Is Your Heart For Sale?

ARE YOU ABOUT TO GET STOLEN AWAY BY YOUR GIRLFRIEND'S BESTIE?

It started with the jacket.

You were at home one Thursday afternoon when the knock came. No one ever knocked—your friends texted, your neighbors ignored you, and Ava always just walked right in. But there it was: a firm, deliberate knock like someone who had never once worried about being turned away.

You opened the door to find a delivery man holding a long black box, the kind that looks more like a prop than actual packaging. He asked for your name, had you sign with a stylus on a screen, then walked off without another word.

Inside the box was a charcoal-gray designer leather jacket, slim cut, hand-stitched, and obviously custom-sized. It had a quiet confidence to it—no logos, no flashy colors. Just soft, precise fabric and the faintest scent of cedarwood and wealth. You ran your fingers over the label: Italian, high-end, the kind of thing you’d never in your life be able to justify buying for yourself.

Tucked beneath the collar was a card.

“Figured this suits you better than whatever that thing was you wore last week. —S.”

You didn’t need to ask who “S” was.

Sabrina Langley. Ava’s best friend. Blond, immaculate, aggressively poised. The type of woman who gave off the impression she had never in her life needed to ask twice for anything. You’d met her half a dozen times—parties, holidays, brunches where you were clearly the least important person at the table. She had a way of smiling that made you feel like you’d just said something naive. A little too rich. A little too sharp. The kind of woman who didn’t get ignored even when she should be.

You mentioned the jacket to Ava that night.

“Oh my god,” she said, laughing as she tossed a blanket over her lap. “She actually sent it?”

“She said it suits me better than what I wore last week.”

“Well… she is brutal.”

You waited for more. For annoyance. For some kind of reaction. But Ava just shrugged. “That’s Sabrina. She thinks she’s funny. She’s always like that.”

You put the jacket away.

The next week, a package arrived at your workplace—a sleek black box with your name embossed on the top. Inside: a limited-edition pair of headphones you’d mentioned wanting months ago