Chapter 2The Woman They Could Never Replace

I went to Delmora to study abroad when I was 18 and stayed there for nine years.

Back then, everyone in Kensford knew how much Gabriel doted on me, and William, my childhood friend, was just as devoted.

Before I left, they both swore they would wait for me.

"Noelle, make sure you video call us often."

"We'll wait for you to come back. You'll always be our little princess."

Watching William and Gabriel secretly wipe away tears, I couldn't help laughing. "Okay, okay, stop crying. You're embarrassing yourselves! Just wait until I come back with my PhD!"

But that same year, they began sponsoring a poor local student as my replacement. After that, our chats grew quieter and quieter.

They used to put so much thought into my birthday gifts every year. Eventually, all I got was a birthday wish by email.

Every year when I came home, they covered their tracks so well that I never once found any sign of the woman they were keeping.

For my 19th birthday, I came back early because I wanted to surprise them. Instead, I found a room in William's house furnished exactly like mine.

When I asked him about it, he pushed me onto the bed and kissed me.

"Why are you even asking? You know why. I missed you so much, babe, so I made the room look like yours."

Looking back now, it was obvious someone had been living there.

All those matching things I thought were just for William and me? There had actually been three of everything.

While I was overseas writing him letter after letter, he was falling asleep with my replacement in his arms.

It wasn't until I finished my studies and came home to marry William that they finally drove her away, only to regret it afterward.

William heard the commotion and came out of the apartment.

"What? Gabriel, who are you saying is missing? Rachel? How could she be missing? Didn't we hire a whole security team to watch her around the clock?"

Then something seemed to click.

He grabbed my wrist, his brow furrowing. "It was you, wasn't it? Noelle, you did this! We're getting married tomorrow, and you were afraid Rachel would show up and steal me away at the wedding, so you had her kidnapped, didn't you?

"We were apart for a few years, and this is what you've become? You're not the Noelle I remember anymore."

Gabriel said nothing. He snatched the car keys from my hand.

"My car broke down. Take a cab home."

Then he and William split up and launched a massive citywide search for Rachel.

William was practically dragged to the wedding by his parents, Bernard Lloyd and Helen Barnes.

Bernard and Helen smiled at me.

"Noelle, we've watched you grow up. You and William have been close since you were kids. He's just infatuated with Rachel right now, so don't take it to heart."

"Just go through with the wedding. You have your whole lives ahead of you. He'll come around eventually."

William looked at me with undisguised disgust.

"Disgusting," he said quietly.

I thought back to when I was 20.

William had spent nearly six months working himself to exhaustion at one of Lloyd Group's branches. He put in so much overtime that he landed in the ER, just so he could buy me a one-of-a-kind ring at an auction.

When he came to pick me up at the airport, he took my hand like it was the most natural thing in the world and slipped a ring worth more than 100 million dollars onto my ring finger.

I teased him by trying to take it off, but he hooked a finger around mine.

"Don't take it off. You're wearing my ring, so you're mine now. Ms. Zeller, who else would you marry but me?"

Gabriel slung an arm around William's shoulders and joked, "Hey, Noelle is my baby sister. I've spent 20 years treating her like the most precious person in the world. If you ever hurt her, you'll have me to answer to."

Gabriel had once told me that no matter who I married, he would always be there for me. He promised he would protect me for the rest of my life.

But now, as William and I went to toast our families at their table, Gabriel slammed his glass down.

"Noelle, Rachel was in a car accident. She's in the hospital, and she could die. My biggest regret is that I spoiled you all these years and turned you into the person you are now. If I'd known you'd grow up to be this vicious, I should've strangled you when you were a child!"

He shot William a look and stood up. "We can't keep making the same mistake. The doctor said Rachel might not make it through the night. I have to go see her."

And just like that, my fiancé and my own brother walked out on me at my wedding.