Chapter 1 For five years, I've worn a ring without a ceremony. No flowers. No aisle. No promises before family and friends. Just a paper contract that my husband Troy had gotten for us. We didn't appear in the marriage hall because he told me he'd deal with it after… but it never came. I still remember asking him about it just last week. "Troy… maybe this year we could finally have the wedding ceremony?" I had asked while folding his shirts, trying to sound casual, as if my heart wasn't clinging to every word. "For our fifth anniversary? Maybe, we can do it already?" He didn't even look up from his laptop. "What for? We're already married. Ceremonies are for people who need to prove something." "But you promised," I whispered. "You said when things get better-" "And you're being childish," he snapped. "Drop it, Taylor. It's just a waste of money. We're tigh now!" And like always, I let it go. But not until today. Today was our fifth wedding anniversary. Troy had said he was too busy to celebrate-that work was piling up and he couldn't afford to spare even a few hours. I believed him. Like always. I told myself it didn't matter. I'd still cook his favorite meal, light a candle or two, and surprise him when he got home. It wasn't much, but it was something. A small way to honor the five years I thought we had built together. A quiet reminder that even if there was no ceremony, I still carried the day in my heart. So I had gone to the market early, choosing every ingredient carefully. I even bought flowers- white lilies, the kind he said he liked the first time he visited my apartment. I cradled them close, excited, despite his dismissal. I was almost home, just a block away, when I passed by the city hall. I wasn't supposed to look. But something made me pause. A sudden instinct. The pull of something wrong. I turned. That's when I saw them. Troy. And Vanessa? My sister, who has been missing for five years? They were stepping out of the building, laughing, her arm wrapped around his like a scene from a twisted déjà vu. I blinked. Froze. I nearly dropped the bags in my hands. Vanessa held a piece of paper in her hands. A marriage certificate. My stomach churned. "Are you sure it was okay for us to get this certificate?" she asked, her voice laced with concern. "What about my sister, Taylor? You're still married." Troy didn't even hesitate. "I don't care about her. Our marriage was a fake one, which is why I never brought her to the marriage hall. This-this is the real one. Now that you're back, I'm going to dispose of her soon." Vanessa gasped. "Is that true, Troy? You still love me… even after I ran away from you five years ago? I'm sorry! I really regretted that." Troy turned to her, smiling in that gentle way he used to smile at me. "Of course. It's always been Chapter 1 2:54 pm you… and you don't have to be sorry. I understand why you left you. You weren't just ready, and now you are." He kissed her in the lips. Tears started to well my eyes. "And my sister?" she asked, as if she needed more knives to push into my chest. "Did you ever love her?" He scoffed. "Never. She was just convenient. She looked like you. She was my bed warmer. That's all." I couldn't breathe. The world tilted under my feet. My vision blurred and my knees threatened to give out. Five years ago, they were supposed to get married. Vanessa and Troy. Everyone had flown in for the grand wedding. But she got cold feet-ran away the morning of the ceremony. No warning. No note. Just disappeared. Troy was devastated. I was heartbroken for him… and for myself. That night, I found him drunk in a bar, tears running down his face. I sat with him. Listened to his pain. And before I knew it, his lips found mine. A week later, he asked me to marry him. I said yes. Because I thought I was helping him heal. Because I thought I was in love. Because I thought I mattered. But now I saw the truth. Every soft kiss, every shared laugh, every whispered "I love you" in the dark-it was all pretend. A cruel performance. And just when I thought my heart couldn't shatter more- Two more voices joined them. Travis. Van. My older brothers. "Got the certificate already?" Travis asked Troy, grinning. "You move fast." "What about the wedding ceremony?" Van laughed. "Let's just make sure Taylor doesn't find out yet. She'll throw a fit. Maybe we send her abroad or something." I gripped the wall beside me, my nails digging into the cold stone. Travis added, "Let's just get rid of her soon. She's too emotional." They all laughed. Loud. Carefree. The same brothers who swore they'd never forgive Vanessa after she ran out on the family. The same ones who promised to always protect me. Now they were conspiring to erase me. I felt the weight of shame fall over my shoulders. I wasn't just betrayed. I was a joke. I turned. My legs moved on their own. I ran-past the sidewalk, past the stores, past the ringing in my ears. My lungs burned. My vision tunneled. I couldn't stop the tears blurring my sight. And then- A horn blared. Tires screeched. A heavy force slammed into me. The world went black.