Chapter 3

Even this wish was about Ember.

Fine. Then let it be.

That way they'd owe each other nothing.

Ashford Bay's weather could flip in an instant. By the time she stepped outside, the snow was coming down in heavy flakes.

She forced herself behind the wheel and drove toward SoHo. Her driving wasn't great on a good day, and with the storm, she nearly spun out twice.

When she finally got back with the box, Ember took one bite and spat it out. "They're cold. Gross."

Zachary didn't say a word. He swept the macarons into the trash and bent down to scoop Ember into his arms. "Let's go. I'll take you to the bakery for fresh ones."

He'd given the driver the night off. The only car available was hers.

He settled Ember in the passenger seat, then glanced over his shoulder at Sonia, still standing beside the car, and said impatiently, "Get in."

She was too drained to fight. She got in.

The whole ride, Zachary and Ember flirted. Sonia leaned against the window, dizzy and numb.

Until an SUV on the opposite side hydroplaned and came sliding straight at them.

Zachary didn't hesitate. He swerved — Sonia's side took the hit.

At the moment of impact, he threw himself over Ember, shielding her.

The crash rang out. Blood trickled down Sonia's forehead.

Her lips parted silently as she watched, vision blurring, as Zachary scooped Ember up and carried her out of the car in a panic.

She almost laughed.

She was suddenly remembering the first year Zachary had gotten his license. He'd snuck out with her, taken her driving on a snowy night. The car had fishtailed and slammed into a guardrail.

That night, it had been him who threw himself across her to shield her from the impact.

She'd walked away untouched. He'd spent three months in the hospital.

And now, he had chosen to trade her life for Ember's.

Sonia managed the ghost of a smile. Then she lost consciousness.

A stranger walking by called the ambulance.

She was in the hospital for a week. Zachary never came.

Ember came — in the form of texts. Photos of him feeding her, changing her IV, tucking her in. Captions like:

"I honestly didn't expect it. Given the choice, between life and death, he chose me."

"He said he was going to visit you. I just mentioned my head hurt and he stayed."

"Sonia. I'm going to make sure I'm the only woman he ever thinks about."

Sonia didn't reply. She blocked both of them and moved on.

Before all this, she had still quietly thought maybe they could be friends after, for the sake of twenty-odd years.

Now she just wanted Zachary Blackwood gone from her life forever.

The day after Sonia was discharged, Evelyn Blackwood turned sixty.

Sonia had planned never to step foot in anything Blackwood-related again, but Evelyn begged her, saying she wouldn't even bother holding the party if Sonia didn't come.

Evelyn had loved her like a daughter since childhood, and especially after Sonia's parents had died. Besides — she still needed to formally tell Zachary's parents about the annulment.

Sonia caved. She said yes.

Evelyn loved a crowd, and the party was enormous — a gala set up across the Blackwood estate. The moment Sonia walked in, she saw Ember, fussing over Zachary as he limped beside her, voice all soft reproach. "Look at you. You'd actually die for me."

"Sonia's still your fiancée, you know. She'll be upset if she sees this."

The guests in earshot froze, then turned, mortified, toward Sonia.

Zachary saw her too. His body instinctively leaned forward as if to go to her. But Sonia didn't so much as glance his way — she walked straight to the corner. So he sat back down and let Ember drape herself against him.

One of their old friends from the circle couldn't take it anymore. "You're supposed to be getting married. What the hell is this? Sonia's humiliated."

Zachary shot Sonia a cool look. "Married? She just tossed me out. What wedding?"

That broke the dam.

Even some of the older relatives began to drift over to Sonia, asking her what had happened.

"You two haven't been apart a single day since you were born. What could possibly have caused this?"

"A man who'd trade his own life for yours, a girl who'd walk five hundred miles of pilgrimage just to pray for his recovery — there's nothing you two can't talk out."

"There isn't a childhood couple in this whole city closer than you two. Whatever this misunderstanding is, clear it up."

Sonia's gaze fell on the small pendant hanging around Ember's neck. It was the St. Christopher medal Sonia had walked the Camino de Santiago for — on her knees for the last stretch — after Zachary's car accident years ago. She had begged God for his recovery. She hadn't been able to walk normally for three months afterward.

Zachary had sworn he'd keep that medal forever. That he would value his own life to honor hers.

Now...

Sonia gave a soft, bitter laugh.

He'd given his life to Ember. He'd given her the medal, too.

Their past couldn't compete with Ember's present.

Around her, people were still pressing. Sonia said quietly, "We didn't fight. We've separated. The heirlooms have been returned."