Chapter 1: The Night That Changed Everything

The moment my eyes fluttered open, the world felt off—like I’d woken up in someone else’s skin. The air was thick with the scent of old linen and dust, and my heart hammered in my chest, not just from the unfamiliar bed, but from the heavy silence pressing down. Suddenly, a line of text shimmered before my eyes, as if I’d stepped into a story I hadn’t agreed to.

[Ugh, the first time that should have belonged to our precious female lead has been stolen by the troublemaker side character.]

[Just imagining this side character causing drama and forcing the male lead to marry her, while our sweet heroine is heartbroken, makes me feel awful.]

[Considering the male lead was still holding the lucky charm our heroine prayed over for him while he was with the troublemaker, I’ll let this plot slide for now.]

I instinctively looked down, my breath catching. Sure enough, even in sleep, Caleb Ford was clutching a faded yellow church prayer card in his hand. For a moment, I froze, unsure if I should reach out or pull away, my fingers trembling with the urge to touch him and the fear of what it meant.

A shaft of morning light slanted through the threadbare curtains, painting the rough wood floor with gold. The room smelled faintly of old wood and last night’s whiskey. The prayer card looked worn, corners bent, the kind you get handed out after Sunday service at First Baptist. Caleb’s grip was so tight, his knuckles stood out pale against his tan skin, and I could just make out the inked words: ‘God Bless and Keep You Safe.’ Somehow, that little card made everything feel more real—and more impossible.

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[Honestly, this troublemaker side character does look a bit like the female lead, Savannah Langley. No wonder, after the male lead was drugged, he mistook her for the heroine. She got lucky.]

[Are you kidding? Country girl Mariah Pierce is just a bit curvier—how can she compare to our precious Savvy? I really don’t get why the author wrote this. The male lead slept with the side character; it’s so unfair to Savvy.]

[Don’t worry. She only has a few scenes left. Soon she’ll fail to hurt the heroine and end up dying, which will help the main couple grow closer. Karma, I guess.]

These strange subtitles felt like a bucket of ice water, chilling me to the bone. My throat tightened, and I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to block out the judgment.

My name is Mariah Pierce. My parents raised me right, so even in loose, faded jeans and an old sweatshirt, the curves of my body are impossible to hide. As for Savannah Langley, she’s a city girl sent down for a year of service in our town. We do look a little alike. But unlike my bold features, Savannah is slender, fair-skinned, sweet, and downright beautiful. She carries a kind of refined grace you can’t find in our rural Midwest town.

Sometimes, folks at the diner would whisper and compare us, especially over plates of biscuits and gravy or slices of pecan pie, but I knew the truth. Savannah’s voice was soft as a lullaby, her hands always perfectly manicured, even after a morning in the fields. I, on the other hand, had calluses and dirt under my nails, and I never cared much for makeup. Still, standing side by side, people couldn’t help but notice the resemblance—the kind that made you wonder if we were distant cousins.

The subtitles say we’re in a period novel, and Savannah Langley is the heroine. I’m just the side character, doomed to die soon. So the male lead they’re talking about—is it Caleb Ford?

The thought twisted in my chest. Caleb, with his broad shoulders and quiet strength, was the kind of man everyone in Maple Hollow trusted to fix a broken fence or haul a truck out of the mud. But to me, he was more than that. The idea that I was nothing but a plot device in someone else’s story made me clench my fists, the pain sharp and raw, stinging worse than any insult.