After a while, Rayna sat on the edge of the hotel bed, her expression unreadable as she stared out at the skyline of Zeden through the tall windows.
Her mind was reeling from everything Ruby had just told her. A wedding switch, a blind groom, a blackmailer lurking in the shadows — it sounded like something out of one of her blog's most dramatic stories. But this wasn't fiction. This was real. And her best friend was right at the center of it.
She glanced over at Ruby, who sat curled up in the armchair with a blanket draped over her lap. Her eyes looked heavier now — not from fatigue alone, but from the sheer weight of the secret she'd been carrying alone for the past three days.
Rayna had never seen her like this. Not even after her breakup with Jordan two years ago. This was a different kind of tired — the kind that comes from pretending every single moment.
Rayna's heart twisted as she watched her friend. Ruby didn't deserve any of this.
