Chapter 1 - Seven Minutes to Choose
“You tried on my wedding ring?”
Brynn’s hand remained hidden behind her back.
Collin looked at the clock again.
“Mallory, we do not have time for this.”
Something inside me settled.
For three years, his favorite defense had been urgency. We could discuss my feelings after the dinner, after the meeting, after the trip. There was always something more important than the conversation in which I asked him to treat me like someone he loved.
Now we apparently had seven minutes to postpone my dignity forever.
“Take it off,” I told Brynn.
Her blue eyes shifted toward Collin.
He actually stepped between us.
That was the moment I stopped wondering whether I was misunderstanding anything.
“Give her a second,” he said.
I looked at his shoulder blocking my view of my grandmother’s diamonds.
“No.”
He blinked.
Behind me, the string quartet stumbled into silence.
My father moved closer. “Return the ring, Miss Foster.”
Brynn worked it over her knuckle. It slid free easily, despite the little performance she made of struggling.
She held it toward Collin.
“Give it to me,” I said.
For the first time that morning, she obeyed me.
The platinum felt warm from her skin.
That small detail nearly undid me.
My grandmother had worn those stones through forty-six years of marriage. When she gave them to me, she said a good husband would never make me feel foolish for trusting him.
I closed my fist.
Collin reached for my elbow.
“We need to board.”
I stepped away.
“Tell me why she had it.”
“She wanted to see it.”
“And you were wearing yours because?”
He hesitated.
Brynn answered too quickly. “We were just taking pictures.”
My mother made a small, broken sound.
“What pictures?” I asked.
Nobody answered.
A guest near the railing lowered her phone.
Collin noticed.
“This is a private conversation.”
“You made it public when you handed another woman my wedding ring.”
His face darkened.
“You’re humiliating yourself.”
I had imagined this morning a hundred times. My father straightening my veil. My mother pretending not to cry. Collin seeing me and finally looking as though nothing in the world mattered more.
Instead, I was learning how clearly a person could see once she stopped trying to rescue the picture in her head.
“Choose,” I said.
He stared at me.
“Brynn leaves. You tell everyone what happened. Then we discuss whether there is anything left to save.”
Brynn began crying.
Collin turned toward her immediately.
There it was.
His answer, before he spoke.
“She has nobody here,” he said.
“She has you.”
He exhaled sharply. “If you force me to choose over something this petty, you won’t like the answer.”
I looked at the marina clock.
10:05.
Five minutes.
My father touched my shoulder.
“Sweetheart, the agreement—”
“I know.”
I knew about the projected revenue. The warehouses. The loans arranged around the redevelopment project. I knew how many people had built next year’s plans on two signatures beneath a linen canopy.
I also knew my father had worked thirty-five years to build a company that should never have depended on whether his daughter could tolerate being humiliated.
Collin softened his voice.
“Come on, Mal. You’re emotional. We’ll fix this after the ceremony.”
“No.”
The word felt strange and clean.
I removed my engagement ring.
His expression changed before I even held it out.
“Don’t be dramatic.”
“Then stop giving me reasons.”
I placed it in his palm.
Brynn stopped crying.
That told me something, too.
“You’ll destroy the partnership,” Collin said.
“The partnership has lawyers.”
“And who exactly do you think will step in now?”
It was meant to frighten me.
Instead, it reminded me of a name I had spent eighteen months avoiding.
A man Collin called a thief whenever anyone mentioned him.
A man who had once stayed beside my hospital bed until my fever broke.
A man who had told me, quietly and without asking for anything, that I deserved better.
I handed my bouquet to my mother and took my phone from her purse.
Collin glanced at the screen.
His smile vanished.
“You cannot be serious.”
I pressed the name.
The call connected on the second ring.
A familiar voice answered.
“Mallory?”
Across the dock, Collin took one urgent step toward me.
May you like
For the first time all morning, he looked afraid.
“Adrian,” I said. “I need you to tell me the truth.”
