A 12-Year Love Turned to Nothing

On June nineteenth—the day my boyfriend and I had planned to get our marriage license—he vanished without a word. It wasn't until that night that I stumbled across a post on his social media. He'd forgotten to block me from seeing it. "From twenty to twenty-eight, our youth: signed, sealed, delivered." The photo attached showed two marriage certificates. In the wedding picture beside it, a girl I didn't recognize leaned into his shoulder, beaming. Furious, I opened the comments to demand an explanation, and found my best friend's message waiting there instead. [Congratulations to the old flames who finally found their way back to each other!] My chest went tight. My hands shook as I called her. After a long silence, she finally told me the truth. "Yeah. They've been together for eight years. Everyone already knew. We didn't hide it to hurt you. We were just scared you'd make a scene. "Alice and Chase were always the better match. It wasn't easy for them to get to where they are today. Why make things hard on another woman? Just be the bigger person." The tears that fell were cold as ice, but where they landed, they burned straight through me. Twelve years together, and for eight of them, Chase Peterson had loved someone else. Everyone had known. They'd just all agreed to keep it from me. Chapter 1 I kept scrolling through the comments like I was trying to hurt myself. Beyond my best friend, plenty of our other mutual friends had left their congratulations. [Alice's a great girl. If you ever treat her wrong, man, I'll be the first one to come after you myself!] That one was from Chase's closest friend. Just last week, he'd greeted me warmly, calling me "Mrs. Peterson" like it was second nature. [So happy for you, man, marrying the girl you love most! We're not going home sober tonight!] That one was my old roommate from college. [Let's keep the celebration among us. For my brother and Alice's happiness, everybody keep this quiet. Don't let a certain someone find out.] That one was Chase's older sister, Susanne Peterson. Years ago, when she'd needed money for a business venture, she'd borrowed eleven thousand dollars from me and told me I was the only future sister-in-law she'd ever wanted. [Don't worry, our lips are sealed! For the prince and princess's happiness, we'd never let the witch find out!] That one was the company's newly hired assistant, a sweet but scatterbrained girl who'd nearly gotten fired more than once. I was the one who'd put in a good word for her and coached her through the basics until she made it past her probation period. I lifted my chin, stubborn, and forced the tears back down. Everyone had known that Chase had been with another girl for eight years. And every single one of them had agreed, without a word passing between them, to keep it from me. I was the "certain someone" in their private group chats. The witch who'd ruin the prince and princess's happy ending. A joke. My phone refreshed, and Chase's post vanished from his profile. A second later, it rang. Chase—missing for an entire day—was calling. "Sorry, baby. There was a huge bug in the company's system today. I've been slammed until just now. Haven't even looked at my phone. "Things are crazy at work lately. Let's hold off on the marriage license for now. "Oh, and baby—did you see anything interesting on social media today?" His voice was tight, fishing for something so clumsily it was almost funny. I forced myself to answer evenly. "I tried calling you all day, and it wouldn't go through. I've been at the hospital with my mom. When would I have had time to scroll through anything? "Go ahead and handle your work. About the marriage license... we'll talk about it whenever you're free." Last year, my mother had been diagnosed with stage-4 stomach cancer. The doctors said that, in the best case, she had three more years. Her only wish was to see me married to Chase before I turned thirty. Today was June nineteenth. It was also my thirtieth birthday. Right now, my mother was lying in her hospital bed, hoping to see her daughter and son-in-law's brand-new marriage certificate. I'd never be able to give her that wish now. Because Chase already belonged to someone else. I sank down against the wall, curling into myself as small as I could. My tears splattered against the phone screen, blurring the bold black text into a smear of light. I wiped the screen dry and quietly noted down where they were celebrating. The Golden Petal. Private room 302. Chapter 2 I pushed open the door to the private room, and a shower of delicate, glittering ribbon confetti drifted straight into my face. Through the gaps in the shimmering paper, I saw Chase locked in a deep, absorbed kiss with the girl beside him. A crowd of friends I knew well held up their phones, capturing the sweet moment for posterity. Whatever beauty existed in that scene shattered the second I walked in. At the sight of me, the whole room drew a sharp breath. People looked away in a panic, and no one dared meet my eyes. The girl glanced at Chase, confused. "Babe, is she a friend of yours too? Why'd everyone go quiet the second she walked in?" "Alice, she's—" I didn't give Chase the chance to finish. I stared straight at Alice Foster. "I'm Chase Peterson's girlfriend. I know you two have been together eight years. But he and I have been together twelve. If you don't believe me, I can show you the videos in my photo album." I opened the album, and twelve years of moments spilled out in front of everyone. At the pep rally before our high school finals, Chase—giving a speech as the student representative—had confessed to me in front of the entire school. "The truth is, my dream was never just Kingsley University. It was always Nora Sutton." On the lawn at college, Chase and I had been walking hand in hand when he suddenly dropped to one knee and slid a one-carat diamond ring onto my finger. It hadn't been expensive—just under three thousand dollars—but it was every cent a broke student had saved up since he was young. "Someday," he'd said, "I'll get you a bigger one." In a cramped rented apartment, a drunk Chase had held me and cried until his face was a mess, then made me pull out my phone and film him while he swore, "In this lifetime, I'm going to give Nora a good life. For as long as I live, I will only ever love Nora." At the party celebrating his company's IPO, all our friends had shown up. Chase and I stood at the center of the crowd, and the teasing came in waves. "Hey, lover boy, isn't it about time you gave our princess Nora a home?" Chase hadn't even looked at the camera—his eyes were only on me. "Yeah. The wedding house is already being renovated. The day Nora turns thirty, we're getting our marriage license." Today was my thirtieth birthday. On my birthday—on the very day we'd promised to get married—he'd vanished for an entire day. Gone to get a marriage license with another girl instead. The last video ended. The huge room went so quiet that even our breathing sounded jarring. Everyone here was someone I knew—my best friend, my friends. They'd all witnessed this relationship from the start. Not one of them was innocent of betraying it. When the videos finished, Alice's eyes had gone red. Chase stepped forward like some kind of prince, planting himself firmly between me and Alice, shielding her, and looked at me like a man ready to die for his cause. "Nora, that's enough. "Whatever's wrong here, it's all on me. I couldn't let go of my feelings for you, and at the same time, I fell hopelessly in love with Alice. You're innocent in this. So is she. "Take out whatever anger you have on me. Don't take it out on her." Alice stepped halfway out from behind Chase. She screwed up her courage and looked at me with the bearing of a woman fully secure in her place. "Anyone would fall apart after something like this. I understand how you must feel. "But no matter what, Chase and I are already legally married. He's my husband, I'm his wife, and whatever happens now, we face it together. "Chase's a good, responsible man. Whatever you want, just say it, and we'll do our best to compensate you financially." Financial compensation? Twelve years of my life, and all I was owed was some flimsy financial compensation? I was about to explode when my best friend cut in first with a couple of pointed coughs. "Nora, that's enough. Honestly, neither Alice nor Chase did anything wrong. Love doesn't play fair. Who's still keeping score of who came first? "I'm telling you this because I actually care about you. Walk away now and everyone keeps their dignity, and you can still walk away with a decent settlement. Make too big a scene, and who's going to want to marry you after this?" I stared at my best friend, stunned. My throat felt like it had been filled with lead—too heavy to push out a single word. Right behind her came Chase's sister, Susanne, and the rest of our mutual friends. "Nora, sweetie, you're a good girl. But Alice's an even better one. If this were a different era, I'd want you both as my sisters-in-law. But this is the modern world, and Chase's bound to fail one of you either way—" "Nora, I can tell Chase loves Alice down to his bones. Otherwise, he wouldn't have married her instead of you. It's done. Just let it go." Chase and Alice stood pressed together, and everyone else lined up behind them, forming an unbroken wall, all facing the same direction—against me. And I was the "outsider" they were all facing off against. Like a sponge wrung completely dry, I suddenly had no fight left in me. I slid the ring—already dulled with tarnish—off my finger and set it gently on the table. I was giving it back. Along with twelve years of my youth, my love, and my friendships. "Fine. I'm out." Chapter 3 "Nora!" Chase called out to me, urgent, but I didn't slow down, didn't look back. I caught a cab to the hospital. My mother, Gina Sutton, looked so much better today—there was actual color back in her face. She handed me a peeled apple, her eyes bright. "Nora, how did the marriage registration photo turn out? Come on, show me." My throat closed up, and my nose stung with the effort of holding back tears. I had no idea how to explain any of this to her. I couldn't bear to let her know the truth. Just as I was gathering the courage to tell her, the door opened, and Chase walked in. He sat down at the edge of the bed and started rubbing my mother's shoulders with the same easy devotion he'd shown for ten years straight, his voice warm and low. "Nora thought the registration photo came out badly, so she sent it back to get retouched. We'll get the license in a couple days, and we'll show you then, Mom." Chase had just switched, without missing a beat, from calling her "ma'am" to calling her "Mom." My mother was so moved her eyes welled up, and for a moment, she didn't notice how wrong everything felt between us. I pulled Chase out into the hallway, my face set. "I already walked away. What more do you want from me?" Chase reached out, gently and with practiced familiarity, and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. He looked at me and sighed. "Nora. Twelve years together—can you really just let that go?" What did it matter whether I could let it go? He already belonged to someone else. I glared at him, my eyes burning, and let out a cold laugh. "Whether I can or can't, I have to." I turned to walk away. Chase stepped in front of me, blocking my path. He gripped my shoulders, then suddenly, like something in him had snapped, crushed me against his chest. "But I can't let you go." He held me too tight. I shoved against him with everything I had, and still couldn't break free. "Back in college, when I was saving up to buy you that ring, I worked part-time at a coffee shop. That's where I met Alice. "She was shy, blushed the second anyone talked to her, and men kept harassing her. I helped her out a lot, and we got close. "One time, a customer slipped something into her drink at a hotel bar. I ran in to save her, and out of nowhere, she kissed me. I couldn't stop myself, and... "I thought about cutting things off with her. But Alice was innocent in all this. My conscience wouldn't let me hurt her—it told me I owed her something instead. "All these years, she's stayed by my side with no title, no promises. She never cried, never made a scene, never fought for more. I'm the one who wronged her. I had to make it right with a marriage certificate." So twelve years and eight years hadn't just been two numbers that happened to overlap. While I'd been grinning like an idiot over a diamond ring, Chase had been wrapped up in another woman's arms. While I'd been in our tiny rented apartment making his favorite sticky barbecue ribs, waiting for him to come home, he'd been eating food some other girl had cooked for him. Countless moments where I'd felt nothing but happiness had actually been moments of betrayal. "Enough! I don't want to hear another word about how you two hooked up. Get away from me!" Crying, I sank my teeth into Chase's shoulder. The taste of blood filled my mouth. He shuddered with the pain but didn't fight me off. Chase bore through it, gently stroking the top of my head. "I gave the marriage certificate to Alice, sure. But everything else—whatever she gets, you'll get more. "Love, money, my time, taking care of your mother like she's my own—none of that shrinks just because Alice and I are married. "Actually, there's a new medication overseas that's shown real results treating late-stage stomach cancer. Nora, when should we take your mom to try it?" I closed my eyes, drained, and stopped biting. All these years, Chase really had been good to me. If it weren't for Alice Foster's existence, I might have been the happiest woman alive. Anything I wanted, Chase bought for me without ever checking the price. Anywhere I wanted to go, he came with me, dropping business deals without a second thought. When my mother got sick, he'd taken care of everything himself, staying up late into the night discussing treatment plans with the doctors. The staggering medical bills had always been Chase footing the cost. I couldn't walk away from Chase. At least, not until my mother got better. Chapter 4 Life seemed to fall back into its old rhythm. I still lived in the apartment Chase had bought for our future together—working during the day, and heading to the hospital every evening to look after my mother. He was busy with his new bride and barely reached out to me anymore. Not hearing from him was, if anything, a relief. After work, I bought a box of my mother's favorite meat pies and brought them to the hospital. I walked into her room to find two young women already seated around her bed. I rushed forward, eager, and when they turned around, I saw it was my best friend, Olivia Carter, and Alice. My voice came out shaking. "Olivia, why did you bring her here?" My mother smiled at me. "Ollie was worried I'd get bored, so she brought her friend along to keep me company. "I've never met Alice before today, but I like her already. Such a sweet, pretty girl, and her husband's out there cheating on her with some homewrecker. Disgusting. "Alice, honey, listen to me—women like that always get what's coming to them." Alice rose slowly to her feet and walked over to stand in front of me. She gave me a look that was all smile and no warmth, then turned back to my mother, her voice gentle and utterly merciless. "You're right, ma'am. Homewreckers always get what's coming to them. "So when's your daughter's turn? Oh, wait—she's already gotten hers. It just happened to land on you instead. Stage-four stomach cancer. I'd say that's a fair trade." My mother went white as a sheet, forcing her weakened body upright to glare at Alice. "What are you talking about?" My best friend, righteous fury written all over her face, pulled out two marriage certificates and flung them straight at my mother's face. "Alice's not lying. Nora really is a mistress!" "Look—Alice and Chase are already legally married. They're the real husband and wife here. Nora knows perfectly well that Chase has a wife, and she's still shamelessly living in his apartment, spending his money to cover your medical bills—money that belongs to a married couple! Alice has every right to take it back!" June nineteenth. Her little girl's birthday. My mother stared, frozen, at the date printed on the marriage certificate, and then coughed up a mouthful of blood. "Mom!" I lunged for the call button in tears, but my best friend and Alice grabbed me and held me back together. Alice let out a cold laugh. "Your own mother just said it herself—filthy homewreckers deserve what they get. If she doesn't get punished today, you'll never learn your lesson, and you'll just keep coming after my husband! "Good riddance if she dies. Chase's money doesn't grow on trees. Why should he have to pay for the two of you leeching off him?" I begged my best friend to save my mother, pleading, but all I got back was a sneer of contempt. "Best friend? I don't do best friends with filthy mistresses. Alice's my real best friend now. "You've spent your whole life trying to one-up me—prettier than me, better grades than me, even a better boyfriend than me. That fake, holier-than-thou act of yours has always made me sick. Nobody wants your charity. Everything happening to you right now is exactly what you deserve!" I stumbled back a step, my ears ringing. So this whole time, everything I'd done for her, she'd seen as nothing but charity. I'd thought we were friends. She'd always seen us as enemies. Before I could say another word, the two of them pinned me to the ground, and I could only watch, helpless, as my mother began convulsing violently on the bed. On the heart monitor, her pulse spiked into a frantic, jagged rhythm—then slowly flattened into a single, unbroken green line. My mother was gone. Something in me snapped. I wrenched myself free of their grip, grabbed the knife my mother always used to peel my apples, and lunged at the two of them. They were going to pay for my mother's life with their own. "Nora, have you lost your mind?!" Chase burst through the door just in time to see the tail end of it, with none of the context. He roared and charged at me, throwing himself between me and Alice without a shred of fear, using his own body as a shield. A split second before the blade hit his chest, I twisted my wrist at the last possible moment. The knife plunged into my own chest instead. Blood sprayed across Chase's face. Chase clutched me to him, howling in agony. "Nora!"