Jocelyn's POV

"What? He's right here? Who's been keeping such a good secret? Come on, man, stand up and show yourself!" someone called out, head swiveling around the room.

The room erupted into a buzz of speculation as everyone started eyeing each other, the noise reaching a fever pitch.

At this, Shawn let out a subtle sigh of relief.

But the very next comment made his chest tighten all over again.

"You know… Jocelyn and Shawn are actually a lot alike. They both have a knack for dropping bombshells out of nowhere."

"If it hadn't been for Shawn's legendary bender after Alyssa left, none of us would have ever known he'd been carrying a torch for her for three whole years."

The atmosphere turned awkward for a split second.

Shawn broke the silence to explain, his voice clearer and louder than it had been all evening.

"That's ancient history. Stop hyping it up."

His eyes cut through the crowd and landed on me. He looked unusually tense.

But I suddenly didn't want to dwell on how much he'd loved Alyssa during those three years or on the decade they'd spent with their lives intertwined.

"You guys keep going. I'm hitting the restroom."

I pushed the door open, and a cool draft from the hallway hit me.

Only then did I pull my phone out and send two brief texts.

"You heard all of it."

"The marriage. I'm in."

The man on the other end seemed ecstatic. The typing indicator flickered incessantly.

But before the reply came through, Shawn caught up to me.

He grabbed my wrists, pinned them above my head, and trapped me against the wall. "Jocelyn, I told you that's all over. What's this little tantrum about?"

The overwhelming scent of oud washed over me.

Like a man possessed, he went for my lips with a desperate, aggressive hunger.

He always did this whenever we had a disagreement.

He was counting on the soft spot I had for him, on the part of me that couldn't quite walk away. All he had to do was wear me down. He knew that the moment I softened, I'd find a way to forgive him.

But this time, I turned my head away.

His kiss landed on my cheek, and he froze.

He raked a hand through his hair, his voice tight with frustration. "Fine. I shouldn't have done it. But Jocelyn, Alyssa just got back. My mom reminded me how close our families were growing up and asked me to look out for her."

He tried to talk me down. "How embarrassing would it have been for her if every other woman had a partner and she was the only one left standing alone?"

What about me?

I'd turned away every other man for his sake. Did that mean I had this coming?

"Josie, no matter how jealous you are, you can't go around joking about getting engaged to someone else," he said, his tone softening into something coaxing.

"Engagements take planning. I need to pick the right date, get everything set up, and give you the wedding you deserve. All of that takes time."

"And as for my mom…" he hesitated. "I'll handle her."

Shawn's mom had never liked me.

Fed by the rumors, she'd decided I was an arrogant, domineering woman who looked down on her son and was up to no good.

Lucky for her, her son had grit. He'd clawed his company back to life—even while I was, supposedly, crushing him.

So when Shawn first took me home to meet her, she slapped me across the face and told me to get the hell out.

She threw everything within reach at me—espresso cups, vases, slippers—and one of them shattered and sliced open my hand.

Shawn and I were forced to flee. I later found out that her husband had run off abroad with his mistress and the family's money, leaving her to suffer a mental breakdown in the aftermath.

That was why Shawn, terrified of his mom hurting me again, had insisted we keep our relationship a secret.

"Shawn? Where are you?"

In the middle of our standoff, Alyssa's bright, melodic voice rang out from the other end of the hallway.

Shawn let go of me at once, panic flashing across his face.

"Josie, go back inside. I'll come find you in a bit. I…"

Watching him scramble like that, a sudden wave of bitter resentment rose in my chest.

I couldn't bring myself to believe that five years of devotion could be brushed aside the moment Alyssa called his name.

I wanted to test him one last time. Just to see if he'd choose me. Just once.

"Shawn, have you forgotten what day it is today?"

Today was the day we were supposed to commit to each other forever.

Jocelyn's POV

When Shawn heard my question, a look of genuine confusion crossed his face.

"What day?" he blurted out.

It seemed I was the only fool who'd actually kept track—the only one holding onto the dream of us getting married, the only one who remembered that, from the moment that basketball came hurtling toward me, I'd wanted to spend forever with him.

Watching his blank expression, I felt the knot of resentment in my chest suddenly unravel.

"It's nothing," I said quietly.

Alyssa's footsteps were drawing closer.

Shawn straightened his cuffs and walked away without looking back.

"We'll talk when we get home later," he tossed over his shoulder. "I'm going back out. Don't let Alyssa see you."

"There you are, Shawn! I've been looking everywhere," Alyssa chirped as she rounded the corner.

Shawn shifted half a step sideways, his tall frame deliberately shrouding me in the shadows of the hallway.

She tugged at his sleeve, her voice dropping into a practiced, pouty whine. "Shawn, my flight got in so late that all the hotels downtown were fully booked. Could I crash at your place tonight? Please?"

That place was where Shawn and I lived together.

Instinctively, he started to refuse, but Alyssa beat him to the punch. "Mrs. Lowell wants to see me tomorrow. Just give me a lift, Shawn. You're headed there anyway, aren't you?"

For five years, Shawn had promised he'd handle his mom's hostility toward me. And yet, every time I showed up in front of her, she'd end up dragging me by my hair and slapping me across the face.

Alyssa, on the other hand, had always been the apple of her eye.

Shawn went silent for what felt like an eternity. Just as I felt the hope drain out of me, he broke the silence.

"Okay."

That single word was the breaking point. Whatever had been keeping me upright finally collapsed.

My phone kept buzzing with Shawn's messages.

"Josie, don't come home tonight."

"I don't want Alyssa to see you and tell my mom about us."

I had no intention of waiting until tomorrow. If he wanted to spend his life playing the dutiful son and the doting childhood sweetheart, I wasn't going to stand in his way anymore.

I slipped back home under the cover of night and packed everything that mattered into a single suitcase. Everything else went straight into the trash.

When I found my old medical records in the nightstand, the ache in my chest throbbed all over again.

Years ago, when Shawn was desperate to save his company, he'd cut into the business of some local thugs. They'd kidnapped him, intent on teaching him a lesson.

Back then, the Lowell family was on the verge of collapse, and no one else was willing to step in.

I was the one who called the police and went in there alone to get him out.

In the chaos of the rescue, someone lunged at him with a red-hot branding iron.

I threw myself in front of him. The iron seared into my chest, missing my heart by less than an inch.

At the hospital that day, Shawn knelt by my bed and finally returned my feelings.

He touched my wound with trembling fingers, his eyes rimmed red as he made his vow to me.

He begged me for five years, promising he would match my stature so I wouldn't have to settle for a man less than my equal.

And for all those years, he did love me. He never missed a single gift on a single important day.

Though our love stayed in the dark, behind closed doors, he was devoted to me to the point of obsession. If I so much as stood too close to another man, he'd take it out on me in bed for days, making me cry his name until my voice gave out.

I'd been pathetic enough to enjoy that side of him—and honest enough to admit I'd taken advantage of Alyssa's absence, slipping into the place she'd left behind.

Now that she was back, the dream was over, and I was willing to step aside.

I dragged my suitcase down the stairs and out to the curb. Just as I was about to call an Uber, a car horn chirped. The man who'd been watching me all night at the party was sitting behind the wheel, grinning at me.

"What are you doing here?"

I was stunned, but he just hopped out and popped the trunk open like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Just trying to make a good impression. Now that the great Ms. Clarke has finally agreed to marry me, the least I can do is be her chauffeur."

A free ride was a free ride. I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I started to lift my suitcase into the trunk, and he stepped in to help.

Unexpectedly, the suitcase slipped, and our hands brushed.

Just as I was pulling mine back in a panic, Shawn's inscrutable, icy voice cut in from behind me.

"Jocelyn, I told you to stay out for one night, and you've already found someone to keep you company?"