Chapter 1

It was a Tuesday night, quiet, like most nights we spent together in our Chicago apartment.

Six years with Liam, I thought we had built something solid, something real.

I was looking for a tax document he said was on his laptop, he was out with friends.

"It's in the 'Finances' folder, Sarah," he'd texted.

I found the folder easily enough, but next to it, another one, simply named "C".

Curiosity, a small, stupid nudge, made me click.

It wasn't finances.

It was Chloe.

Thousands of photos, her face smiling, laughing, living a life I didn't know Liam still watched so closely.

Then I saw the "Journal" subfolder, not actual journal entries, but notes, draft emails, hundreds of them.

My hands started to shake.

October 14th, 2018: Chloe posted she' s with Mark now. Bought Sarah flowers today, the big bouquet she likes. Maybe it' ll make me feel better.

My stomach twisted, the flowers he bought me after my promotion, the ones I thought were for me.

March 3rd, 2020: Chloe got engaged. I feel sick. Asked Sarah about our future, if she sees us married. She said yes, of course. I don' t know what I' m doing.

I scrolled, my breath catching in my throat.

Every significant moment, every gesture I had cherished, was a shadow, a reaction to her.

December 25th, 2022: Chloe got married today. Saw the pictures. She looked beautiful. I need to do something, anything. Maybe I should ask Sarah to marry me. If Chloe sees I' m moving on, really moving on, maybe she' ll realize...

The proposal, the ring I wore on my finger, wasn't for me, it was a desperate signal flare aimed at another woman.

Six years, a lie.

My entire relationship, a meticulously crafted response to a ghost.

I felt the floor tilt, the air in the room suddenly too thin to breathe.

The man I loved, the life I believed in, it all shattered, piece by piece, right there on his glowing laptop screen.