Betrayed by Everyone I Loved

After I discovered my boyfriend, Julian Vance, was cheating on me, my anxiety spiraled out of control.

It got so bad that I would wake up in the middle of the night, pacing the entire house barefoot just to make sure he was still in the guest bedroom.

To pacify me, Julian had a custom tracking bracelet made. "This way, you can check where I am anytime," he said.

But this very bracelet became the catalyst for an even bigger web of lies.

The first red flag happened when the tracker showed him at City Hall.

I pushed open the heavy doors, only to see my younger brother, Ethan, waving at me.

"Julian left his bracelet in my car yesterday. We were just about to drop it off for you after we finished our errands," Ethan explained smoothly.

The second time, the tracker pinged at St. Mary's Hospital.

I was in the middle of a meeting but rushed straight there the second I saw the red dot.

Pushing open the ward door, I found my Dad sitting on the hospital bed. The bracelet was resting right on his nightstand.

"Perfect timing," Dad said. "Julian came to visit us yesterday and left this behind."

I just nodded, swallowing my doubts.

Until the third time. The tracker pinpointed The Hudson Hotel—right in the middle of a wedding venue.

That sickeningly familiar feeling of dread clawed its way back up my throat.

——

Mia's POV

I stared at the pulsing red dot on my phone screen for a full ten seconds.

This time, I didn't tell a soul. I just grabbed my coat and bolted out the door.

Taking a cab straight to the hotel, I found the grand doors of the banquet hall slightly ajar. I pushed them open just a crack.

On the stage, Julian, dressed in a sharp charcoal-gray suit, was leaning down to kiss Tessa Monroe on the forehead.

The kiss was deliberate, lingering, as if he were performing some sacred vow.

My feet were nailed to the floor.

From a dim corner, the hushed voice of my mother, Margaret, drifted over.

"Thank God Mia didn't find out. Tessa nearly bumped into her at the hospital for her prenatal checkup last time."

"The day they got their marriage license was even closer. Thank goodness we went together to cover for them," my best friend, Rachel, chimed in immediately.

"That's why we have to keep coordinating. With her psychotic episodes, who knows what crazy things she'll do if she gets triggered," Ethan added with a scoff.

My nails dug so hard into my palms they drew blood. A violent throbbing started in my temples.

Before I could even process the sheer magnitude of their betrayal, the massive screen in the banquet hall suddenly lit up.

Ethan raised his glass toward the stage and cheered, "Look at the documentary I edited for the bride and groom!"

The first scene faded in: a sun-drenched beach in Los Angeles. Julian and Tessa were hugging and laughing.

They looked sickeningly perfect together.

"What a match!" Rachel hooted from the crowd.

My stomach violently churned. When Julian claimed he was going to the West Coast for a business trip, Ethan and Rachel had patted their chests and promised me, "Don't worry, we'll keep an eye on him for you."

They had been his accomplices since the very beginning.

The harsh light from the screen reflected off my deathly pale face.

My chest tightened, breath caught like glass in my throat.

What about my parents?

The video cut to the backyard of St. Paul's Church. Julian and Tessa were sharing a passionate kiss under the old oak tree.

That was last month, right when my anxiety was at its absolute peak. My parents said they were going to the church to pray for me, and Julian offered to accompany them. "With us watching him, nothing will go wrong," they had told me before leaving.

I looked down at the silver bracelet on my wrist—the "blessed gift" they brought back from the church that day to cover my self-harm scars.

Now I realized it was nothing but a cheap handout, a leftover Tessa didn't want.

The healed scars felt as if they were being ripped open all over again, the phantom pain so intense I could barely stand.

"Careful there," a guest holding a champagne flute said, steadying my arm.

"Seems romantic, doesn't it? But honestly, the bride is pretty pitiful."

"I heard the groom has a psycho ex-girlfriend who uses her anxiety to threaten him with suicide every single day."

I was shaking uncontrollably. "...Who told you that?"

I was the one who had been with Julian for ten years.

Tessa was the homewrecker.

"Do you even need to ask?" The guest pointed straight at Margaret and Richard. "Thank God that crazy woman's parents and friends are reasonable people. They felt so guilty about it that they helped organize this entire wedding inside and out."

His mouth kept moving, but the words turned into a muffled buzz. I couldn't hear anything anymore.

No wonder they had all been M.I.A. lately. They even forgot my birthday.

They were all busy preparing for Julian and Tessa's wedding.

The guest leaned in a little closer.

"And get this—I heard they even gave them that appreciating villa in Westbrook as a wedding gift."

My brain practically short-circuited.

I spun around and bolted out of the hotel. My hands were trembling so badly I misdialed several times before finally getting the call to go through.

"Hello, I need to check the current owner of the property at 56 Westbrook."

It took a long, agonizing moment before the voice on the other end replied.

"Hello, ma'am. That property has been transferred. The current owner is—"

"Tessa Monroe."