After three years of secret marriage, Patrick Sanchez had finally agreed to go public with our relationship.

But right at that moment, the one that got away had just returned to the country and found herself caught in a media firestorm.

Edith Pruitt — former girl-group member — had been exposed for chasing a married man, and rumors swirled that she'd secretly given birth overseas.

When reporters cornered Edith in an underground parking garage, demanding answers, Patrick stepped in with an air of unshakable authority and pulled her into his arms.

"I, Patrick Sanchez, am the father of that child."

"Let me make this perfectly clear: Edith and I are in a committed relationship. She is not a homewrecker. And if I find out anyone is spreading lies about her again, expect to hear from my lawyers."

"Patrick..." Edith gazed up at him, tears brimming in her eyes, as though a god had descended from the heavens to save her.

A reporter pressed them on why they'd never gotten their marriage license. And right there, in front of everyone, Patrick dropped to one knee. He pulled out a silver ring and declared:

"You once threw this into a lake in a fit of anger. I had every drop of water drained just to find it again."

"Now I want to ask you, Edith Pruitt — will you put this ring back on, as a promise to marry me, as a symbol of our love?"

Edith pressed a trembling hand to her lips, overcome with emotion.

"Yes. I will."

……

And I — Patrick Sanchez's legal wife — could only watch through the car window as the two of them kissed passionately while the reporters cheered them on.

They were close enough that I could see the thin silver thread of saliva that stretched between their lips as they reluctantly pulled apart.

Strange. The heater in the car was running full blast, but my hands and feet were ice cold. My teeth wouldn't stop chattering.

My phone buzzed.

A text from my best friend, congratulating me — she said I'd finally waited long enough for the clouds to part and the sun to shine through.

My fingers trembled over the screen. I couldn't bring myself to reply.

Three hours ago, after all my begging and pleading, Patrick had agreed to make our marriage public. Even though he'd said he could only announce it internally at the company, I'd been over the moon. I'd actually let myself believe I meant something to him.

Then we ran into Edith Pruitt in the company's underground parking garage. She was surrounded by a pack of reporters, cornered and terrified.

I knew who she was. Former girl-group member. Years ago, she'd been so lovesick she walked away from her contract, risking millions in penalties just to quit.

She'd chased a man overseas, threw herself at him for three years, and never got so much as a title. In the end, someone else beat her to it, and she became the other woman. Then came the rumors — pregnant and unmarried, a failed power play, and a humiliating return home.

I turned to tell Patrick we should leave, but froze. He'd already gotten out of the car. I hadn't even noticed. He was walking toward Edith with steady, purposeful strides.

I sat there, stunned, watching him take Edith's hand with an intimacy that made my stomach drop. And then it clicked — the rumors before our marriage, about Patrick having a first love he could never get over. It was her. It had always been her.

No wonder he'd leaned over my shoulder that time I was scrolling through gossip about Edith online. The next day, the account that posted it was permanently banned.

A bitter smile tugged at my lips. All the signs had been there all along.

I didn't know how much time passed before the garage fell quiet again.

Patrick and Edith let go of each other's hands at the same moment, then exchanged a smile — the kind that said all was forgiven, water under the bridge.

Edith spoke first, her cheeks flushed pink.

"Patrick, I never expected you'd be the one to come to my rescue."

Patrick looked away, his Adam's apple bobbing.

Just moments ago, his eyes had been full of barely concealed longing when he looked at her. Now he put on an air of casual indifference.

"It's nothing. I would've done the same for a stranger."

"Is anyone coming to pick you up?"

Edith shook her head, her expression dimming.

"What a hassle. Come with me."

She followed close behind him as he walked to the car. When she saw it was a limited-edition Rolls-Royce Phantom, something flickered in her eyes.

She pulled open the passenger door, and her gaze collided with mine.

She let out a gasp.

"And who might this be?"

I looked past Edith's scrutinizing gaze and locked eyes with Patrick, whose pupils contracted sharply.

I was curious how he'd answer.

He looked like someone who'd been dragged out of a beautiful dream. The smile that had been playing at the corners of his mouth flattened into a hard line, then dissolved into a resigned sigh.

"My wife. Tracey Galloway."

His tone carried a grim satisfaction, the kind that came from a wound you inflicted on yourself just to hurt someone else.

"You know how it is. Nobody waits around for someone for three years without a safety net. I've got the entire Sanchez family behind me. I couldn't afford to gamble."

Edith was clearly unprepared for that answer. Her fingers twisted into the hem of her clothes, and she forced a smile that looked worse than tears.

"Oh! So you're the little wife. I'm Edith Pruitt. I used to be Patrick's neighbor. You can call me Edith, just like he does."

Something seemed to occur to her, and she added with a coy pout of regret, "Actually, Patrick never really called me by my full name. He always used a nickname. He was such a tease back then."

I couldn't be bothered to dissect the barbs hidden beneath Edith's silk-soft words. Instead, I stared at Patrick in surprise, a warmth rising unbidden in my chest.

I let myself believe it. Pathetically, shamelessly, I let myself believe it. He'd acknowledged me in front of the one that got away. Maybe he did care about me. Maybe today really had been nothing more than a good deed.

Patrick cut through her rambling.

"Don't talk about the past. If I could, I'd rather I'd never met you at all."

Then he turned to me, his voice softening.

"Babe, ignore her. If it weren't for old times' sake, she could drop dead on the side of the road and I wouldn't spare her a glance."

Edith seemed to catch the meaning beneath his words. She assumed he still resented her for disappearing without a word all those years ago. Her small face crumpled with helplessness. She pressed her lips together, said nothing, and quietly slipped into the back seat.

Patrick strode to the driver's side. I turned my head to watch the scenery blur past the window. From the back seat came Edith's bitter, self-mocking laugh.

"Patrick, why am I so pathetic? I threw away the best years of my life for a man who wasn't worth it."

Silence filled the car.

Edith seemed to steel herself. Her gaze burned into the back of Patrick's head, and when she spoke, her voice was solemn.

"The truth is, I came back for someone important. I thought seeing him again would be difficult, but it seems fate had other plans."

Patrick's voice cut through the air, cold as cracked ice.

"Maybe in that person's eyes, your return is nothing but trouble."

Edith's face went white. She stopped talking.

I'd just been savoring a flicker of sweetness over Patrick's loyalty when I noticed his hands on the steering wheel. His knuckles were bone-white, veins standing out like cords.

A heaviness settled over my chest for no reason I could name. Instinctively, I cracked the window open, desperate for a breath of fresh air.

The gap was barely an inch wide before Edith erupted into a violent coughing fit.

Patrick's expression tightened. He shot me a glare and slammed the window shut.

His voice was angrier than I had ever heard it.

"Tracey! You're a nurse, for God's sake. You don't know that a woman who just gave birth can't be exposed to cold air?"

I apologized in a small voice, my heart pierced by a thousand invisible needles.

There was a time when he'd taken my side just like that.

At a family dinner, his half-brother had played a cruel little game with me. The moment I reached for something with my chopsticks, a plate of picked-over leftovers would slide right in front of me, perfectly timed.

Patrick noticed the malice. He flipped the entire table.

In the stunned, fearful silence that followed, he said, ice-cold, "If nobody wants to eat properly, then nobody eats."

After that, no one in the family dared disrespect me again.

I never imagined the next time I'd see that same ferocity, it would be aimed at me, warning me not to mistreat the person he cared about.

Edith suppressed her cough and spoke up gently.

"Patrick, don't talk to her like that. My health has always been fragile. It's not her fault."

As if realizing his tone had been too harsh, a flash of irritation crossed Patrick's face. He lowered his voice in apology.

"Sorry, babe. I'm just in a rush. Is there anything you've had your eye on lately?"

The implication was clear: he'd foot the bill.

When I ignored him, Patrick slammed his foot on the gas. His expression darkened like a storm cloud.

His voice turned cold. "I'm taking you to the hospital first, so you can't try to pin anything on my wife."

Patrick swerved between lanes again and again, cutting off cars and nearly causing a collision. Edith's already pale face went a shade whiter.

Afraid he'd cause an accident, I spoke up quickly. "Slow down. You're going to get us killed."

Patrick didn't hear me. The car wove through traffic like a bolt of lightning.

Edith gripped her seatbelt with white knuckles, her voice trembling on the edge of tears. "Patrick, please stop. I'm scared."

The car slowed immediately.

And my heart sank right along with the speedometer.

The same request. He only ever heard it when it came from her.

My throat tightened as I watched the faint smile tugging at the corner of Patrick's mouth. Something in my gut told me he didn't actually dislike Edith. Not even close.

In the end, Patrick dropped me on the side of the road and took Edith to her checkup alone.

His reasoning: Edith had just cleared her name of being the other woman. Exposing his real relationship with me right now would undo all of that. I'd just have to bear with it for a while.

Edith settled into the passenger seat, all soft and delicate, and clenched her fist over her heart like she was making a solemn vow. "Don't worry, sweetie. I'll keep an eye on him for you. I won't let any other woman swoop in while you're apart."

Standing outside the car, I didn't bother looking at the way her fingers kept drifting over the silver ring Patrick had put on her finger, that seemingly absent-minded caress. My eyes were fixed on Patrick.

"Do you even remember what you promised me today?"

Patrick looked at me with that indulgent, helpless expression, like he was coaxing a child who'd been denied candy.

"Edith's reputation is what matters right now. Can you just cut me some slack? Please?"

Every single word dripped with indifference toward me and unmistakable devotion toward Edith.

And the worst part was that he thought this was perfectly normal. He even thought I was the one being unreasonable.

When Edith noticed the tension crackling between Patrick and me, she pushed open the car door and forced a smile. "Patrick, maybe you should pay more attention to how she feels. I can always hold another press conference and come clean about my mistakes to the public."

She paused, her voice going thin. "I've already been through one failed relationship. I don't want you to end up the same way because of me."

Watching her spiral into self-deprecation, a layer of frost settled over Patrick's face. But the raw ache in his eyes betrayed exactly how he really felt.

All those tangled emotions finally condensed into a single, desperate question.

"Do you really have to leave me?"

Edith glanced at me nervously, gauging my reaction, and then, under Patrick's insistence, reluctantly climbed back into the passenger seat.

Patrick turned to me. His voice was laced with ice.

"Don't make me regret choosing you."

I stared at him in disbelief. This was who he really was.

It felt like someone had torn a gash straight through my chest, and the cold wind was howling right through it.

Then came his final verdict: the public announcement of our marriage would be postponed. A punishment.

"I want you to use this time, while I'm taking care of Edith, to think long and hard about what you've done wrong. When you figure it out, come find me."

I stood there, numb, watching Patrick pull a blanket from the back seat and drape it over Edith with the tenderness of a man cradling something precious he thought he'd lost forever.

He hit the gas and disappeared down the road, swallowed by the blur of my stinging eyes.

For a long time, I just stood there. Then, with trembling hands, I pulled out my phone and sent Patrick a message.

I told you before we got married: I don't share. It's me or Edith. You can only pick one.