Chapter 1

Ten minutes before I was supposed to walk down the aisle, Adrian Cole's phone rang.

He looked at the screen, and every trace of warmth vanished from his face.

"It's Camille."

That was all he had to say.

His mother, Judith, pressed her lips into a thin line. My maid of honor, Elise, closed her eyes. Even the pianist stopped pretending not to listen.

Everyone in the bridal suite knew what the name Camille meant.

It meant every plan had to change.

It meant Adrian would drop everything and run to her.

And it meant I was expected to smile and be understanding. Again.

He put a hand on my shoulder.

"Nora, she's trapped in the rooftop conservatory at the Beaumont Hotel. She says she can't breathe. I'll take security up there and come right back. I'll be here before the ceremony starts. Ten minutes. I promise."

I looked at the man standing in front of me in his black tuxedo.

The boutonniere I had pinned to his lapel trembled with his hurried breathing.

This was our fourth wedding date.

The first had been canceled because Camille's divorce was finalized that day.

The second, because she had a panic attack at the airport.

The third, because it was the anniversary of her brother's death and she said she couldn't be alone.

Every time, Adrian held my face and said the same thing.

"You know she has no one else. Nora, you're stronger than she is."

It took me years to understand that "strong" was just a word people used when they wanted you to suffer quietly.

"Ten minutes," I repeated.

Relief flashed across Adrian's eyes.

He kissed my forehead, turned, and ran.

I didn't stop him.

At seven, the band began the wedding processional.

At seven ten, the guests started whispering.

At seven thirty, Judith told me to stay in the bridal suite.

She said a bride standing alone at the altar would make the Cole family a laughingstock.

At seven forty-two, the giant screen behind the altar flickered.

The hotel manager had asked the control room to pull up the rooftop security feed so they could locate the missing groom. Someone switched to the wrong source and sent the footage straight to the ballroom screen.

The conservatory was also rented out for private events, so the cameras recorded audio as well as video.

More than two hundred guests saw it at the same time.

Camille was sitting on the conservatory floor with Adrian's tuxedo jacket around her shoulders.

She wasn't struggling to breathe.

She was laughing.

And my cathedral veil was pinned in her hair.

It was the veil Adrian had promised to pick up from the styling suite before the ceremony.

"Stop looking so guilty," Camille teased with a laugh. "I only wanted to see what it felt like to wear it. Nora won't know. She's always too busy making everything perfect to notice little things like this."

Adrian raised a hand and adjusted the veil for her.

"Take it off before we go downstairs," he said.

Camille smiled toward the security camera.

"What if I don't want to?"

More than two hundred guests watched Adrian fall silent.

That silence said more than a kiss ever could.

The ballroom went dead quiet.

I could even hear the beads on Judith's bracelet tap against the back of her chair.

The emcee hurried over and lowered his voice. "Ms. Hale, should we turn off the screen?"

I watched another woman wear my veil while my groom stood beside her.

Then I picked up the microphone.

"No."

"Let everyone see why there won't be a wedding tonight."

Judith shot to her feet.

"Nora! Do you have to make a scene?"

I turned to her.

"Your son made the scene."

"I'm only ending it."

I pulled the wedding ring from my finger and placed it on the silver tray meant to hold our vows.

Then I took the ceremonial scissors from the ribbon-cutting table and cut the short veil away from my comb.

The moment the fabric fell to the floor, the entire room gasped.

"Please stay and enjoy dinner," I told the guests. "The Cole family will cover every expense tonight."

Judith's face went white.

Then my phone rang.

Adrian.

I answered and put him on speaker.

"Nora." He was breathing hard. "I'm coming down now. Don't overreact."

I looked at the ring on the silver tray.

"You don't need to come down."

"Your bride is already upstairs."

Then I hung up.