Chapter 1

It was 1 AM when my fiancé, David Quinn, came to pick me up from my night shift at the hospital.

His assistant, Emily Stone, was already sitting in the front seat. She had his cashmere scarf wrapped around her neck and was holding the thermos I bought him.

When she saw me, she rolled the window down halfway. "Nora, I'm really sorry. My stomach hurts. If I sit in the back, I'll throw up."

David stayed in the driver's seat. He didn't get out. "Emily had some tests done. She's not feeling well. You're both women. Cut her some slack."

I gripped the door handle. The smell of hand sanitizer was still fresh on my skin. "Then where am I supposed to sit?"

David frowned. "In the back."

Emily immediately turned her head. "Nora, do you want the front? I can try to tough it out in the back." She said that, but she pulled her seatbelt tighter.

David's voice turned cold. "Nora, don't give her a hard time. She's a patient."

"Okay." I nodded and closed the car door softly.

He probably thought I would get in the back. Instead, I turned and walked straight back into the hospital.

Five minutes later, I sent him a message: [We're done. The wedding is off.]

Then I turned off my phone, went to the break room, and grabbed my ID and bank card from my locker.

My coworker Olivia Reed came out of the break room with a cup of coffee. When she saw me walking out with my bag, she nearly spilled it on her shoes. "Didn't you just get off work? Didn't David come pick you up?"

"He did," I replied.

"Then why are you back?" she asked.

I draped my white coat over the back of a chair. "He had someone in the front seat."

Olivia blinked. "That's it? Because of the front seat?"

I looked out the window at the black car still parked outside the ER. The two people inside were leaning close together. "Yeah. Because of the front seat."

She opened her mouth, but then closed it. Olivia knew how I was. I didn't share toothbrushes. I didn't mix up cups. And I didn't let anyone test my limits in a relationship.

David knew that too. We had been together for five years. Half the wedding invitations were already sent. And seven days before the wedding, he let another woman sit in my spot.

This was never about a spot. He let someone else cross my lines, and then expected me to bow my head and clean up the mess.

I wasn't going to do as he wanted.

The automatic doors to the ER slid open. David walked in fast, his jacket over his arm, his collar messy. Emily was right behind him, still wearing his scarf.

"Nora, are you done causing drama?" His voice wasn't loud, but it was enough for the nurse at triage and everyone in the waiting area to hear.

Emily tugged at his sleeve. "Mr. Quinn, please, don't do this. It's all my fault. I'll take the back seat, really."

I looked at her. "You can sit in the back now."

Her eyes immediately welled up with tears.

David stepped in front of her. "She's got a stomachache. Do you really have to make a scene right now?"

"Make a scene over what?" I turned my phone back on, the screen full of missed calls from him. "Am I supposed to fight over your front seat, your scarf, or that cup you let her hold?"

David followed my gaze. His face went stiff for a second. I had waited in line for hours last year to get that thermos. His name was on the lid. Mine was on the bottom.

Emily hugged it even tighter. "I had no idea you got it for Mr. Quinn, Nora. He said the car was cold and told me to hold it for warmth."

David said, "It's just a cup."

I laughed. "It's just a wedding, just a fiancée, and just five years. Doesn't matter, huh?"

People in the waiting area gasped.

David's face darkened. "Nora, the wedding isn't only about you. The invites are out. The venue is booked. Everyone already knows. You cannot cancel."

I said, "Watch me."

"Don't threaten me with the wedding," he said.

"I'm not threatening you," I said, slipping the engagement ring off my finger and placing it on the suggestion box by the triage desk. "I'm letting you know."

He stared at the ring, as if I'd said something completely absurd.

Emily stepped forward, her voice shaking. "Nora, please don't do this. I never wanted to get between you two. I had a stomachache, and Mr. Quinn was taking care of me. Why are you going this far?"

I looked at her. "If your stomach hurts, go to gastroenterology. Not my fiancé's passenger seat."

She choked on her words.

David reached out to grab me. "Let's go home and talk."

I stepped back. "That's not only your home either."

He missed and finally lost his temper. "Nora, you are almost thirty. Who do you think you will find if you leave me?"

Olivia set her coffee down on the table and let out a cold laugh. "Mr. Quinn, the ER isn't open for idiots tonight."

David didn't even spare her a glance, his eyes locked on me. "Say you're sorry now, and I'll act like this never happened."

I pulled out the wedding company contract from my bag. "Tomorrow at nine, I'll be getting the deposit back. And I'll take all my stuff out of our place."

Emily suddenly coughed, doubled over, clutching her stomach.

David rushed to help her. "Can you stop stressing her out?"

I grabbed the ring from the table and shoved it into David's suit pocket. "If she passes out at the ER door, make sure you check her in."

He stayed with Emily and didn't follow me.