Chapter 1Pulling the Plug

After the car accident, I was rushed to the ER.

My boyfriend arrived late, with his personal assistant in tow.

The rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor seemed to annoy Sophie. She turned to Gavin, pouting.

"Gavin, baby, my phone died. Can you unplug this noisy machine so I can charge it?"

Gavin looked at me, lying weak and pale on the hospital bed, and his voice was ice cold.

"What a waste of a trip. I thought it was actually serious."

"Just unplug it. It’s not like she’s going to die in the next five minutes."

Without a second thought, Gavin yanked the plug of my heart monitor out of the wall and plugged in her charger.

A chill ran through my bones that had nothing to do with the accident. I closed my eyes in resignation.

The moment I was discharged, the first thing I did was cancel the wedding.

* * *

After the monitor was unplugged, the room fell into a dead silence.

Sophie dragged a chair right next to my bed, sprawled out like she owned the place, and started scrolling through TikTok.

Gavin paced over to the window and threw it open, completely ignoring the fact that I was shivering in a thin hospital gown.

It was raining in Seattle—that bone-chilling, gray drizzle. A gust of wind blew in. I tucked the corner of the blanket tighter around myself and looked at him.

"Close it, please. I'm cold."

Gavin turned slowly, meeting my hollow gaze.

"Oh, so you can talk? I thought the crash turned you mute since you haven't made a peep."

The scene I just witnessed was still tearing me apart. When Gavin arrived, he didn't ask if I was okay. He didn't check my injuries. He unplugged my life-monitoring equipment because Sophie wanted to scroll on Instagram.

lying in the wreckage, all I could think about was, If I die here, will Gavin be devastated? Will he tear the world apart looking for me?

Now I had my answer. He wouldn't mourn. He’d probably be popping champagne with Sophie.

I had loved him too much.

"If I had been struck mute, you’d be happy, wouldn't you?" I asked, my voice raspy.

His face darkened. He walked over, a sneer forming on his lips.

"I saw you were fine, so I made a joke. Do you have to take everything so seriously?"

"I told you this morning. It was windy and raining. I told you to take an Uber. But no, you had to ride that stupid Vespa."

"Now look at you. Lying in a hospital bed. Happy now?"

I looked away, staring at the scrapes covering my right hand and the thick cast encasing my broken left arm.

Gavin could have driven me to work. But he left me behind to go pick up Sophie.

The roads were slick. I skidded and was thrown ten feet. Even in that terrified state, I chose to trust him. I called him first.

He never came. Not until long after the ambulance had brought me in, tests were run, and I was settled in a room. And even then, he brought her.

"You knew the weather was bad, but you insisted on picking up Sophie. Is she really that much more important than me?"

Gavin rolled his eyes, glancing at Sophie who was giggling at her phone. His eyes softened instantly.

"Sophie isn't like you, Chloe. She doesn't know how to ride a scooter. If I didn't pick her up, she would have had to walk."

"And you know her apartment is far from the office. Ubers add up."

Sophie finally deigned to look up from her screen.

She gave me a pitiful, martyr-like smile. "It was just a ride, Chloe. Are you really jealous of that? If you hate me that much, I just won't let Gavin pick me up anymore."

Gavin immediately jumped to her defense.

"Sophie, don't. Whether I pick you up isn't her decision to make."

He glared at me. "Seriously, Chloe? There’s a limit to how jealous you can get..."

His rant was cut short by a nurse storming into the room.