mother? Hell no.
She tilts that pretty little face up at me. "What? Your mom is pathetic. Some desperate old..."
I slap her so hard my palm stings.
Her head whips sideways as tears instantly flood her eyes.
"You hit me?!"
I step right up to her and look down.
"Talk about my mother again. See what happens. Try me."
Max comes running over when he hears the noise. He sees her face all red and swollen, and his expression goes ice cold.
"Lily, you swore you wouldn't start anything."
I meet his eyes directly.
"Ask her what she just said."
Emma's voice comes out all thin and weepy now.
"Max... I... I never..."
I'm so angry at how fast she switches gears.
"Max, she called my mother desperate. Said she was bragging about marrying her daughter off as your mistress! This is your sweet innocent girl?"
Max exhales hard through his nose.
"Okay, maybe she said something stupid. That doesn't mean you hit her. What's wrong with you?"
What's wrong with me?
I watch him shield her with his body. Every bit of anger in me goes numb and cold.
"She trashed my mother and I defended her. That's what's wrong?"
I laugh, but it comes out broken. Tears are already spilling over my cheeks.
"You've been lying to everyone for six years. Playing us both. What do you call that?"
"Stop it!"
He grabs my wrist so tight it hurts. "I already told you everything! What more do you want? Why can't you just deal with it like Emma does?"
He squeezes his eyes shut for a second. "Can we please just talk like adults? You're making a scene. It's humiliating."
I stare at that always so reasonable face and realize there's no point anymore.
I blink hard, forcing the tears back down.
"Max." My voice goes flat. "We're done talking."
He freezes in place. "Wait, you said the wedding..."
"Yeah. Wedding's happening."
I look at his wife standing behind him, then back at his face.
"I deserve some kind of ending after six years, don't I?!"
I used to dream about a wedding where we'd celebrate in front of everyone.
Now I'm just glad it's a performance. Once it's over, I'm gone.
Wedding day arrives with sunny, gorgeous weather.
Mom's in this deep red dress with makeup hiding how tired she really is.
She's beaming at everyone she meets. "My Lily's the luckiest girl alive! Found herself the perfect man. Successful, treats her like a queen..."
Yeah. He sure knows how to treat people.
Six years, and he was perfect to my mom. To everyone's parents he was polite, responsible, solid.
If only he hadn't secretly married some teenager when he was twenty one. I could've actually been happy today.
I swallow the lump in my throat. "Mom, take it easy, okay?"
"I'm fine, baby." She's staring at my dress with this soft look. "You look so beautiful."
The officiant's up on stage doing the whole ceremony speech. Max is next to me in his expensive suit. Everything's going perfectly, right up until we're supposed to exchange rings.
The doors fly open with a loud bang.
This frail looking girl stumbles in like she's about to pass out.
"Max... I'm so scared..."
Then she drops to the floor in a heap.
My heart stops completely.
I catch Mom's face out of the corner of my eye. She's still smiling, but it looks forced now. I shove every feeling down as deep as it'll go.
Max moves like he's about to jump off the stage and run to her. I grab his hand tightly, holding him back.
I look up at him, and I hate how desperate I sound. "Max... twenty minutes. That's it. Just finish this. Someone else can take her to the hospital. My mom is right there watching. Don't make her think I made a mistake... Please. Just finish this."
I try to smile, but I know it looks horrible.
His face twists up in frustration. "Emma might be dying and you want me to stand here for twenty more minutes? You care more about this stupid ceremony than her life?"
Before I can even react, he shoves me backwards hard.
I slam into the champagne tower behind me with glass shattering everywhere.
Everyone in the room gasps out loud.
He's already walking toward the girl on the floor, not even looking back at me.
"Max!"
I scream it with everything I've got left.
I'm clutching my stomach where I hit the table, but I force the words out anyway. "You walk out that door right now, we are done. Forever."
The whole room goes dead silent.
He barely glances back over his shoulder. Doesn't even fully turn around.
"I don't even recognize you right now."
Then he picks Emma up in his arms and walks out the door without another word.
The officiant's just standing there frozen with his mouth hanging open.
My legs give out completely and I hit the ground hard.
The pain in my stomach gets sharper and more intense.
The white dress starts turning red... and there's this awful thudding sound behind me. A body hitting the floor.
Mom's hand, the one that wanted so badly to see me safe and happy before she left, goes completely limp.
