Chapter 1

Two days before the engagement, my fiancé Edward Grant crouched down to adjust my dress. His fingers lightly brushed my ankle.

"Zoe," he said softly, "I've never seen you wear heels. You have such lovely feet."

I was adjusting the waist of my gown in the mirror and answered without much thought, "I'm not used to them. They hurt when I wear them."

"Just try," he urged. "High heels would really complete this look."

His hand slid up along my leg and paused behind my knee.

"Get a pair with red soles," he continued. "When you walk, they'll peek out from under the dress and disappear again as your body sways. You'll look absolutely breathtaking."

I looked up and met his intense, eager gaze in the mirror. "When did you pick up all this?" I asked.

Edward's smile froze, and he quickly looked away. He said, "I flipped through a few fashion magazines."

I didn't say anything.

He leaned in, gently tilting my chin up with his fingers. He asked, "What, you don't believe me?"

His fingertips were warm, but his gaze wavered for a moment.

"Of course I believe you," I said with a smile, tapping his chest with my finger. "I never expected you, a lawyer, to actually study this kind of thing."

Edward leaned down and kissed my forehead. "For you, I'd learn anything. Let me get you some water."

He walked out, leaving his phone behind.

I hesitated for a moment, entered the password, and unlocked it.

After all these years, this was the first time I'd checked his phone. The password was still my birthday. It hadn't changed.

His chat history, photo album, and call logs were all clean.

I let out a sigh of relief and laughed at myself for being so paranoid.

Almost without thinking, my finger hovered over the search bar, and I typed in "red-soled high heels."

It brought up a strange account. There was no profile picture, only a simple username: Stella.

It was blocked, so I couldn't send another friend request.

I remembered the number and switched to my alt account to search for it.

A blurry photo showing someone's side profile appeared, so I sent a friend request.

She accepted right away and messaged me. [Are you a fan?]

My heart tightened, a cold rush flooding through my veins. I replied: [Yeah, I saw you in a magazine and got your contact info from a friend.]

She didn't seem to think much of it and quickly replied: [Thanks for following me. I'm not sure who you are, but it's fine. Happy to have you.]

[I'm Phillip. We met before.] I typed, making it up as I went, my palms breaking out in a cold sweat.

She sent a cute emoji and replied: [Oh, that explains it. Thanks for the love.]

After a quick exchange, I checked out her social media feed.

Her latest posts were all polished selfies and event shots. The girl in the photos had bold, beautiful features and a knockout body.

The backgrounds were mostly upscale restaurants, backstage at runway shows, or the gym. Maybe she was a model.

I kept scrolling until I hit a post from a week ago.

It was a shot of her from behind. Her pose was languid but totally seductive. She was up on her tiptoes, the red soles of her heels peeking out.

This was the only post with a caption: [Thanks for the gift, Mr. G. Love you!]

Mr. G? It felt like an invisible hand was crushing my heart. My breath became heavy.

I pressed my hand over my mouth, terrified I'd burst into tears, but a few ragged sobs still escaped from my throat.

Now, I finally had my answer.

I remembered the mysterious luxury store receipt that popped up at home last week, and he'd been working late lately.

Two days ago, late at night, he was on the balcony, whispering into his phone. The moment he saw me awake, he hung up right away, saying it was an urgent case at the firm.

It all made sense now.

After ten years together, we were so close to our happy ending. I couldn't bring myself to believe that Edward, the man who always loved and protected me, would betray me.

But deep down, a clear voice told me that my fiancé was in love with another woman.