chapter 3

The next morning, my best friend Christy sent me a text saying she'd landed at the airport safely.

She was on her way to the cosmetic surgery hospital to join the surgical team.

Christy used to be one of the top facial reconstruction specialists back home, but she'd gotten screwed over a few years ago and left the country to restart her career. Now she was internationally famous.

With her on my team, my chances of a successful surgery were way better.

Vincent didn't ask too many questions about her. Instead, he was totally focused on rearranging all the wedding plans.

"The doctor said you'll need over a month to recover after surgery, so I'm pushing back the wedding date. I'll explain everything to the guests myself, and once your face is completely healed, we'll go take a whole new set of wedding photos.

"Oh, and we need to change the decorations at the venue too. It's spring anyway, so how about we do a sea of tulips instead? Those are your favorites, right?"

I listened to him go on and on about all his plans, rambling excitedly like a kid, and this bitter ache spread through my chest.

So that was what it took. I had to stop looking like Serena before he'd actually see me for who I really was.

I didn't call him out on it. I just sat down quietly in the wheelchair and let Vincent push me over to the wedding venue.

The giant welcome poster with the engagement photos plastered all over it felt like a punch to the gut.

Vincent immediately told someone to take it down.

The whole room smelled like lilies, and the scent made me nauseous. Vincent thought it was just my pain meds making me sick, so he rushed backstage and had them turn on the ventilation system.

"Get rid of all the lilies in here and replace them with tulips. Yellow and white ones mixed together. My wife loves those."

Even with all the background music playing, his voice somehow cut straight through the noise.

The word "wife" hit me like a needle stabbing into my heart.

The title I'd been so excited to have—being his wife—was really just secondhand happiness that had slipped through someone else's fingers first.

"Mrs. Laurent, the three wedding dresses you tried on before are here now, and we shortened the mermaid one like you asked. When would you like to come try them on again?"

A woman's gentle voice snapped me back to reality.

But when I turned to look at her, shock flashed across her face—probably because of the ugly scars covering mine.

"I'm not Mrs. Laurent. My last name is Collins."

"Ms. Collins?"

The woman looked panicked for a second, like she was scrambling to figure out what to say.

Then she quickly put on a polite smile.

"I'm so sorry, Ms. Collins. I mixed you up with other Mr. Laurent. I won't bother you anymore. I hope you recover soon."

I smiled and nodded at her, then watched her rush out of the room.

She didn't actually mix me up though. She thought I was Serena.

I'd never tried on a mermaid wedding dress, and I definitely never asked anyone to shorten one for me.

Serena was about half a head shorter than me, so once you thought about it, everything made sense.

And there was no way she would've just waltzed into our wedding venue to try on dresses without Vincent giving her permission first.

Of course. The bride Vincent actually wanted at this wedding was never me in the first place.

Across the room, Vincent hadn't noticed anything and was still busy talking with the event staff.

Then suddenly, the LED screen on the stage lit up.

It started playing behind-the-scenes footage from a wedding photo shoot.

On screen, Vincent looked sharp in his suit and was smiling at the woman beside him.

The hand resting on his arm wore our wedding rings, and the crystals on her mermaid wedding dress sparkled beautifully in the sunlight.

Everything looked absolutely perfect. Except that woman wasn't me.

Vincent and I never filmed any behind-the-scenes wedding footage together.

The video cut off abruptly, and I caught sight of someone's shadow moving behind the stage.

I knew it was a trap, but I wheeled myself after her anyway.

I just needed to see her face clearly before I left for good.

Sure enough, she stopped running and just stood there waiting for me.

She turned around, and seeing that familiar face made my heart skip a beat.

I didn't say anything, and she stayed silent too.

But her right hand was gripping a rope tightly, and right before Vincent could reach us, she yanked it hard.

The chandelier came crashing down from the ceiling.

She lunged forward and shoved me out of the way, and the broken glass sliced across her face.

I tumbled out of my wheelchair completely, scraping up my hands and legs.

Vincent barely even paused. He ran straight past me and pulled her into his arms instead.

"Avery! You were the one in charge of setting up all the stage lighting, weren't you?"

I froze. My whole chest went ice cold.

I stumbled to my feet, but something felt different. I was strangely calm—calmer than I'd ever been in my life.

"So you actually think I'm the one who made that chandelier fall?"

Vincent pressed his lips together and didn't say anything, but Serena jumped in first. "I wasn't paying attention and I stepped on the cord. Don't blame her anymore. She got burned first, and then she saw my face later...

"Anyone would've lost it in that situation..."

Just like that, she made me out to be the villain. With just a few words, she'd twisted Vincent's heart exactly where she wanted it.

"Avery, I really misjudged you. I cleared my entire schedule so I could be there with you through the cosmetic surgery, but if this is how you're gonna act, then you can go into that operating room by yourself.

"We'll have the wedding when you realize what you did wrong..."

After he said that, he scooped Serena up in his arms and walked out.

That face meant more to him than life itself. He didn't even care that I'd stayed so calm after seeing Serena. Or maybe the Serena he remembered was pure and perfect, and he couldn't stand the idea of anyone saying otherwise.

But what would he think if he knew the real reason Serena went abroad and got married all those years ago?

I laughed.

Then I pulled out my phone and called Christy. "Are you ready? We can start now."