Chapter 2
No one knew that, that night, something in me had already died.
It was my birthday.
For once, Edward was in the mood to celebrate. He said he wanted to take me up the mountain.
Night hiking was the last thing I wanted, but I went anyway.
Michael and Emily came along.
Partway up the trail, it hit me. This was the same route Edward had once taken with the girl he could never forget, Sophia Young.
Michael was polite, but it never went beyond that.
If you looked closer, you could feel the distance.
Cool, measured, faintly condescending.
Emily did not bother to hide it. She barely acknowledged me the entire way. When she did speak, it was only to throw something sharp.
"Grace, are you even sure you can make it to the top? Try not to drag us down."
"Grace, why are you carrying so much? We're here to stargaze, not haul a picnic."
That was just Emily.
No matter what I did, she was never going to like me.
She was always carefree and totally unbothered by anything.
But unexpectedly, she adored Sophia.
I had overheard her on the phone once, calling her in a very sweet, obedient voice.
Sweet, affectionate, a spoiled little sister through and through.
Edward walked beside us. When Emily made her remarks, he did not argue or defend me.
He only glanced at her, calm as ever.
"Cut it out. Keep moving," he said simply.
That was how he had always been.
In the Monroe family, I was an outsider. And the truth was, Edward had never once stood up for me. Not in front of his family, not in front of his friends.
Even now, nothing had changed.
The three of them moved as one, their own small circle. After five years of marriage, I was still kept at a distance.
I never really belonged. Not even a little.
Emily suddenly remembered something and broke into laughter.
"Grace, bet you didn't know. Sophia's back from abroad," she said, barely hiding her excitement.
"This is the mountain where she and my brother made things official, you know.
"Do you think he's been thinking about her?" she teased, her voice playful and a little smug.
Of course I knew she was back.
I also knew she and Edward had already started talking again.
About a month ago, Edward started getting calls from someone he used to know. Over and over again.
He began acting like he was swamped with work.
Some nights, he did not come home at all.
On those nights, I sat alone on the couch, staring at the clock in the living room.
Watching the seconds tick by, I waited in silence.
Sophia was Edward's girlfriend from back in the day.
Back when the Monroe Group was on the brink, she left to study abroad.
I went to my father and begged him to invest. With that money, I pulled the Monroe Group back from collapse.
This marriage was never about love.
I used my family's leverage to buy my place as his wife.
In the years since, Edward had always kept me at a distance. Polite. Controlled. Never warm, never cold. Just enough to keep me from getting close.
I thought if I was patient enough, he might change. That one day, he would come to care for me.
But I forgot—once the girl came back, all the settling and pretending would be laid bare.
By our fifth year of marriage, Sophia's family went under.
She returned home and sought out Edward.
All that distance finally made sense. His heart had never been mine. It had always belonged to someone else.
And me? From beginning to end, I was only ever a stand-in.
I stepped in when he had nothing, knowing I would be the one to disappear once he no longer needed me.