My fiancé, Caleb Giles, was about to abandon me at the altar. Again. It was our wedding day at a Napa Valley vineyard, and he was choosing his cousin, Cassie Monroe, a woman who weaponized her supposed emotional fragility to get whatever she wanted.
I stopped him. "Caleb, can't we finish the wedding first?"
Caleb's brow furrowed, his voice tight with restrained anger and accusation. "Cassie is missing and on the verge of a breakdown, and all you can think about right now is this spectacle?"
My parents sided with him, their disappointment aimed squarely at me. "Juliana," my mother said, "Cassie's mother died saving you."
"Now that she's missing, you're only thinking about yourself," my father added.
I stood frozen, watching their anxious silhouettes disappear through the door as my heart plummeted into an icy void.
This was the third time Caleb had abandoned me for Cassie on an important occasion.
The first time was our engagement party. She claimed to be having a breakdown, and Caleb flew overnight to be with her. It turned out she was just throwing a tantrum because she’d failed to snag a limited-edition handbag.
The second time was during our wedding photoshoot in Paris. She called, sobbing that her boyfriend had dumped her. Without a second thought, Caleb abandoned our photoshoot and spent the entire night consoling her on the phone.
The third time was our wedding.
They all believed I owed Cassie—that I should always put her first.
This time, I decided to give her everything.
After the wedding that never was, I submitted an application for a classified federal biology project: "Project Aegis."
The program's requirements were stringent. Once selected, all my information would be classified for the next five years. No one would be able to find me.
Word got back to me that after I vanished, the ever-elegant and self-possessed Caleb Giles completely lost his mind.
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1
"Juliana, we can have the wedding anytime."
"I promise you, as soon as we find Cassie, I'll throw you an even grander wedding."
He reached for my shoulder, his tone laced with the same condescension used to placate a fussy child.
It was as if my refusal was nothing more than a hysterical fit.
I flinched back, recoiling from his placating touch.
Caleb's patience snapped.
"Your mother is right, Juliana. You owe Cassie a life."
I thought my heart had long since turned to stone.
But hearing those words from Caleb himself, a shard of ice seemed to pierce my chest.
Tears welled in my eyes, and I bit my lower lip so hard they wouldn't fall. Not here. Not in front of everyone.
My silence seemed to soften him, and he tried again. "Juliana, you've always been the most understanding one, haven't you?"
"What if I don't want to be anymore?"
My voice trembled, but it was threaded with a resolve I had never known before.
"You know damn well Cassie is doing this on purpose. Last time it was Paris, the time before was our engagement party. Can't you see it? How many more times are you going to fall for her act?"
The words had barely left my mouth when a sharp slap cracked across my face.
My mother, Eleanor, stood with her hand still raised, glaring at me with a mixture of disgust and fury, as if I weren't her daughter but some ungrateful monster.
"Juliana Hayes, you are a cold-blooded monster!"
She pointed a trembling finger at my face, her voice rising before all the high-society guests. "Cassie's mother lost her life saving you!"
"And now that Cassie is missing, you stand here saying such heartless things?"
"If I'd known you were such an ungrateful creature, my sister never should have jumped in that water to save you!"
The eyes of the surrounding guests were all on me—some filled with pity, others with whispers, and a few with the cruel thrill of a public spectacle.
I stood there in my wedding dress, a garment meant for happiness, with a vivid red handprint blooming on my cheek. A clown in a white gown, publicly shamed.
My mother, however, showed no concern for my dignity. She turned to Caleb, her tone softening instantly.
"Caleb, go find Cassie. Let's see her try to stop you now."
Caleb spared me one complicated glance.
Then, he turned and walked away without looking back.
A triumphant smile crept onto my mother's face. She leaned in, her voice dripping with contempt. "You see? When it comes to Cassie, you'd better learn to keep your mouth shut."
I stared at her, a sob caught in my throat.
"Just because her mother saved me, I have to be indebted to her for the rest of my life?"
She answered without a shred of hesitation, her voice firm and decisive.
"That's right. This isn't just about postponing a wedding. If Cassie ever decides she wants Caleb, you will step aside without a fight."
