Prologue
JASON
EIGHT YEARS AGO
“You can’t stay here,” Jack, my brother, says as he looks down at me. “We’ve got to move on.”
I sit on the steps of the altar, staring at the envelope burning a hole in my hand—the one she served me with, ensuring a life sentence of agony and despair.
For a moment I wonder the meaning of Jack’s words. Is he talking about the garden? Or the moment? I snort.
Who cares, I can’t even breathe.
For fuck’s sake, my world just shattered, and he wants me to move. I can’t feel my legs.
How can I move on?
I can hear the advice coming from everyone who just witnessed the devastation of Jason Spearman’s world. Mom was the first one to hit me with her wise words.
“Love can last forever if you’re with the right person,” she said after I fell to the ground, defeated.
What did she mean by that?
I am in love with the right person—my soulmate. At least, that’s what we’ve said to each other. Or were her declamations of love useless words meant to enchant me? Meant to make me believe that her love for me was absolute?
It doesn’t matter anymore. She’s gone.
And now here I am, broken without a clue on what to do next.
My error was to fall in love.
As if my dad could hear my thoughts, he says, “Loving someone is never a mistake.”
He pats my shoulder and leaves to do some damage control. There’s nothing they can do that will repair what happened today. My heart is breaking. Blood oozes from my wound, not that anyone can see what’s happening to me.
I loosen my bowtie, gasping for air. My throat is thick.
“I should’ve known,” I say out loud.
Neither one of my brothers says a word. They remain close enough in case I need them but giving me the space I crave. The rawness of this moment shreds my gut, and I am left questioning everything. Wondering what I’m supposed to do now?
“How will I survive?” I tighten the grip of the fucking paper I haven’t read.
“By living the best life that you can,” Alex, my younger brother says. “You slap that bitch by showing her this didn’t affect you. There’s life after her. You are Jason fucking Spearman.”
But how will I survive?