Chapter 1The Wedding I Burned

The day before my brother's wedding, I was picking out a dress when Liam suddenly lost his temper.

"I told you, she likes the fuchsia one. Why do you always have to steal her spotlight?"

At first, I thought he was just worried I’d be overdressed for the ceremony. A little too much, a little too soon.

But then he added, "Isabelle only gets one wedding day. She’s already miserable enough that she can't marry the man she loves. Can't you just let her have this?"

A silence stretched between us.

I didn't ask Liam how he knew, better than I did, who exactly his brother’s fiancée was in love with.

Instead, I picked up my phone and video-called my brother.

* * *

My brother, Ethan, was with Isabelle for her final fitting. He was dressed in a sharp black tuxedo, his eyes crinkling with a smile that was pure, unfiltered joy.

"Audrey," he said, his voice beaming through the phone. "Your sister-in-law wants you and Liam to come over for dinner later."

Liam’s profile slid into the frame beside me. Without even glancing my way for an opinion, he agreed for both of us. Strange. He usually hated going to my parents' house.

The camera on Ethan’s phone flipped.

Isabelle burst out of the dressing room in a cloud of white tulle, tiptoeing as she threw herself into my brother's arms. "Ethan, how do I look?"

At the exact same moment Ethan answered, a voice behind me, barely a whisper, murmured its own reply.

I heard it.

"I've always known. She's never more beautiful than when she's trying to seduce someone."

I turned my head.

Liam’s face was a calm mask, tinged with a familiar shade of weary resignation. For a second, I thought I might have imagined it.

He leaned in close, his mouth near my ear, a gesture of intimacy that felt like a lie. "Hey," he whispered, his tone soft and placating. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Are you still mad?" He shifted, his voice dropping lower. "Tell me how to make it up to you, Audrey. Whatever you want. You know I'll do it."

I thought of all the ways he had of "making it up to me," each one more inventive than the last. We were still on a video call with my brother. A blush crept up my neck.

I turned away from him, and my eyes met Isabelle’s across the screen. They were sharp with something that looked like jealousy.

It was gone in a flash.

She replaced it with a bright, brittle smile. "Audrey, you and your boyfriend seem so close. Are you two getting married soon?"

Ethan, still fussing over the lace on Isabelle's train, didn't even look up. "Liam's been plotting to marry my sister since the day they graduated. Audrey's the one who wants to play the field a few more years."

My hand holding the phone tightened.

I'd never really thought about it before. Why was it that Liam was the one who wasn't ready for marriage, yet he always insisted I tell everyone it was my idea?

His reason at the time was that he didn’t want my parents to get the wrong impression, to think he wasn't serious about me.

Now, that excuse felt flimsy, almost transparent.

A stylist led Ethan away to change.

I picked up the fuchsia dress I'd chosen earlier. Before I could say a word, my future sister-in-law's eyes welled with tears. Her gaze drifted past me, landing on Liam standing just behind my shoulder.

"Audrey, could you… could you let me have that dress?" she asked, her voice trembling. "Someone once promised to buy me the perfect dress, one that was just for me. But… someone else got it instead."

The hand on my shoulder tightened, its pressure unconscious and absolute.

This time, I knew I wasn't imagining it.

"Give it to her," Liam said.