Prologue

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Twenty-seven. Tomorrow I will officially be twenty-seven, and a week from tomorrow, hundreds of people will gather in the most magnificent garden I've ever seen to celebrate my new life, our new life. It is the most perfectly planned wedding. Perfect... I remind myself!

I toy with the necklace I've worn almost every day for nearly a decade, the purest representation of me. I trace over my bare left ring finger, overcome with raw emotion. I then glance at the ring on my vanity— it is beautiful, exactly what a girl would dream of.

"Don't cry, Olivia," I whisper to myself, intimately aware of the face full of makeup I've just completed in preparation for my surprise party.

He is so sweet, my fiancé, but surprises are not his forte. It is better this way; I'm not the girl who loved surprises— not anymore, at least.

I struggle to tame one flyaway hair with frustration brewing. It needs to be perfect. I take one last glance at my bare ring finger, fully embracing the magnitude of this moment. I felt it all. It's time.

"Honey, are you ready? Our reservation is at seven, and this place is impossible to get into. We don't want to be late," I hear my fiancé yell from our bedroom.

"Almost," I respond. I take one final glance in the mirror before I quickly slide my ring on my finger. I stand and grab my clutch before I feel arms wrap around my waist.

"You truly are a magnificent site, Olivia; worth the wait as always." I smile at my fiancé's kind words as I turn around and kiss his cheek. "Ready?" he asks, and I gulp as I take his hand.

"Ready" I nod and smile hesitantly.

For a moment, there is stillness, and in the silence, I can hear it. In the pit of my stomach, I can feel it.

"Wait," I say emphatically, "Can you help me take this necklace off?" Cameron stares at me for a second unaware that I'm drowning internally as I take this last step.

"Are you sure?" he asks, the inquiry laced with complete sincerity.

I cannot find the strength to articulate the word "yes," so I settle on the harshest reality I've ever known "It's time."

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