Chapter 1

[If there were eight Swiss rolls, how many would you give me?]

I hit send and went back to setting up my confession. The fairy lights were only half-strung, but I couldn't stop smiling.

The Johnsons took me in when I was eight, and I'd been in love with Andrew ever since. Ten years of watching him from across the dinner table, ten years of pretending my heart didn't race when he said my name.

But last week, he came to my room drunk, and everything changed. The way he touched my face, the things he whispered—I finally knew he felt it too.

My phone buzzed. A ten-second voice message. I pressed play.

"Sophie! Andrew says I can have all eight Swiss rolls!" Emily's voice was bright and bubbly. "And not just those—he's going to take me around the world to try every dessert. Isn't he the best?"

The fairy lights blurred in my vision. My hands went numb. Emily Reed. His new assistant. The girl who'd been at the company for three weeks.

Another message popped up. I opened it on autopilot.

"Sophie." Andrew's voice was cold and clipped. "Stop sending me these testing messages. Emily doesn't like it, and I won't have you making my girlfriend uncomfortable."

A loud smacking sound followed—a kiss, probably. Her reward for his loyalty.

I stood there for a long time, staring at the half-finished setup. The fairy lights suddenly looked cheap and desperate. I tore them down one by one, and the little plastic stars scattered across the floor like broken promises.

Ten years. I'd spent ten years loving him, and it all meant nothing.

*****

The rain came down hard and fast, soaking everything in seconds.

I sat in the middle of the venue and played that voice message over and over again, each word making it harder to breathe.

A few days ago, Andrew had handed me a stack of resumes and asked me to help him pick a reliable assistant.

I'd chosen Emily Reed right away. She had the brightest smile in all the photos.

Now I thought about how quickly Andrew had approved my choice that day, and I couldn't help but laugh. It tasted bitter.

It turned out I wasn't picking his assistant. I was picking his wife.

I covered my face with both hands and finally let myself break down.

One of the security guards came over and patted my shoulder. He sighed and said, "Hey, getting rejected isn't the end of the world. You should head home."

He helped me stand up, and I stumbled out of the venue in a daze.

I flagged down a taxi and gave the driver Andrew's address without a second thought. Halfway there, I realized what I'd done and told him to stop.

But after sitting there for a long moment, I told him to keep going.

After my parents died, Andrew took me in and raised me. His house was the only home I had. I didn't have anywhere else to go.

When we arrived, the driver handed me an umbrella. I thanked him and walked toward the villa.

I thanked him politely and headed into the villa.

I pushed open the door, and what I saw made my blood run cold.

Emily was sitting in Andrew's lap, wearing a ridiculously short nightgown. Andrew was breaking off pieces of the Swiss roll I'd mentioned earlier today and feeding them to her.

The sound of the door caught their attention. Emily slowly bit off the piece of Swiss roll from Andrew's fingers, then blinked at me and apologized in an innocent tone.

"Sophie, I'm so sorry. This Swiss roll was just too good, and I forgot to save you a piece. You're not mad at me, are you? How about I have Andrew go buy you some more?"

I steadied myself and locked eyes with Andrew.

His gaze stayed fixed on Emily. He didn't even glance my way.

I looked away and forced a smile. "It's just a box of Swiss rolls. What's the big deal? I can buy my own."

Emily looked at me, then turned to Andrew with this sweet, harmless smile. "Andrew, looks like your thoughtfulness only matters when it's for me. Sophie doesn't care at all!"

Andrew shot me a cold look and let out a mocking laugh. "My thoughtfulness isn't for just anyone."

The smile I'd been holding onto almost cracked.

I looked away stiffly and instinctively moved toward my room.

"Stop." Andrew's gaze landed on me and pinned me in place.

Andrew grabbed a stack of papers from the couch and tossed them onto the coffee table.

I stared at them, confused. "Andrew, what's this about?"

He glanced at me, and his brow furrowed. "Soph, we're siblings, right?"

My eyes burned instantly, and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Siblings? Since when have we ever called ourselves that?"

When I was little, I'd follow Andrew around, clutching my doll and begging him to pick me up.

He was a teenager then, and his voice was always so serious when he told me we weren't siblings. That's why I'd always seen him as something else, something more.

Andrew's voice was cold now. "The past is the past. I have a girlfriend now, and this isn't appropriate anymore."

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

Emily stood up from Andrew's side and picked up the stack of papers.

She placed them in front of me, and her voice was sickeningly sweet. "Sophie, you're an interior designer, so tell me, which of these styles looks better? Andrew and I need to pick a design for our wedding home."

I gripped the design papers without thinking, and my heart felt like it was being crushed.

I looked down, and my stomach dropped. Every single sheet was mine—my own hand-drawn sketches.

These were the designs I'd made for us, for the home I'd imagined we'd share after I confessed my feelings to him.

But now he was marrying someone else, and he wanted to use my sketches to decorate their wedding home.