The champagne bubbles tickled my nose as I raised my glass, surrounded by squealing bridesmaids in my living room. Five days. Just five more days until I became Mrs. Marcus Chen, and my fairy tale would be complete. "To Lily!" my sister Emma shouted, her eyes already glassy from the prosecco. "The most patient woman alive for putting up with Marcus's work schedule for six years!" Everyone laughed, including me, though something twisted in my stomach. Six years. We'd been together since I was twenty-three, fresh out of college and wide-eyed at the consulting firm where Marcus was already making junior partner. He'd pursued me relentlessly—flowers every week, handwritten notes left on my desk, stolen kisses in the supply closet. My phone buzzed. Marcus. Finally. *Can you come over? Need to talk.* I frowned at the screen. We'd barely seen each other this week between final wedding preparations and his "important client meetings." The bachelorette party was in full swing, but something about his message made my pulse quicken. "Everything okay?" Emma peered over my shoulder. "Yeah, Marcus just wants to finalize some ceremony details." The lie came easily. Too easily. "I'll be back in an hour." Twenty minutes later, I stood outside Marcus's downtown apartment, the one he'd kept even though we'd practically lived together at my place for the past year. "For work convenience," he'd said. I'd never questioned it. I'd never questioned much of anything when it came to Marcus Chen. He opened the door before I could knock. His normally immaculate hair was disheveled, his tie loosened, and there was something in his dark eyes I'd never seen before. Fear. "Come in." His voice was flat. The apartment was pristine as always, but Marcus looked like he hadn't slept in days. He poured himself a whiskey—straight, no ice. He never drank hard liquor. "Marcus, you're scaring me." He downed the entire glass, then turned to face me. "I need to tell you something. I should have told you years ago, but I—" He stopped, jaw clenching. "There's no good way to say this." My heart hammered against my ribs. Another woman. It had to be. All those late nights, those business trips to San Francisco, the phone calls he'd take in another room. "I'm married." The words hung in the air between us like a grenade with the pin pulled. I actually laughed. It was such an absurd statement. "What?" "Legally married. To someone else. I have been for seven years." The room tilted. I gripped the back of his leather couch, my engagement ring—a princess cut diamond we'd spent weeks choosing—suddenly feeling like it weighed a thousand pounds. "That's not funny." "It's not a joke, Lily." He moved toward me, but I stepped back. "Her name is Mei. Our families arranged it when I was twenty-four. Traditional Chinese marriage, very formal. I barely knew her." "You barely—" I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. "We've been together for six years. SIX YEARS, Marcus. Our wedding is in five days!" "I know." "You KNOW?" My voice cracked. "How is this possible? We applied for a marriage license. They would have said something. They would have—" "The license application is still processing. I've been... delaying it." Oh God. All those times he'd said the courthouse was backed up, that there was paperwork missing, that we could just do the ceremony first and handle the legal part after. I'd trusted him. I'd trusted him with everything. "I don't understand." Tears blurred my vision. "If you're married, why are we—why did you propose? Why plan this whole wedding?" "Because I love you." He reached for my hands, but I yanked them away. "Mei and I, we're married on paper only. We live separate lives. It's a formality, an obligation to our families. She understands." "She understands?" I was screaming now. "I don't understand! Nothing about this makes sense!" "My family forced me into it. Her family and mine have business ties going back decades. She needed protection—her immigration status was complicated, and marrying me solved that. It was supposed to be temporary, but her situation is still precarious. If I divorce her now, she could be deported back to China. Her family has political enemies there. She could be in real danger." I stared at this man I thought I knew. This man I'd planned my entire future around. "So what am I, Marcus? What have I been for six years?"