Chapter 2

I stood outside the glass doors of Spencer Industries, my hand trembling as I reached for the handle. Twenty-four hours ago, I'd been a woman preparing for her wedding. Now I was walking into an office where my boyfriend's new wife would be sitting at the desk across from mine.

The elevator ride to the fifteenth floor felt endless. Each floor that passed gave me another moment to imagine what awaited me—Charlie's smug smile, Donald's expectant look, the whispered conversations that would follow me down every hallway.

The doors opened with their familiar ding, and I stepped into the reception area. Everything looked exactly the same—the polished marble floors, the company logo gleaming on the wall, the scent of expensive coffee from the break room. But nothing would ever be the same again.

"Ashley!" Charlie's voice rang out across the office space, sickeningly sweet. "There you are! I was wondering when you'd be in."

I turned to see her practically glowing behind her desk, her left hand positioned prominently as she typed, the diamond catching the morning light. She'd changed her nameplate overnight. Where "Charlie Wright" had sat for two years, now gleamed a fresh brass plate reading "Charlotte Spencer."

"Good morning, Charlie," I managed, my voice steadier than I felt.

"It's Mrs. Spencer now, actually." She held up her hand, wiggling her fingers so the ring sparkled. "I know it's going to take some getting used to, but Donald thinks it's important for client relationships that I use my married name professionally."

The casual cruelty of it hit me like a physical blow. She wasn't just flaunting her new status—she was erasing mine. For ten years, I'd been the woman everyone expected to see that nameplate on. Now she wore it like a trophy.

"Of course," I said, walking past her toward my own desk. "How thoughtful of him."

The morning crawled by in a haze of forced normalcy. I answered emails, reviewed design proofs, and pretended not to notice how Charlie answered her phone with a breathless "Spencer Industries, this is Mrs. Spencer speaking" every single time. By lunch, I wanted to scream.

That's when Donald finally emerged from his office.

"Ashley, could I see you for a moment?"

I followed him into the glass-walled space that had always felt like a second home. He closed the door behind us, and for a moment, we just stared at each other.

"You look tired," he said finally.

"I wonder why." I crossed my arms, not bothering to hide my anger anymore.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair—the same gesture that used to make my heart flutter. Now it just annoyed me. "Look, I know yesterday was... unexpected. But nothing has to change between us, Ash. Charlie understands the situation."

"What situation, Donald? That you married someone else while I waited for you at the courthouse?"

"It's complicated—"

"No, it's really not." I moved toward his desk, my eyes catching on something I'd never noticed before. A small brass key sat in the corner, partially hidden under some papers. "What's that?"

His face went pale. "What's what?"

But I was already reaching for it, my designer's eye catching the way it didn't match any of the other office fixtures. "This key. What's it for?"

"Ashley, don't—"

But I was already turning toward the antique wooden filing cabinet in the corner, the one he'd bought at an estate sale years ago. The one with the bottom drawer that never seemed to open. I slid the key into the lock, and it turned with a soft click.

The drawer slid open, and my world tilted again.

Inside lay a carefully curated collection of memories that had nothing to do with me. Love letters in Charlie's handwriting, dated from college. Photographs of them together at parties I'd never heard about. A dried rose, brown with age, wrapped in tissue paper. A small velvet box that made my stomach lurch.

"Ashley, I can explain—"

I picked up one of the letters, my hands shaking as I read the date. Three years ago. Right in the middle of what I'd thought was our happiest time together.

"You kept all of this," I whispered. "All these years, while I was planning our future, you were keeping shrines to her."

"It's not like that—"

"When did it start again?" I turned to face him, the letter still clutched in my hand. "When did you start seeing her behind my back?"

His silence was answer enough.

The office door opened, and Charlie walked in without knocking. "Donnie, the Starlight Industries people are here for the three o'clock meeting. Should I—" She stopped short, seeing the open drawer, the scattered mementos, my tear-stained face.

A slow smile spread across her lips. "Oh. I see you found Donald's memory box."

The casual way she said it, like it was perfectly normal for my boyfriend to keep love letters from another woman, made something inside me snap. But before I could respond, Donald was already moving toward the conference room.

"We'll deal with this later," he said, straightening his tie. "Right now, we have a presentation to give."

I stared at him, then at Charlie, then at the scattered pieces of a relationship I'd never really understood. And slowly, I began to laugh.