Chapter 1

Three years ago, Alexander Ford, the golden heir of Harbor City, found me on his private beach. I had no memory of who I was.

He gave me the name Eve and told me I was his mermaid, a gift from the sea.

He spoiled me until I couldn't survive without him. He took me to see the Northern Lights, and to ski in the Alps, and dropped a fortune at auction on a sapphire that symbolized "eternal love."

"If I, Alexander Ford, ever betray you in this life, may I lose everyone I love and die alone." That was the vow he swore to the ocean when he proposed on the shore.

The night before our wedding, I bumped my head by accident, and my memories came flooding back.

I wanted to surprise him after the ceremony, but right as we exchanged rings, a phone call from some woman drained every trace of color from his face.

His eyes held a panic and resolve I had never seen before. "Eve, the wedding is off."

I watched him walk away without looking back, and a sharp, twisting pain ripped through my chest.

At least my memories had returned. I was no longer the girl who couldn't survive without Alexander.

*****

Alexander turned me into the laughingstock of Harbor City for another woman.

I stared at the wedding venue I had decorated with my own hands, and all I felt was bitter irony.

Alexander's mother, Jennifer Ford, rushed over and slipped a diamond bracelet onto my wrist. "Eve, Alexander is an absolute bastard. I'll make this right for you, sweetheart."

I gently pulled my hand away.

The warmth that once comforted me now only sharpened the ache in my chest.

"It's all right, Mrs. Ford. You don't have to."

She didn't push. She just looked at me for a long, quiet moment.

I turned and walked away from it all.

Back home, I waited for Alexander to give me an explanation.

But I ended up falling asleep on the couch.

I jolted awake at four in the morning.

Outside the window, the crabapple blossoms were in full bloom under the moonlight.

Alexander once told me that those flowers were like me. They needed his company through the night.

Now the flowers were still awake, but he was nowhere to be found.

The front door of the villa swung open.

Alexander walked in carrying a woman in his arms. She was fragile, and her features bore an unsettling resemblance to mine.

"Eve, go make some hot chocolate." He barely glanced at me before giving the order, his eyes heavy with exhaustion.

He only had eyes for the woman in his arms. He had already forgotten I was allergic to chocolate.

I watched in silence as he carried her upstairs, biting down on my lip so hard it nearly bled, refusing to let a single tear fall.

A sip of hot chocolate splashed onto my hands, and angry red welts bloomed across my skin within seconds.

Half an hour later, I carried the hot chocolate upstairs.

The master bedroom door was wide open. He was tucking the blanket around that woman.

I stood frozen in the doorway, staring at the wedding decorations still draped across our bridal suite. The sight burned my eyes.

This was supposed to be our wedding day, but another woman was lying in our marriage bed.

He took the bowl from my hands, and his voice softened to a tenderness I had never once heard him use.

"Careful, Evelyn. It's hot."

Evelyn Hart. Every muscle in my body locked, and a wave of ice-cold dread washed over me.

The humiliation hit me like a wall.

So my entire existence was nothing but a monument to how much he missed this woman.

Every whispered "Eve" in the heat of passion was never meant for me.

"So why is it 'Eve'? Why did you give me that name?" I once curled up in his arms and asked.

He told me it was just a pet name. It was cute.

I didn't think twice about it. I believed him.

A crushing pain ripped through my chest. I pressed my hand over my heart, gasping for air, and stumbled out of the room.

My hands shook as I fired off messages, asking everyone I could think of. Not a single person would tell me anything about this woman.

In the end, the only person who responded was Megan Summers, who had never liked me to begin with.

"You finally figured it out? Gosh, you're pathetic. You only exist because Alexander could never have the one he really wanted. You were just a stand-in for Evelyn Hart."

My tears fell silently onto the screen.

Everyone had known all along. I was the only fool living inside his lie.

"Olivia, it's time for me to come home." I dialed her number, one I hadn't called in three years, and my voice was steady.

My sister, Olivia Quinn, was silent for a long time. When she finally spoke, her voice was low and measured. "Three days. I'm coming to get you."