Chapter 3My Fiancée’s Secret Boyfriend

By the time I got home from the bridal boutique, I felt so drained and out of it that I went straight to bed.

In the middle of the night, a sharp pain tore through my abdomen. Cold sweat soaked my pajamas, and my vision started to go dark.

I fumbled for my phone and called Natalie. It rang for a long time before she finally picked up.

"Hello?" An airport announcement echoed in the background.

My heart sank.

"Natalie... My stomach hurts so badly. I can't get up. Can you come back and take me to the hospital?"

She was quiet for a few seconds.

"I have something urgent to deal with right now. Can't you call a cab yourself?"

Something urgent.

"Scott" wanted to break up with her. Of course, she considered that an emergency.

I lay on the floor, my hands and feet ice-cold.

Without really knowing why, I picked up Scott's phone and typed a message.

[I want to see you.]

I hit send.

Almost immediately, I heard Natalie shout at someone on the other end of the call.

"Change my flight! Now! Get me on the next plane to Cloudspire! I don't care what it costs!"

Cloudspire. It was a city I had chosen on a whim when I created "Scott's" backstory.

She really was at the airport. She was leaving me behind for someone who didn't even exist.

"Natalie," I said into the phone, "what if I die tonight?"

Her voice turned cold. "Don't threaten me like that. This side of you is suffocating."

She hung up.

I lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling as another wave of pain ripped through my abdomen, worse than the last.

I doubled over as my vision blurred and consciousness began to slip away.

With the last of my strength, I called 911.

-

"His appendix ruptured! If he'd arrived any later, he could've developed peritonitis!

"Where's his family? There's no one here to sign the surgical consent forms!"

The surgery lasted three hours.

I spent the next three days in the hospital.

Natalie never called or sent a single message. Scott's phone, however, received hundreds of messages every day.

[Scott, I'm in Cloudspire. Where are you?

[I've looked everywhere I thought you might be. Why won't you see me?

[I'll wait at the coffee shop until you come.]

I shut off the phone without a trace of emotion.

It was raining the day I was discharged.

I completed the paperwork alone, then took a cab back to the apartment Natalie and I had shared for the past three years.

When I opened the door, everything was exactly as I had left it.