Chapter 1

• On the night of our anniversary, my boyfriend Paul said he couldn't come home because of an emergency meeting.
• Bored out of my mind, I opened TikTok, immediately attracted by a livestream.
• The girl doing the LIVE was hunting down a side chick.
• "That slut lives in this neighborhood. I'm going there right now to catch them in the act!"
• Comments in the chatroom were flying at a breakneck speed.
• "Another scripted show?"
• "Men who cheat are so despicable!"
• "Maybe they're banging right now."
• But I was completely frozen.
• Because that woman was pointing at my house:
• "That whore lives right here!"
• …
• Coldness crawled all over my skin.
• I still tried to stay positive. Maybe the woman in the livestream got the wrong house.
• Paul and I had been together for three years. He'd treated me well. He’d never crossed a line with another woman.
• But I was wrong.
• She was already at my door, pounding on it like crazy.
• “Open up! Open the damn door!”
• “You bitch!" she screamed. "Feels good being a mistress, huh?”
• Her voice got louder and louder. Neighbors were starting to gather outside.
• I looked at her face on the stream.
• She was a total stranger.
• Maybe it was just a misunderstanding. I’d explain and clear it up.
• I took a deep breath and opened the door. “You—”
• Before I could finish, she raised her hand and slapped me. Hard.
• White spots danced in my vision.
• She shoved me aside and stormed into my place.
• “Get out!” I yelled at her through my numb face.
• I lunged, grabbed her wrist, and raised my hand to slap her back.
• “Where’s Paul?” she barked, her phone up like a weapon.
• “Paul?” I stared at her, stunned.
• “Who else?" she demanded. Then she pointed at herself. "I’m his girlfriend!”
• “Quit pretending you don’t know, you bitch!” she screamed at me, her voice shaking with rage.
• She snatched a framed photo of me and Paul off the table and shoved it at her camera.
• “Here’s your proof!”
• Then she pulled out another phone and opened her gallery.
• Wall-to-wall photos of her with a familiar guy.
• Paul.
• I went blank.
• I’d been with Paul for three years—he was nineteen when we started. In her photos, he looked even younger.
• So… I was the side chick all along?
• But when he asked me out, he swore he was single.
• “What, still not gonna admit it?” the woman screeched.
• Maybe my face gave me away, because she sneered and hit play on a video.
• Onscreen, Paul was naked, on top of her, going at it hard.
• She tossed the phone into my arms. Their moans were right in my ear.
• I stared at that familiar face. Even with my gut screaming that Paul really had cheated, I still blurted out, “What if you two already broke up?”
• She laughed.
• “That was filmed last night.”
• I shut right up.
• Paul had betrayed her. Then he'd gotten himself entangled with me.
• I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down.
• “When did you start dating Paul?” I asked.
• “When he was sixteen.”
• “But he’s not here,” I said.
• She blinked at me, surprised. “He told me he had a friend’s birthday party. I thought he was coming to you.”
• “Birthday party?” I let out a cold laugh. “He told me he had to work.”
• We both got played.
• I opened Paul’s laptop, which he’d left at my place.
• His Instagram was still logged in. His latest post was hidden from me, but I could still see his last location.
• And it was tagged at a bar nearby.
• She and I locked eyes.
• Then we ran for the bar without a second thought.