I was hit by a car before my engagement party.

Steel and glass tore through my body.

My best friend Catherine rushed me to the hospital and called my fiancé, Ryan Mitchell.

His response was ice-cold: "Halle's sick. I'm taking her for IV treatment. Deal with it yourself."

Catherine called her boyfriend Tyler Brooks next.

"Halle's sick. I'm getting her medicine."

As I lay there with machines keeping me alive, Catherine gripped my hand.

"Screw this. I'm calling off the wedding," I said through gritted teeth.

She squeezed tighter: "Let's dump those bastards together."

That was when both men knelt for forgiveness.

————————

1

A car crash almost killed me the day before my engagement party. Flying shards of glass embedded themselves deep in my skin.

My best friend, Catherine Thompson, was the one who pulled me from the twisted metal.

She never left my side at the hospital while I hovered between life and death.

She called my goddamn fiancé, Ryan Mitchell. His response was clipped and impatient. “Halle’s not feeling well, I’m with her. If it’s not important, I’m hanging up.”

Catherine unleashed a string of curses at him, then called her own boyfriend, Tyler Brooks, trying to track down a top trauma specialist.

His excuse was just as lame. “Don’t overreact. Halle’s sick, I need to go get her something.”

When I finally surfaced from the blackness and met Catherine’s furious gaze, I used what little strength I had. “I’m dumping him.”

Without missing a beat, she replied, “If you’re dumping him, I’m dumping mine.”

Catherine was always a woman of action. She immediately fired off a breakup text to Tyler.

Me? I was lying in a hospital bed, fresh out of surgery. Some of my wounds were so deep they exposed bone, and I could slip back into critical condition at any moment.

Only Catherine was there. She’d been injured too, and the ordeal had bonded us.

My lavish engagement party was scheduled for the next day, but stuck in the ICU, there was no way I could be there.

Ryan’s call came, and he immediately launched into an accusation. “Emma Rodriguez, are you serious? You’re ghosting me today just because I was with Halle yesterday?”

“Do you have any idea how much I spent to book out the Peninsula Hotel?! Do you know how many guests are waiting to see us?!”

My throat felt like sandpaper. I coughed a few times before croaking out, “I’m in the hospital. I told you I couldn’t make it.”

“Emma, are you done with this act? Stop pretending. Tell me where you are, and I’ll send someone to pick you up.”

“Harborview Medical Center, Seattle. Come and get me.”

“Emma!” Ryan roared through the phone. “You’re going to regret this! The party starts in an hour. Don’t you dare be late!”

Beside me, Catherine was trembling with rage. She snatched the phone from my hand and screamed into it, “Regret it? Are you deaf, or just stupid? She said she’s in the hospital!”

“Just because that little bitch Halle has a slight fever, you’re treating her like she’s the Queen of England?!”

She slammed the phone down and paced the room, fuming.

Moments later, Tyler’s call came through. “Catherine, where did you go? You’re supposed to meet my family today. Didn’t you see the address I sent you?”

Catherine’s fury reignited. “Meet your family?! Tyler, I broke up with you last night. A good ex should act like they’ve died and disappeared from the face of the earth!”

“The next time I see you, it’ll be to dance on your grave!” Tyler stammered on the other end.

“You… Catherine, fine! We’re done!”

Catherine blocked his number instantly, then turned to me, patting her chest. “My end is handled. You just focus on getting better. Otherwise, those bastards will just piss you to death.”

I managed a weak smile. With Catherine here, I felt a whole lot safer.

My absence, apparently, was a huge embarrassment for Ryan.

He called a few more times, but I didn't answer. I just switched my phone to Do Not Disturb, with no desire to even read his messages. After his third failed attempt, he sent a threatening text.

[Emma, this is completely unreasonable!]

I didn’t reply.

This engagement had been engineered by Ryan’s family, who pulled more than a few strings in Seattle to make it happen.

My own parents were long divorced, each with new lives. They didn't pay much attention to me, but my trust fund was more than enough to let me live like a queen. I was the youngest partner at a top Seattle law firm; I didn’t need to depend on anyone.

I had already told them the engagement was off right after the crash, and they canceled their flights without a second thought.

But Ryan didn’t listen. He never believed a word I said, and I had no interest in trying to please him.

I just never imagined he would sink so low as to find a substitute and hold the engagement party anyway. He had shredded the last bit of decency between us.

While a nurse was changing my dressings, I overheard her and a colleague scrolling through their phones.

“Look at Instagram! Dr. Mitchell got engaged at that fancy hotel today! His fiancée looks so sweet, the delicate, innocent type.”

“Dr. Mitchell is so lucky. Oh my god, look at this picture, it’s breathtaking!”

As they worked on my wounds, I glanced at the screen. The photo was of Ryan and Halle Hayes.

They stood close together, Halle’s head resting on his shoulder, her smile bright and triumphant.

Honestly, they looked like two peas in a pod. A pod of scumbags.

I fought back tears, but the nurse saw my expression. “Did I hurt you? I’ll be more gentle!”

The tears broke free. “Yes. It hurts. It hurts so much I feel like I’m dying.”

Catherine reached out and squeezed my hand tightly.

I shook my head at her. “It’s okay. I’m not afraid of the pain.”

In reality, it hurt like hell. But what was this physical agony compared to the heartache Ryan had caused?

Once we were alone, Catherine tried to comfort me. “Those two lowlifes were made for each other! Don’t waste your energy on them!”

“Oh, and guess what? That idiot Tyler is still messaging me, saying he’s preparing a surprise! I’m so allergic to nuts I go into anaphylactic shock, and I’ve told him a million times! And we already broke up, is he brain-dead or something?”

I laughed. “He just doesn’t care. He was never that into you. If he put half the effort he puts into Halle into your relationship, things would be different.”

Catherine sighed in agreement. “Whatever, let’s not talk about that loser.”

She pulled out her tablet to show me a video. “Hey, I’ve been following this super popular TikToker. He does man-on-the-street interviews at high-end events and gives out these quirky gifts. It’s hilarious!”

She quickly found the creator’s page and clicked on the latest live video.

We both stared, stunned. The person being interviewed was her incredibly busy ex-boyfriend—Tyler.

The location was an art gallery opening.

The TikToker asked, “This is a Tiffany bracelet. Before we give it away, is there anything you’d like to say to the camera?”

Tyler took the little blue box, a charming smile plastered on his face. “I hope the person who gets this gift is the sweetest girl in the world. And I really hope that person is you, Halle!”

He made a heart shape with his hands for the camera. I wanted to scroll away, but Catherine held my hand down.

She immediately started typing furiously in the comments: [You know Halle likes Tiffany but you can’t remember your girlfriend of three years is fatally allergic to nuts?!]

Her comment was instantly buried in a flood of others. I patted her hand. “We’re better off without them. Our lives will only get better.”

Catherine nodded firmly, but the damage was done. That TikToker had millions of followers, and the comment section exploded.

“Isn’t that the rich kid from the Brooks family? His family are executives at Microsoft!”

“The girl Tyler is wishing for must have saved the galaxy in a past life!”

“Mr. Brooks, your loyal simp is here! When will you notice me?”

Everyone was fawning over him. Just like that, Tyler went viral.

People even started getting jealous of Halle.

A short while later, Halle posted a picture on her Instagram Story with the caption: [I finally got my Tiffany! Happiness is getting what your heart desires!]

In the photo, the exquisite bracelet was on her slender wrist. And right beside her was Tyler.

Catherine stared at the screen and sneered. “What a hopeless simp.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

She was right. Tyler and Ryan both orbited Halle like satellites, but who the real winner was, it was hard to say.

Maybe neither of them.

I didn’t care anymore.

Since Ryan had already chosen Halle as his “fiancée,” I figured our story was over. My plan was to pack up and leave as soon as I was discharged.

Ryan had given me some expensive jewelry and designer bags, but I had no interest in them. I wasn’t the kind of woman to leech off an ex.

Forty-eight hours later, I was moved to a regular ward. My attending physician, Dr. Evans, came by on his rounds and told me, “You’re incredibly lucky. One of the glass shards was just millimeters from your carotid artery. Any closer, and not even God could have saved you.”

“Rest up now. Don’t get worked up; it’s bad for your recovery.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

The moment Dr. Evans left, Ryan called.

I looked at the screen. It was his office number, one I had forgotten to block.

I had no choice but to answer.

“You see? If it weren’t for Halle, my engagement party would have been a joke! Now that you’ve had your little tantrum, it’s time for you to come back!”

His words were so absurd I could almost laugh. “Ryan, I can’t go back.”

“What the hell do you want?!” Ryan’s voice shot up an octave. “I’ve already explained to everyone and admitted that you are my one and only fiancée!”

“If you dare pull another stunt, we are completely finished!”

“Ryan, have you ever believed a single word I’ve said? I was in a car crash. I almost died. I’m still lying in a hospital bed. If you’d bother to lift one of your precious fingers, you could find my name in the news.”

Ryan sneered. “You’re mad because I was with Halle at the clinic, right? So now you’re making up this story to get back at me?”

“Why don’t you tell me which hospital you’re in, which doctor is treating you, what your diagnosis is? Emma, don’t forget, I’m a doctor. You can’t fool me.”

I took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. “I’m at Harborview Medical Center. Surgical ward, bed 24. Come over right now. My attending physician is here too.”

“Fine. You just wait. I’m on my way!”

Ryan was a top cardiac surgeon at Seattle Children’s Hospital. He had connections throughout the city’s medical system. It was impossible for him not to know his own fiancée had been in such a serious accident.

But he had been too busy with his engagement party, too focused on Halle, to even realize I was right under his nose.

Half an hour later, Ryan appeared, with Halle clinging intimately to his arm.

Their arrival in the hallway caused a small stir.

I was leaning back with my eyes closed when I heard the nurses’ exaggerated fawning.

“Dr. Mitchell brought his fiancée for a little PDA!”

“Dr. Mitchell, you two are going to be the death of us single people!”

“Wow, his fiancée is even prettier in person! Dr. Mitchell has great taste.”

I opened my eyes, listening to the commotion with a cold smirk. I was willing to bet they had no idea this so-called “fiancée” was just a temporary stand-in.

But what did it matter? I had already broken up with Ryan. I didn’t want that title anymore.

They weren’t wrong, though. Ryan and Halle were now publicly engaged. What was there for me to deny?

Ryan’s response to the crowd was tinged with a distant arrogance, but Halle was beaming, clearly soaking in the praise. I could hear the poorly hidden pride in her modest voice.

“Thank you all for taking such good care of Ryan. I’ve ordered Starbucks for everyone, it’ll be delivered soon!”

“Mrs. Mitchell isn’t just beautiful, she’s so kind!”

The compliments made Halle even more giddy. When she appeared at my doorway, arm-in-arm with Ryan, her face was a mask of victory, her eyes filled with blatant provocation.

When Ryan saw me, he froze for a split second.

He hadn’t expected me to actually be here.

But when his eyes scanned the room and landed on the fact that I was in a private suite with the best view, his expression darkened.

“Do you have any idea how tight hospital beds are? You staged an injury just to throw a tantrum at me, probably committing insurance fraud in the process?”

“Throw a tantrum at you?”

I looked up at him, my eyes dripping with scorn. “Who do you think you are? The center of the universe? Honestly, you’re not that important.”

“Emma!”

“I can hear you, no need to shout. We’re done, Ryan. She’s your fiancée now. Did you two come here specifically to flaunt it in my face?”

“Fine, I’ll play along. Then I wish you two scumbags a lifetime of misery together. Here’s to you, may you rot in hell. I’ll even swallow the key.”

Ryan’s face turned a deep shade of crimson. “How dare you insult us?”

“Apologize to me!”

I met his gaze without flinching. “Apologize? Maybe in your next life.”

Ryan was thoroughly enraged. Halle quickly grabbed his arm, trying to soothe him. “Ryan, don’t! Miss Rodriguez is just upset, she needs her rest. Let’s not argue with her.”

“I think she’s doing this on purpose! Who’s your doctor? Who’s helping you stage this pathetic little drama?”

I stared at him, my face blank. “Are you done with your meltdown, Ryan? You’re not my doctor, so stop meddling. We’ve broken up, yet you keep harassing me. Sleeping with me while thinking about her… don’t you feel disgusting?”

Ryan raised his hand to slap me.

But I dodged it and simultaneously slammed the call button.

He stared at me, shocked. Before he could react, I raised my own hand and, with all my strength, gave him a resounding slap across the face.