The Second Choice Bride

The night before my wedding, my fiancé's childhood sweetheart—maybe by accident, maybe not—ran me over and left me bleeding in the street.

My best friend Kiki tried calling Zach, but he sent her straight to voicemail.

All he left me was one lousy text: "Rhonda's sick. I can't leave her."

So Kiki called her own fiancé—a major celebrity with connections everywhere.

His response? "Rhonda isn't feeling well. I need to stay with her."

After a long night in the ER, Kiki and I locked eyes in my hospital room and said in unison:

"I'm not marrying him."

We didn't expect both men to completely lose it when we called off the weddings.

A whole week went by before Zach finally called.

And he didn't hold back.

"Chloe, what the hell is wrong with you?" he yelled. "Our families have everything booked—the date, the venue—and you just cancel? What are you trying to pull?"

I tried to speak, but he steamrolled right over me.

"I've told you a thousand times, Rhonda's health is fragile. A simple cold could turn serious. I have to be here to make sure she's okay. How can you be so jealous? So heartless?"

Heartless.

I almost laughed.

The night before, I was alone, putting the final touches on our wedding. On my way home, a truck came out of nowhere and hit me.

Before everything went black, I called Zach again and again. All I got was that cold, robotic busy signal.

Twice.

It wasn't until I was unconscious, my phone screen smeared with blood, that I got a new message from him:

[What?! Tell me quickly!]

When I didn't answer right away, he sent another:

[Are you sick? Do you really have to interrupt me while I'm comforting Rhonda? Don't you know how delicate her condition is?]

Even after I woke up, Zach kept blaming me.

Then Kiki stormed into the room and grabbed my phone.

"Zach, are you out of your mind?! Chloe was hit by a car last night! The driver aimed for her—twice! If she hadn't gotten to the hospital in time, she could have died! Since when is a cold the same as a car accident?!"

Zach snorted on the other end.

"You're lying to a doctor, Kiki. You two really think you're that clever?"

Then he hung up.

Kiki's jaw was tight, her grip on the phone turning her knuckles white.

Before I could say anything, her phone rang. It was her fiancé, Ethan—also Zach's best friend.