Chapter 1

"What the hell do you mean by that, Ariel Winslow?" Jacob Gardner glowered at me hatefully, the anger sparking in his eyes. Behind him, Ivana Jennings buried her face in her hands, her shoulders moving with each dramatic sob.

She looked so pitiful that Jacob abandoned our fight for a second to pull her into his arms. He was sympathetic as he comforted her. "There, there, Ivana. This isn't your fault. She was wrong for shouting at you like that. You must have been so scared!"

I could have sputtered in disbelief. I tossed a piece of paper at him. It was a copy of Ivana's health report, which indicated she was perfectly healthy.

I wanted Jacob to know the truth—that he had been duped into doing something so off base and ridiculous. Unfortunately, he barely glanced at the report before casting it aside like trash.

He sneered, "I never pegged you for a psychopath, Ariel. You know what emotional stress does to Ivana, yet you decided to fabricate a health report to frame her!

"How could you do this to a sick person? Do you find her so insufferable that you'd stoop this low?"

Had Jacob expected me to put up with Ivana? It seemed he had deemed my refusal to tolerate her was part of an ongoing tantrum.

A self-deprecating smile formed on my lips. I took a deep breath and forced my tears back.

Jacob and I had known and loved each other for seven years, yet that was nothing compared to Ivana's emotional well-being.

Jacob would brace a downpour to get Ivana any food she was craving. If she asked, he would stay up through the night to keep her company. If she fell sick and was hospitalized, he would tirelessly guard her bedside.

But when I picked fights with him over how he always went out of the way for Ivana, he would brush me off. "You're reading too much into this. Ivana is like a sister to me."

He would then turn the blame on me and tell me that if I loved him, I would respect his female friends.

I wanted to retch at the thought of what this so-called pair of childhood friends, who claimed to be as close as actual siblings, did with one another behind my back.

Eyeing Jacob icily, I said, "I won't be reading too much into whatever you do for Ivana anymore. I've already called off the engagement."

I might have come off as a little too solemn, for something like confusion flickered in Jacob's eyes.

A grave look passed over his face as he dropped the arm he had wrapped around Ivana. "What happened to Ivana caught me off-guard, and I couldn't inform you ahead of time, but I left a message, didn't I? Why are you throwing a fit over this?

"We're already engaged, Ariel. Isn't it childish of you to play games like this? Breaking up is not a joke!"

Jacob reached for me then, but I swatted his hand away and slowly pulled off the dazzling engagement ring on my finger.

At the time he slipped the ring on my finger, he had looked at me like I was the center of his world. "Do you believe me now, Ariel? I'm serious about marrying you."

The moment the ring came off, any memory of his handsome face disappeared, replaced by the grave one he wore before me. I threw the ring right in his face and bit out, "Sorry, Mr. Gardner. If you won't agree to breaking up with me, then I guess I'm dumping you."