Plenty of people were waiting to see Clara Vale make a fool of herself. Everyone knew her family had gone bankrupt years ago. She no longer belonged in their elite social circle, yet she refused to leave. The reason seemed obvious enough: Everyone had heard the same story that in high school, Clara had once been Vincent Langley’s first love. Now, people said, she was clinging to that old relationship, hoping to use their shared past to climb her way back into a world that had long since shut its doors to her. But the Langley name was not one just anyone could marry into. At a private gathering, Vincent planned to propose. Not to Clara, of course. That night, rain came down without warning. Cars were impossible to get, and Clara’s dress was ruined in the storm. She waited alone under a pavilion, soaked, cold, and painfully out of place. Then a car pulled up. In the back seat sat Sebastian Hale—the true center of their world. Perhaps he pitied the sight of her, standing there so beautifully and miserably in the rain. With perfect courtesy, he asked if she needed help. Clara smiled.“If you really want to help,” she said, “then fuck with me.” Later, Sebastian accidentally overheard Clara talking with a friend. Her friend asked why she kept him in such an unclear, undefined relationship. Clara was silent for a moment. Then she said, “He… looks like the person I’m in love with.” Sebastian ended things soon after. Clara only shrugged, careless as ever. “I’ve been tired of all your rules for a long time anyway.” Overnight, Clara disappeared from Sebastian’s world. Then she disappeared completely. No one knew where she had gone. She was smooth, worldly, and never told the truth if a lie would serve her better. Sebastian thought he must have lost his mind to use every way he had to find a woman like that—all so he could continue being someone else’s substitute. Only later did Sebastian learn the truth. There had never been anyone who looked like him. There had only been him. It had always been him.