“What did she say?” I asked, keeping my hands wrapped around the warm mug.

“She told her whole family you lied about your promotion,” Paige said.

“She says you canceled the wedding and threw away her kids’ daycare money out of spite.”

I adjusted my silver wristwatch, tightening the leather strap until the silver pin locked into the third hole.

In less than ten hours, my promotion was frozen, my eighteen-hundred-dollar housing deposit was gone, and my name was being dragged through the mud across Seth’s whole family.

“Seth thinks he’s backed you into a corner where you’ll have to give up,” Paige said, looking out toward the main road.