My fiancé canceled our wedding via text message. I replied, “My condolences.” Then I forwarded his message to his parents, who had paid for everything. An hour later, his father called me in a panic to say the money had disappeared…

I forwarded Bradley’s breakup message to them and wrote underneath: “I thought you should see how your son decided to cancel the wedding that you paid for.”

Bridget let out a soft gasp while ten minutes later Melinda called me, but I refused to answer the phone.

Then another message came through from her asking if this was true, but I remained silent until Bradley himself wrote to me fifteen minutes later.

He didn’t ask how I was or offer a real apology, but only wrote: “Why did you send that message to my parents?”

That question froze me to the bone because there was not a single word about the disaster or my feelings, only his own selfish anger.

Then Mr. Howard called me directly for the first time in three years, and I finally answered on the fourth attempt.

“Cassandra,” he said in a voice I didn’t recognize, “do you happen to know where Bradley is right now?”

I frowned and asked if he wasn’t with them, but there was a heavy silence on the other end as if he were trying to sort out a tragedy.

“He left his apartment and isn’t answering anyone, and there is something vital you need to know,” Howard explained with a shaky breath.