Category: English

The Praise Moon Festival, open to all unmated beastkin in the tribe, was held once every three years. Whoever caught a moonflower could enter a binding contract ceremony. I had planned to stay home. But Ash, my fiancé, loved a spectacle. He signed me up without asking. So I pulled my brother James and my childhood friend Liam aside. “Tomorrow, three females will toss their moonflowers at the same time. If Ash can’t catch mine, you two need to make sure you grab it for me.” They both nodded and promised. But when my moonflower fell, they charged toward Chloe—a rabbit beastkin from our tribe—and helped Ash catch hers instead. My moonflower landed squarely in the hands of Rex, a lone dragon beastkin who’d lost three mates and was about to leave the territory for good. My heart hammered with panic. I went straight to the Elder to negotiate the return of my moonflower and cancel the binding contract. But at the corner of the hall, I overheard the three of them whispering. James spoke first, addressing my fiancé. “Ash, you caught Chloe’s moonflower. By tribal law, you’ll have to enter a contract with her. What are we going to do about my sister?” Ash cradled Chloe’s moonflower like something precious. “What can we do? It’s just a ceremony. It’s not like we’d have to register it with the Alliance. It’s a fake wedding, nothing more.” “At least this way, Chloe’s mother will stop pressuring her to marry.” “As for Iris—worst case, she throws a fit, refuses the contract, and gets her tribal mark erased. She’s a female avian beastkin. What difference does it make whether she stays on the Clan Register or not?” Liam chuckled in agreement. “Iris has always believed in the Moon God’s blessings. Just sweet-talk her a little, and she’ll go along with your contract with Chloe.” I stood frozen in place, a bitter smile pulling at my lips. They’d all forgotten. Staying on the Clan Register to inherit my mother’s land was the dream I’d carried my entire life. It was the reason I needed to marry in the first place. And now the Moon God had given a sign. How could I possibly refuse? … The walk home was short. When I pushed through the door, James was the first to greet me, his voice low and urgent. “So? You went to the Elder to refuse the contract. What did he say?” Our parents looked over too. I hung my coat on the hook by the door. “Nothing much.” My father slammed his teacup down on the table. “If you refuse the contract, you know what that means—tribal law demands your mark be erased. Don’t come crying about it later.” “You’ve been with Ash for eight years. How did you let something like this happen?” I said nothing. After all these years, I was used to it. Whenever something went wrong, he blamed me. Never stood up for me. Never once felt sorry for what I went through. He only ever cared about Chloe, because Chloe was his first love’s daughter. Anything involving the Bennett family, and he’d take their side without a second thought. Even when it was never my fault. My mother had always been timid, silent in the face of my father and James’s favoritism. She opened her mouth as if to speak, then simply pushed a bowl of hot corn chowder toward me. I glanced at her and felt nothing I hadn’t already made peace with. As long as she was safe and well, that was enough. I could marry anyone. The doorbell rang just as I sat down. James went to answer it. Ash and Liam walked in side by side. Chloe trailed behind them. The moment she stepped inside, she called out in that sweet, clinging voice of hers, “Uncle! I’m here to mooch dinner!” Her rabbit ears drooped slightly, and she gazed up at my father with that coy look of hers. He beamed, couldn’t stop grinning. “Sit, sit, come sit down!” He pulled out a chair for her himself. They’d just come back from the sanctuary, where the Moon God’s blessing had been confirmed. Chloe’s moonflower had landed right in Ash’s arms. By tribal law, they were now “destined by the Moon God.” As for whether I accepted or refused the contract—none of them cared either way. Chloe settled into the seat beside Ash. He forked a piece of barbecued rib onto her plate first, then seemed to remember I existed and dropped a chunk of roasted bell pepper into my bowl. “You should eat too, Iris.” I looked down at it. I set it aside without a word. I’d hated bell peppers since I was a child. Was he so giddy from catching his sweetheart’s flower that he’d forgotten even that? At dinner, James started cracking jokes. “Rex showing up to the Praise Moon Festival—can you imagine? The guy must be desperate for a wife.” Liam leaned in eagerly. “Right? He’s been in the western territory less than three months. Word is he killed off three mates before he got here. Dragon bloodline or not, who’d marry a cursed beast?” My father took a sip of tea. “Tribal law says whoever catches the moonflower enters the contract. There was a bit of a mix-up today, but Ash and Chloe—their contract stands.” “Chloe and her mother have had it hard enough. They can’t lose their tribal marks. Everything else can wait.” My mother spoke up, her voice tight. “But what about Iris—” “And whose fault is that?” My father cut her off, his tone sharp. “She couldn’t even convince the Elder herself.” “When the time comes, Ash and Iris can register at the Alliance. For now, we follow tribal rules.” My mother’s eyes brimmed with tears, but she could only lower her head. I was about to tell her not to worry when Ash took my hand. His voice was patient enough. “Iris, nobody wanted this to happen today. Three moonflowers fell at once—it was chaos.” “I didn’t expect to catch Chloe’s either.” “Once things settle down here, we’ll go register at the Alliance. Nobody’s going to remember a ceremony. Okay?” I took a sip of soup and nodded. “Okay.” He blinked. I rarely gave in that easily. In the past, I would have made a fuss, waited for him to coax me, dragged it out a little before letting it go. But his surprise lasted only a moment. Then he released my hand, quick and relieved, like he’d finally set down something heavy. He turned to Chloe, his gaze soft. “What about you, Chloe?” Her face flushed instantly. The tips of her rabbit ears trembled. “My mom insisted I enter the Festival. She wanted me married off. I didn’t have a choice. But at least it was you who caught my flower.” “I’ll do whatever you all decide.” Everyone laughed and launched into plans—how grand the ceremony should be, which band to hire for the Moon God hymns. No one remembered that I was supposed to be Ash’s bride. I finished my meal in silence and set down my fork. “You all keep talking. I’m full.” The chair legs scraped against the floor. The table went quiet for a beat. As I walked away, I heard Chloe whisper, “Is Iris upset?” Ash reassured her gently. “Don’t overthink it. Iris isn’t the sensitive type. She’s probably just tired from the Festival.” My steps faltered for just a moment. So that’s how useful the word “tired” was. It could explain away every grievance, silence every question, and let everyone feel perfectly justified.

I walked out into the yard. The moon hadn’t risen yet. Only the stars scattered coldly across the sky. “Iris.” Ash followed me out, a half-smoked cigarette between his fingers. “You barely ate. Are you angry?” “Yes.” Honest as always. He laughed once and stubbed out the cigarette. “Don’t be petty about this. It’s your tribe’s customs that caused the mess. Three flowers dropped at once—who could tell them apart?” “Like I said, the tribal ceremony doesn’t count. Once we register at the Alliance—” “Ash.” I cut him off. He paused. I lifted my head and looked into his eyes. “From the very beginning, I told you I didn’t want to enter the Praise Moon Festival.” This was the tribe’s marriage tradition. It meant the Moon God had witnessed two souls and joined them as one. For thousands of years, the tribe had believed in it. I respected that belief. I didn’t want to participate because I already had Ash. I didn’t want to make a mockery of the Moon God’s will. But he’d had James put my name on the list. By the time I found out, my name was already recorded. There was no taking it back. Back then, I had no idea Chloe was also entering. He stared at me for a second. “It’s already happened. What’s the point of bringing this up now?” “You’re right. Nothing I say matters, because you never listen.” Ash frowned, his lips pressing into a thin line. That look on his face—I’d seen it for eight years. Impatience, barely held in check. “Iris, what’s the point of digging up old grievances? The Festival was an accident. There was nothing I could do. If you’re really that unhappy, I’ll have someone talk to the Elder tomorrow. We’ll just go through the motions—keep it simple so you don’t lose face.” I looked at him. “Just go through the motions?” “A binding contract means marriage. Everyone in this tribe understands that. Are you really going to pretend you don’t?” Ash pinched the bridge of his nose. “Iris, be reasonable—” “Reasonable?” I let out a short laugh. “When I try to reason with my father, he says I’m talking back. When I try to reason with my mother, she tells me not to take things so seriously. When I try to reason with James, he calls me petty.” “I thought being with you would be different. But it turns out you’re exactly the same.” His mouth opened. “I didn’t—” “You didn’t listen to me,” I said. “You just assumed I’d give in eventually.” The way my father assumed I’d shut up in the end. The way my mother assumed I’d swallow it. The way James assumed I’d shrug it off. “Iris…” His voice softened. He reached for me. I stepped back and turned into the darkness. The plume feathers along my spine shivered in the night wind, as if they, too, were trembling on my behalf. Behind me, his footsteps followed for two paces, then stopped. Chloe’s soft voice drifted over—”Ash, what happened?”—and someone inside called him back to discuss the ceremony. He didn’t come after me. Three years ago, when he proposed, his eyes had been full of light—bright and warm and all for me. Now that light had gone somewhere I couldn’t find.

I stayed out until late. No one came looking for me. When I returned, they were all gathered in the yard around a bonfire, setting off fireworks. Beside them sat roses, wine, and grilled meat that Ash had prepared. Chloe held a sparkler, her face lit by the glow. A few stray sparks clung to her rabbit ears. “Ash, do you think Iris will be upset? Us having fun out here like this…” James waved his sparkler dismissively. “Upset about what? Chloe, you’re too kind. The more you worry about her, the more entitled she gets. Just ignore her.” Liam chimed in with a grin. “Exactly. Don’t waste your energy on her. Think about it—Ash caught your moonflower, of all people. If that’s not fate, what is? The Moon God himself is matchmaking for you two.” Chloe’s blush deepened, her ear tips drooping shyly. “Stop saying things like that. Iris would be upset if she heard…” Ash chuckled but didn’t deny it. “The Elder says all three couples from the Festival will hold their ceremonies together.” “One pair refused the contract, so it’s down to two.” “I won’t let anyone outshine you. I’m going to make sure your ceremony is perfect.” After all, this was the only thing he could give her. A small compensation for her feelings—the ones he couldn’t accept. Chloe lowered her head, her voice thin as thread. “But my gown won’t be ready in time. I’ll have to wear something plain.” James laughed. “Ash already thought of that. He had Iris’s dress altered to your measurements.” Chloe looked up. “Really? But what about Iris?” “She won’t need it.” Ash struck a match and lit Chloe’s sparkler. Silver sparks showered down across his shoulder. I couldn’t move. That dress. I’d had it made by a friend in the tribe who specialized in traditional craft. I’d used feathers from my own molting season, sewn on one by one. There was only one like it in the world. Ash had volunteered to oversee the progress. He’d taken my measurements himself. But when the dress arrived, it was too tight. Now I understood why. The March night wasn’t cold anymore, but a chill crept down my spine in waves. “But getting your tribal mark erased—that hasn’t happened to anyone in thirty years. Iris must be devastated.” Ash reached over and tapped Chloe’s nose with his finger. “You almost ended up married off to a stranger, and you’re still worrying about someone else.” His voice carried a smile—intimate, certain. “Iris does what her father and brother tell her at home. Once she’s married, she’ll do what her husband says. Getting removed from the Clan Register isn’t a big deal.” “Did you see her stand up to me today? She didn’t. She was calmer than I expected. She’s afraid I’ll actually leave her.” Chloe’s voice went small and muffled. “I just think Iris is so pitiful…” “Pitiful?” Ash looked down at her. “All she’s doing is giving up her spot in the tribe to you. Outside of here, nothing changes.” The night breeze carried his cigarette smoke and his laughter straight to where I stood. I gathered my emotions, packed them away neatly, and walked back in.

The yard went half-silent the moment they saw me. Ash still had an unlit cigarette between his fingers. Chloe scurried over and grabbed my sleeve, her rabbit ears quivering. “Iris! You’re back! I was just about to come find you—” I raised my hand to pull free. She tumbled backward with a little yelp and landed on the ground. The sparkler rolled away across the stones. “Chloe!” Ash closed the distance in three strides, shoving me aside. I stumbled back, tripped over the pile of spent firework casings, and went down hard. My palms hit the hot debris. The burn seared through me and I curled inward. James and Liam rushed over too. They hovered around Chloe like she was made of glass, helping her up with the tenderest hands. Not one of them looked at me. Ash turned his head in my direction. His eyes were blazing. “What the hell is wrong with you?” “Chloe was just worrying about you running off. She was worried about your safety.” “And you come back and shove her? Is that how you were raised?” The pain in my palms throbbed upward in waves. Moonlight fell across my hands. Blisters were already rising. He noticed me cradling my hand, and his tone softened—barely. “…Are you okay?” I didn’t look at him. I braced myself against the ground and stood up on my own. A laugh escaped me. “Worried about my safety. So worried she’s out here setting off fireworks to celebrate.” Ash faltered. “What are you talking about? Fireworks after the Praise Moon Festival—isn’t that your tribe’s tradition?” Yes. Tradition. But what did any of it have to do with me? “Move.” My voice was quiet. His brow furrowed. “You shoved someone and you’re just going to walk away without apologizing?” I looked up at him. My palm pulsed with every heartbeat. “Apologize?” I said. “Ask her. Did I even touch her?” Ash didn’t turn around, but behind him, Chloe let out a soft, wet sniffle. That single sound swallowed whatever words he might have said. “Iris, for both our sakes, you’d better apologize right now.” “If you really cared about us,” I said, looking straight at him, “you’d walk out of here with me. Right now.” “Go register at the Alliance. Forget Chloe. Forget the Moon God’s blessing. Forget everything about this Festival. Do you dare?” His lips moved. I waited for him to speak. Waited for him to take that one step toward me. But he hesitated. His head turned, just slightly, and he saw Chloe sitting on the steps, gazing up at him. Those red eyes, glistening and wet. Those rabbit ears, drooping like wilted petals. “Iris…” His voice sank low. “Don’t push me like this. There’s no rush for us. Chloe, she—” “Forget it.” I cut him off and brushed the ash from my skirt. “I was joking.” I already knew the answer. Why force him to say it out loud? Behind me, Chloe choked out, “Iris got burned. Let me get the first aid kit—” Ash grabbed her arm immediately, his voice going hard. “Leave her. She’s the one who shoved you first. Who is this act for?” I pushed open the bedroom door and walked inside. The footsteps outside faded. I sat on the edge of the bed and looked at my hand. The burn had blistered right across the softest part of my palm. It hurt. It hurt so much that everything went numb.

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Every time Conrad brought a mistress home, he brought a man for me as well. “I need novelty. You need company. We each get what we want, so neither of us has the right to complain,” he always said. Then his mistress got pregnant, and he brought home yet another man. This time, he informed me coldly, “Sherry won’t have the baby unless I give her a proper title. We’ll divorce for now. Before we remarry, you can get to know him. I won’t stop you.” In private, someone asked him, “Conrad, that’s the wife you knelt through ninety-nine stone steps to win back. Are you really willing to let her sleep with another man?” Conrad merely took a slow drag of his cigarette. “Everyone knows Cecilia has a purist streak when it comes to love. She won’t touch him.” Just as everyone assumed I would do what I had done before, write the man a check and send him away, I smiled. “All right. I’ll do as you say.” … The cigarette between Conrad’s lips stilled. Someone nearby sucked in a sharp breath. “She agreed?” “No way. She’s not kicking him out this time?” Conrad quickly recovered his careless expression. He stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray, walked over, and patted my shoulder. “Enjoy yourself.” Then he put an arm around Sherry and headed upstairs. Behind me, whispers rustled through the room. “Is Cecilia serious this time?” “Oh, please. She loves Conrad too much. I bet she’ll still write that guy a check and send him packing.” “Conrad got someone pregnant this time. She’s probably just putting on a show to make him jealous.” I clenched my fists and walked forward with Adrian. They were right. Before this, every time Conrad brought another man to me, I handed him a check with a cold face and drove him away. I thought that was loyalty to my marriage. I thought that at least I was cleaner than Conrad. In the end, Sherry’s belly began to swell. What my so-called purity earned me was a divorce agreement, a bed I slept in alone, and the mocking eyes of everyone in the living room. I pushed open the bedroom door. When I turned around, I bumped straight into Adrian’s chest.

The tips of Adrian’s ears flushed faintly red. I gave a light cough and sat on the bed, pretending to be calm. “You sell yourself for money?” I asked. He nodded. The old me probably would have sneered, tossed him a check, told him to “take the money and get out,” and thought he was filthy. But really, among these people, who was filthier than Conrad? “Go take a shower.” I glanced at the divorce agreement on the bedside table and spoke quietly. For the past three years, I had turned a blind eye to Conrad’s absurd behavior. Because I loved him, I retreated step by step, while he pushed further and further. Now that we were both tired of this marriage… It was time for it to end. I picked up the pen and signed my name. Adrian came out of the shower just then, his hair still damp. The moment he saw me, the tips of his ears reddened visibly. “I’m done showering…” At the same time, my phone lit up. A message from Conrad: 【Go to bed early.】 I almost laughed. He had never sent me messages like that before. He had never cared about my daily life. But today, he did. Was it because I had kept Adrian? Was it because he had finally realized that Cecilia, the woman who had always been loyal to him, might truly be changing? I did not reply. I untied the belt of Adrian’s robe, slipped my hand inside, and pressed my palm against his abs. The lights went out, and we fell onto the bed kissing.

Early the next morning, I pressed a hand against my aching waist. We had done it several times last night. Adrian’s stamina in bed was almost terrifying. When I went downstairs, Adrian was in the kitchen helping the housekeeper. The moment he saw me, his ears turned red again. I smiled. I had just sat down at the dining table when Conrad came downstairs. He sat across from me, wearing an unreadable smile. “How was last night?” Before I could answer, the front door was pushed open. Conrad’s friend Mike rushed in cheerfully. “I bet she kicks him out by noon!” Jack followed right behind him. “Conrad, I bet she kicked that guy out last night—” His voice stopped abruptly. When he saw me, his expression shifted from excitement to embarrassment. “Cecilia… morning!” Conrad lifted the coffee beside him and took a sip, looking perfectly relaxed. As if his friends treating his marriage like entertainment was something to be proud of. I stood and walked toward the kitchen. “You should go. About what we discussed last night, we’ll talk later.” Adrian froze for a moment. Joy flashed in his eyes. He took off the apron, turned, and left. The front door closed. The living room fell silent for two seconds. Jack lowered his voice deliberately. “See? She still kicked him out.” Mike laughed. “Conrad really knows how to train a wife. That’s the kind of woman you marry. From now on, Conrad can have as many lovers as he wants. I’m jealous.” Conrad sat at the table, listening to them with the corners of his mouth curved. I exhaled and walked out of the dining room. Conrad and I spoke almost at the same time. “Come back to the old house with me for dinner tonight…” “Go to city hall at two this afternoon and finalize the divorce…”

Everyone froze. I placed the signed divorce agreement on the table. “Let’s get the divorce done first.” Conrad’s gaze fell on my signature. He did not move. Only after a long while did he look up at me. “What’s the rush? Didn’t I say we’d wait until Sherry’s pregnancy was more stable?” I sneered. “You don’t want to wait until I change my mind and tear up the agreement again, do you?” The atmosphere stiffened for several seconds. Then Sherry came downstairs. “Cecilia, please don’t be anxious. I just don’t want my child to be called illegitimate after he’s born. You don’t have to pressure Conrad like this.” As she spoke, her eyes reddened. Conrad looked at her pitiful face and suddenly laughed. “Cecilia, you think I don’t dare sign?” He picked up the pen from the table and signed his name quickly. Afterward, he threw the pen down hard. “Don’t worry. Once Sherry gives birth, we’ll remarry.” He stood and leaned close to my ear. “You’re the woman I stole back from hell. Out of all those things outside, which one could ever compare to you?” “This child will be raised by you later. Only you are qualified to raise him. Understand?” I said nothing. I dragged out the suitcase I had already packed and left. Behind me, Sherry’s soft voice drifted over. “Conrad, she… won’t really refuse to come back, will she?” Conrad glanced at Sherry. “Now that Cecilia’s gone, you must be secretly delighted.” “Of course not!” Sherry pouted. “My upbringing would never allow me to destroy someone else’s marriage…” As she spoke, she lowered her head and touched her belly. “Everything is for the child.” That wronged little expression instantly dissolved Conrad’s temper. “All right, don’t cry. I was only teasing you.” I took a deep breath and quickly left with my suitcase.

At one fifty that afternoon, I sat on a bench at city hall. I called Conrad for the tenth time. Still no answer. I found my lawyer’s number and sent a message. 【Help me file for divorce through litigation. I’ll send you the materials this afternoon.】 That night, after Conrad’s father, Old Blackwell, urged me several times, I still went back to the old house. Not long after I arrived, the door opened. Conrad walked in with his arm around Sherry. When he saw me, he froze. Old Blackwell’s face darkened. “You bastard. You bring just anyone into this house now?” Conrad sat down with Sherry in his arms, his tone easy. “Dad, it’s just dinner. Do you need to be this angry?” Then he glanced at me. “I thought you weren’t coming, so I brought her. Today is her occasion. Don’t make trouble.” I gave a small laugh. We were not even divorced yet, and he had already brought his mistress to meet his parents. Back then, on the day Conrad proposed to me, I was unexpectedly diagnosed with an illness. To avoid holding him back, I cruelly rejected him. But Conrad ran to the church and knelt his way up the stone steps one by one. Ninety-nine steps. His knees were scraped raw, all to pray that I would recover. When I found out, I cried bitterly and finally agreed to marry him. At the time, I thought true love could overcome anything. “So this is the pregnant mistress? Shameless.” Conrad’s mother’s voice interrupted my thoughts. Almost instinctively, he frowned and pulled Sherry closer. “Mom, you don’t get to criticize my woman.” Sherry leaned against him with red eyes. She always looked as if the entire world had wronged her. I found it boring and stood indifferently. “I’ll leave first.” The moment I walked out of the Blackwell family gates, I suddenly remembered something. Back then, his prayer had been: “Even if Cecilia never stays with me, as long as she is healthy, that’s enough.” Well then. He got his wish.

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Julian shot down two roses that day — hers and mine, and I become his legal wife. Selene, the illegitimate daughter of the Archer family, was the woman he actually wanted — but my family’s name forced him to put a ring on my finger. So he gave her one as well. Called it “equal.” It was never equal. Because after the wedding, Julian gave Selene everything. His time. His attention. His love. “You got the title,” he told me once, not even looking up from his phone. “Selene’s the one who suffered. You have the name, Vivienne. Stop fighting her for the rest.” So I wore the family ring. I managed the house. I handled the books, the staff, the events. And I slept alone. Every single night. I wasted away in that house. By the time my body finally gave out, I barely had the strength to ask him one question. “If you never loved me — why did you marry me?” Julian looked at me like I was something stuck to the bottom of his shoe. “I was aiming for the red rose that day. Yours wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near it. But you put your flower right next to hers so I’d hit both.” His jaw tightened. “Your family forced my hand. I had to marry you because of the Ashworth name. Selene paid the price for years. And you still weren’t satisfied?” He exhaled. Slow. Relieved. “Now that you’re gone — it’ll just be the two of us. Finally.” I died with those words ringing in my ears. And then I opened my eyes. The sun was blinding. The air smelled like gardenias. I was standing on the Crane estate lawn, surrounded by a hundred guests in summer whites, and Julian Crane was raising a pistol toward a row of roses strung across a wire. The Rose Ceremony. The Crane family tradition. The heir shoots. The rose that falls decides his bride. I’d lived this day before. Last time, my white rose hung right next to Selene’s red one. His bullet tore through both. Two roses fell. Two women married him. One was loved. One was buried. Not this time. I reached up, unclipped my white rose from the wire, and slipped it into my pocket. The gunshot cracked through the air. The red rose exploded off the wire and tumbled to the ground. One rose. One bride. The crowd erupted. “Beautiful shot.” “Whose rose was that?” “It has to be the Ashworth girl’s, right? She and Julian grew up together — their families have been planning this match for years. Who else would he choose?” “Jealous? Maybe you could ask the Cranes to take you on as a mistress.” “Oh, stop. Julian and the Ashworth girl are solid. He’d never do that to her.” A girl nudged my arm, grinning. “Vivienne, congratulations! You’re about to be Mrs. Crane.” Across the lawn, I could see Selene Archer’s face draining white. Her lower lip trembled. Her eyes glistened. I said nothing. Up on the terrace, Victoria — Julian’s mother — smiled and waved me over. “Vivienne, sweetheart. Come here.” The women around her laughed. “Don’t be shy, dear. He shot your rose — it’s fate.” I smiled. Took one step forward. But I didn’t go to them. Instead, I curtsied — just enough to be polite — and said, “Victoria, I’m flattered. But that red rose isn’t mine. I didn’t put one up. I wonder which lucky girl caught your son’s eye.” The lawn went dead silent. Then the whispers broke out everywhere. “It’s not hers? Then whose is it?” “Mrs. Crane —” A soft voice cut through the noise. “The red rose is mine.” Selene Archer stepped forward. White dress. Teary eyes. Fragile as glass — but stealing a glance at Julian like she’d already won. Victoria’s smile froze solid on her face.

Victoria stared at Selene for a long moment. “I don’t think we’ve met,” she said, her voice cool. “Whose daughter are you?” Mrs. Archer scrambled out of her seat. “Mrs. Crane, my husband just took a position at the city clerk’s office — we only recently moved to New York. Selene is our daughter. She doesn’t get out much, which is why you haven’t seen her before.” She didn’t say illegitimate. But she didn’t need to. Everyone in that garden already knew. A minor city clerk’s daughter — and not even his legitimate one. Victoria’s expression went dark. She said nothing. She turned to look at Julian. Julian had already put the gun down. He walked straight across the lawn, past every guest, past every daughter of every family that mattered in this city — and stopped in front of Selene. He took her hand. Led her to his mother. “Mom. Selene is kind, graceful, and everything I want. I choose her.” Victoria glanced at me. I could read her face like a headline: this is a disaster. “Julian,” she said carefully, “the ceremony can be unpredictable. One shot shouldn’t decide everything. Why don’t we have the girls do something else — a second round? Something to make sure.” A few girls nodded. They all knew what a “second round” meant. Victoria was handing me the win on a silver platter. Everyone turned to look at me. Before Julian or Selene could respond, I stepped forward. “Victoria, the rules of the Rose Ceremony are clear — the shot decides the bride. Julian chose Selene’s rose. If we change the rules now, it wouldn’t be fair to her.” Julian jumped in immediately. “Vivienne’s right. Mom, this is fate. Selene is the one I want. There’s no need for another round.” Victoria looked at me with open disappointment. “Vivienne, you know I’ve always adored you. You’re exactly the kind of woman this family needs.” Julian cut her off. “Mom, I’ve always seen Vivienne as a little sister. I never once thought of marrying her.” Selene squeezed Julian’s hand. She shot me a look — quick, satisfied — then put on her apologetic face. “Julian can be a little blunt. Please don’t take it to heart, Vivienne.” She paused, then smiled sweetly. “But if you really do have feelings for him… after the wedding, maybe I could talk him into finding a place for you. We could be like sisters under the same roof.” My mother shot to her feet. The entire garden held its breath. Asking an Ashworth to play second to a nobody’s bastard daughter? Mrs. Archer grabbed Selene’s arm. “Shut your mouth,” she hissed. Julian knew Selene had gone too far. He stepped in fast. “Vivienne, she didn’t mean it like that. Selene’s just — she’s new here, she doesn’t understand how things work. She’s young. She didn’t know what she was saying.” I smiled. “Julian, we grew up together, so I’ll give you this one for free — Selene is actually two years older than me.” “If she still ‘doesn’t understand how things work’ and ‘doesn’t know what she’s saying’ at her age, I’d be worried about bringing her into the Crane family.” I tilted my head. “The wives in the Five Families will eat her alive. And when they do, it won’t be the Ashworth name they laugh at — it’ll be yours.” Selene’s face flushed red. Tears spilled down her cheeks. She turned to Julian with trembling lips. “I just got to New York — I don’t know the rules yet. But Vivienne is supposed to be from a powerful family. Is this how powerful women talk? By being cruel?” I kept my smile. “You just got here, so I’ll give you a pass. But in this circle? What I just said is considered polite.” “Trust me — the other wives won’t be this gentle.” Before Selene could fire back, Victoria’s voice cut through like a blade. “Enough.” She looked at Julian, cold. “You’ve made your choice. Fine. But hear me clearly — the woman who walks into this family as your wife must know how to carry herself. If she can’t, I don’t care if she has a ring on her finger. I will never accept her.” The garden was silent. Selene’s tears kept falling. Julian held her close, jaw tight. And I felt nothing.

The party ended. I was heading for the car when Julian caught up to me. “Vivienne.” He stepped in front of me, blocking the door. “Are you upset about today?” He had the nerve to look guilty. Like he was a good man who’d done a hard thing. “You and I grew up together. Our families wanted us to end up together. I always thought I’d marry you too.” He paused. “But then I met Selene.” “The moment I saw her, I knew. Everything I felt before — for you, for anyone — that wasn’t love. She’s the one, Vivienne. She’s the one I’m supposed to be with.” He said it like a confession. Like I should be moved. All I felt was cold. Because I’d heard this speech before. In another life. Right before years of empty rooms and slow death. I buried the chill crawling up my spine and stepped back. “Julian, I don’t know what you’re talking about. My parents never discussed a match with the Cranes. And actually — my family’s already working out a deal for me. The engagement will be announced soon.” I kept my voice light. “If I ever gave you the wrong impression, I apologize.” Julian didn’t even blink. Like he hadn’t heard a word. “Vivienne, don’t be stupid. You’re an Ashworth — you know what that’s worth. I’ll marry Selene. She’ll have the title. But I’ll set you up too.” He took a step closer. “Your own place. Your own account. A ring on your finger. You’ll run the household — Selene wouldn’t know where to start. Everyone will still call you Mrs. Crane. No one will disrespect you.” “The three of us — we can make this work.” He reached for my hand. I pulled back. Hard. “Watch yourself, Julian.” My voice came out sharp enough to make him flinch. “I have an engagement coming. You and I are done. Keep your distance.” Julian sighed like I was being difficult. “I know you’re embarrassed about what happened today. I’ll stop by your house and apologize in person. I’ll make it right.” He tilted his head, almost amused. “Vivienne — you know how this world works. Every man in the Five Families has a wife and a mistress. That’s just how it is.” “Even an Ashworth woman can’t expect her husband to have no one else.” “I know today wasn’t ideal. But the deal I’m offering you? It’s more than fair. The wedding, the terms — I’ll match everything Selene gets. Dollar for dollar.” I didn’t answer. I turned and got in the car. He followed. He was still talking when my mother came out of the house. She saw Julian standing by our car and her face turned to stone. “Julian. You have a fiancee now. It’s not appropriate for you to be seen with my daughter. Your reputation is your business — but Vivienne’s? I won’t let anyone put a scratch on it.” Julian straightened up. He always behaved around my mother. “Mrs. Ashworth, I just wanted to talk to Vivienne. Today was my fault.” He lowered his voice. “When I work out the terms, I’ll make sure Vivienne is taken care of. A proper wedding. The full thing — cathedral, reception, the whole nine yards.” My mother stared at him. “An Ashworth woman does not share a husband. Not as a wife. Not as a mistress. Not as anything.” Julian opened his mouth. “Drive,” my mother told the chauffeur. The car pulled away. Julian shrank in the rearview mirror. I didn’t understand what he was doing. In our past life, he’d been so obsessed with Selene that I was invisible to him. This time, he was just as obsessed — so why was he clinging to me? It didn’t matter. His engagement to Selene was all over New York within days. The Archers couldn’t contain themselves. Mrs. Archer threw party after party, telling anyone who’d listen that her daughter was marrying into the Crane family. Victoria was disgusted. Her son had lost his mind over an illegitimate girl from a nobody family, and now the whole city knew. Every time she saw another Five Families wedding announcement, she wanted to scream. When it came time to discuss the terms of the marriage, Victoria barely put anything on the table. Her assistant asked if it wasn’t enough. Victoria smiled coldly. “If we offer too much, it’ll look like we’re buying the girl. And what would the Archers put up in return? A walk-up in Queens and a used Honda?” She waved her hand. “The terms should match what her family can bring to the table. Anything more would just embarrass them.”

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After my grad school application failed, my hands started shaking. My stomach burned with a constant, dull ache, and I couldn’t sleep for weeks. My boyfriend, Julian, told me I just needed to stay busy. He pushed me to apply for jobs. I lost twenty pounds before I finally landed an offer. But the night before my first day, Julian gave my job opportunity to his first love, Emily. “If Emily’s parents hadn’t given me the seed money for my startup, I’d still be broke,” Julian reasoned. “I would’ve never been able to help pay for your college tuition.” “We both owe her. Just let her have this one, Georgina.” From that day on, my emotions spiraled completely out of control. Sometimes I would laugh hysterically for no reason; other times I would sob until I couldn’t breathe. Later, I picked up my paintbrushes again. Only when I buried myself in colors did I feel like I was actually alive. Today, Julian walked up to me again, his face cold. “I called you for dinner three times. You ignored me every single time.” The noise in my ears began to screech. My chest tightened. I habitually reached out to grab my brush and paintbox, but my hands met empty air. He looked at me with an annoyed sigh. “Looking for that trash again? I threw it out. I burned your paintings too.” “Emily is the employee of the month now. She just won first place in sales, and she needs space for her trophy. She’ll throw a fit if there’s no room.” “Don’t be so dramatic. Once I’m done with this busy season, I’ll take you on a trip.” With trembling hands, I pulled open the cabinet. There were only faint stains of acrylic paint left. It was completely empty. Three years. Over a thousand paintings. All gone. At that moment, I felt something deep inside my soul die.

“Why do you look so awful?” Everything around me felt like it had been blurred a thousand times. I hesitated for a long time, only snapping out of it when Julian called my name for the third time. I forced a smile that felt more like a cry. “Oh. What’s wrong?” Julian frowned and reached out to touch my forehead. “Well, at least you don’t have a fever.” “The doctor told you to get out more. You just lock yourself in the house all day painting, and your depression isn’t getting any better.” I opened my mouth, but my throat felt like it was stuffed with wet cotton. So you burned my only lifeline in the name of ‘helping me’? “Look at Emily. She never overthinks things. That’s why she’s always happy.” “Cheerful girls always have good luck. You’re just too timid and weak.” A bitter wave washed over my heart. Someone like Julian, who had always sailed smoothly through life, would never understand. Without a loving family or a healthy body, how hard it was for someone like me to just survive. Seeing my eyes turn red, he threw his hands up in defeat. “Fine, fine. My bad. I shouldn’t have brought it up.” “Anyway, some friends and Emily are coming over for dinner tonight. A crowded house will be good for you.” After all these years together, Julian never remembered that I loved quiet. He never cared that I hated when he brought strangers into our home. Or maybe he did remember. He just didn’t care about me enough to bother. I opened my closet and picked out a faded dress. It was the most decent piece of clothing I owned. The doorbell rang, and plates of food were brought to the table. Emily, wearing the latest designer dress, sat right next to Julian at the head of the table. She laughed as she stabbed a wing with her fork. “These spicy Buffalo wings are amazing!” I sat in the farthest corner, quietly chewing on a small piece of dry bread. I was severely allergic to spicy food. Julian knew this from the day we met. Yet, for Emily, he still made a whole table of spicy dishes. After a few drinks, the conversation turned casual. “Emily is such an overachiever. She had straight A’s in college, and now she’s killing it at work.” “She’s already so successful, yet she still works so hard. How are ordinary people like us supposed to compete?” Emily smiled, raising her glass in mock modesty. “You guys are exaggerating. I just got lucky.” My heart was ripped to shreds. That job was supposed to be mine. Emily and Julian had literally stolen my life. “By the way, how is Georgina doing lately?” Emily suddenly looked at me, the mockery in her eyes barely concealed. “I remember back in school, your grades were always at the top of the class too.” Dozens of eyes focused on me like burning magnifying glasses. My mind went completely blank. “I… I…” Julian took over the conversation with a sigh. “Georgina is just resting at home. She’s sick.” He went into the kitchen and brought out a small plate, pushing it toward me. “I made baked potatoes just for you. No spice. Eat up.” Before I could even take a bite, I heard him sigh. “She worked so hard to get into a good college, but now she just lies around all day. I even have to bring her food to her face.” “She used to be so full of life. Now… I feel sorry for her.” Emily let out a dramatic, pitying sigh, her eyes lingering on my faded collar. “I remember Georgina used to love dressing up. Why are you dressed so… simple now?” Julian looked over, his voice laced with annoyance. “Seriously. Don’t I give you enough allowance every month? Why don’t you take care of yourself?” Before my condition got this bad, I had wanted to buy a new dress with the money I saved from my freelance work. But Julian had only given me a cold look. “You don’t even go out. There’s no point in buying pretty clothes. Save the money. We’ll need it later.” And now, he was embarrassed by me. My stomach churned violently. I grabbed my stomach and stood up abruptly. “I don’t feel well. Excuse me.”

The dining room immediately filled with whispers. “Is that the scholarship girl, Georgina? I heard she used to be the star student.” “Life is cruel. Such a bright girl, ending up like this.” Someone looked at Julian, trying to be kind. “Georgina must be really anxious. Julian, you should comfort her more. Make her happy.” “Yeah, the job market is brutal right now. Just let her rest for a while…” Julian frowned, slamming his fork onto his plate. “What? You guys think I’m treating her badly?” “No, that’s not what we meant—” He took a gulp of wine, his face darkening. “Since Georgina lost her job, she’s been home. I’m the one taking care of her, paying her medical bills, and taking her on trips to clear her head.” “I know how to love my wife. I don’t need you guys to tell me what to do.” “Today is Emily’s celebration dinner. Let’s not talk about other things.” Even strangers could see my worth and understand my pain, but Julian couldn’t. I let out a bitter laugh and closed my bedroom door. The laughter and noise from outside slowly swallowed me whole. When I opened my eyes again, Julian was shaking me awake. He snatched the pill bottle from my nightstand, shaking it. When he felt how light it was, his face turned pale with rage. “How many times do I have to tell you? Do not take this many sleeping pills at once!” “Do you really not care about your life at all?!” The angrier he got, the harder he kicked the nightstand. “You want to die that badly? Do you really think my heart won’t break?!” In all our years together, I had rarely seen him lose control like this. It felt like my childhood all over again—being screamed at, being helpless. My vision blurred, my body shook uncontrollably, and I couldn’t squeeze out a single word. Seeing me like this, Julian seemed to realize his mistake. “I’m sorry, Georgina. I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” He went to the kitchen. Half an hour later, he came back with a steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup. “This is your favorite. Eat slowly.” He blew on a spoonful of soup to cool it down, then fed it to me. “I was just so worried about you. Your health has been so bad, and taking that many pills… I was scared…” Looking at the guilt on his face, my heart ached with a dull pain. Julian’s love was like a wet wool coat. Wearing it made me freeze, but taking it off made me cold. I swallowed the soup, but I couldn’t taste a thing. “I’m fine. There were just too many people yesterday. I wanted a good night’s sleep.” He pulled me into a tight hug. “Emily was spoiled growing up, she doesn’t think before she speaks. I apologize for her.” “Tomorrow, once I wrap up my work, I’ll take you on a trip. Just the two of us. We’ll relax.” The next day, after we got off the plane, Julian covered my eyes. He said he was taking me to a beautiful place. My memories drifted back to the past. In college, he used to do this too. He was always bringing me good food and little gifts, giving me surprises. But when he took off the blindfold and I saw what was in front of me, my excitement shattered. “Georgina, don’t you love roses?” “We made it just in time for the rose valley bloom. This will make you happy, right?” I let out a hollow laugh. “Julian, we’ve been together for so many years. Have you ever once bought me a rose?” He froze. I was allergic to roses. The one who loved roses was Emily. “I’m sorry. I forgot.” He scrambled to explain, but I didn’t have the energy to listen. That suffocating, familiar wave of panic rushed over me again. My chest felt like it was being squeezed by a giant fist. Julian reached out to hold me, but his phone rang. “Julian? I saw your Instagram post. Are you in town too?” He instantly pulled his hand back, his voice turning professional and polite. “Yes, Mr. Wilson. If you’re free, can I buy you lunch?” “Sure. I have a new project coming up, and I was thinking of giving it to you.” “Let’s meet at the downtown cafe at three this afternoon.” Then, the voice on the other end changed its tone. “By the way, how is that sick wife of yours?” “You used to take so much time off work just to nurse her.” “Take it from me, Julian. Emotional men don’t make it far in business. A burden like that… you should drop her when you need to.” Julian shot me a frustrated look. “Yeah, she is a drag. But what can I do? I love her, so I spoil her.” My brain was buzzing. In everyone’s eyes, because I was sick, I was a burden, a piece of societal trash. But no one saw how hard I tried to exercise every day, how much I read, how hard I tried to keep up. My entire struggle against my fate meant nothing to them. To Julian, it was a joke. All my bottled-up emotions exploded. I spoke up, my voice shaking. “Mr. Wilson, you might be a successful businessman, but that doesn’t give you the right to erase my hard work or show off your superiority over someone who is sick.”

Julian grabbed my shoulder hard. “What the hell is wrong with you? This is my client! Apologize to Mr. Wilson right now!” “Mr. Wilson, I’m so sorry. She has mental issues, please don’t mind her…” I wiped my tears and looked straight at Julian. “Julian, I have a mental illness, but that doesn’t mean I am useless.” “You work hard every day, but I’ve been running my online shop and doing freelance work too.” “I am contributing to our home!” “Why do you have to call me a burden?” The man on the other end of the line lost his patience. “Forget it, Julian. You can’t even manage your own wife. Don’t bother showing up for this project.” “You two can sort out your own mess. Don’t come this afternoon.” Julian tried to speak, but the call went dead. His eyes were terrifyingly red. He suddenly pushed me away with immense force. When I fell to the ground, he panicked and reached out to help me, but I flinched away. My knees were scraped, and blood was oozing out. But the pain in my chest was ten thousand times worse than my knees. Julian’s chest heaved. He finally pinched the bridge of his nose. “Do you have any idea how many all-nighters I pulled for this project? How much overtime I worked? And you ruined it with one sentence.” He pointed at me, his voice piercing my ears. “Who hasn’t struggled? Emily drank three cups of coffee a day during exams. I lived on instant ramen when I started my business.” “Why didn’t we get depressed? You’re just drama!” “Don’t try to scare me with suicide anymore. Next time you want to die, do it somewhere else. Don’t dirty my house!” After that, Julian and I entered a cold war. He came home very late every day. He went straight to the study without even looking at me. On the coffee table in the living room lay a credit card. That was my monthly allowance. Other than that, we lived in two different worlds. No connection. Two weeks later, he stopped coming home altogether. During those days, my headaches grew worse. When people spoke, it sounded like they were shouting through thick glass. I even started forgetting what I had just read. A few times, I wandered to abandoned buildings, half-conscious, wanting to just jump and end it all. The day I stood outside the safety railing, a black-and-white stray cat ran over. It wrapped its tail around my leg. I thought, Maybe it doesn’t want me to die. So, I brought it home. I named him Phoenix. With Phoenix around, the days didn’t seem so unbearable. One day, Emily showed up at our house again. “Julian has been in a horrible mood lately.” “He won’t even reply to my texts. Did your pathetic, depressing self do this to him?” I ignored her insults and kept stroking Phoenix’s fur. She suddenly leaned in closer. “Have you ever wondered why you’ve tried everything for years but could never get pregnant?” “The supplements Julian gives you every month? They’re birth control pills. He’s terrified you’ll pass your crazy genes down to a kid.” My head went numb. I instinctively snapped back, “That’s impossible. Julian loves kids. Stop trying to mess with my head.” “Impossible? If you don’t believe me, go to the hospital and get tested. See if you can ever have kids in this lifetime.” The last bit of my self-delusion shattered. Seeing my pale face, Emily smiled triumphantly. “What was the point of getting good grades in school, Georgina?” “You’re still a nobody. Living like a piece of trash.” Before she could say another word, Phoenix suddenly pounced on her. “Get off me, you filthy beast!” Emily screamed, clutching her bleeding arm. Just as I picked Phoenix up, Julian walked through the door.

He had a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a grocery bag in the other. Emily immediately threw herself into his arms, sobbing. “I was worried Georgina was depressed. I came to check on her, but she let her stray cat attack me!” “What if I get rabies?!” Julian already hated pets. Hearing this, his face darkened instantly. He snatched Phoenix out of my arms. “Georgina, I came back hoping to make things up to you.” “I didn’t realize you were this malicious. I am completely done with you.” “No wonder you failed your grad school application. People like you deserve to fail!” He raised Phoenix high above his head and threw him hard against the floor. A sickening splash of red and a sharp, choked cry exploded in front of my eyes. I watched Phoenix twitch, his little body slowly going completely still. It felt like my last thread of connection to this world had snapped. I stood frozen for a few seconds. Then, a huge rush of warm blood poured from my mouth. Before I lost consciousness, I saw Julian rushing toward me in a panic. “Georgina! Georgina, what’s wrong?!” “Call 911! Now!” When I woke up again, I was in the hospital. The whispered conversations around me made me feel like I was buried in ice. “She actually woke up. How does someone like that still have the nerve to live?” “Exactly. Real mental illness isn’t like this. She’s just faking it for sympathy. It’s disgusting.” With shaking hands, I pulled my phone from my pocket. It took three tries to type my passcode. I opened Instagram. #Abuser Georgina# #Faking Depression As A Fashion Trend# #Bipolar Or Just Evil# Several tags were trending. I clicked on the top post. Emily had posted my photo with a long caption. “This is my high school classmate, Georgina. She has always been paranoid and hostile.” “Lately, her behavior has been extreme. She abused her pet cat and drove her husband out of the house.” “She claims she has bipolar disorder because she failed her exams, but we all know she’s just a toxic person.” The attached photo was Phoenix lying in a pool of blood. The comment section had thousands of replies. “She’s giving actual depressed people a bad name. Can she just die?” “How could she do that to a cute little cat? Monster!” I wanted to defend myself, but my hands shook so badly I couldn’t even type. The screen blurred. Everything around me felt stretched out. What finally snapped me back to reality was a medical chart being slammed onto my bed. “Dr. Lucas, please calm down. Don’t waste your energy on someone like her.” “Calm down? I was the one who diagnosed her!” Dr. Lucas hissed, glaring at me with pure disgust. “I can’t believe I actually helped such a monster. I feel sick.” My phone kept buzzing. Emily had posted photos of my pill bottles, videos of my manic episodes, and all my personal information in the comment section. Soon, I was completely doxxed. People made memes out of my photos, and someone found my old school. My email was flooded with hate, and my DMs were a swamp of slurs. A text from an unknown number came through: “Julian knows about all of this.” “He told me to teach you a lesson. Don’t think just because you’re ‘sick,’ everyone has to bow down to you.” “Since you loved that beast so much, why don’t you go join it?” Looking at the words on the screen, a smile slowly spread across my face. She’s right. At 3:00 AM, I dragged myself to the hospital’s utility closet, a blind spot for the security cameras. I slowly pulled out the bottle of sleeping pills from my pocket. I opened it and poured all of them into my mouth. The pills, which used to taste bitter, now tasted sweet. As I closed my eyes, I thought I heard a faint meow. Phoenix, I’m coming to find you.

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A sudden fire broke out in the underground archives. My boyfriend of three years, Alfred, kicked away the fire extinguisher I was using to prop up a heavy steel bookshelf—all just to protect Vivian, an intern who had only sprained her ankle. “It’s just a stupid metal can. Don’t let it trip Vivian.” He carried Vivian in his arms, rushing out of the raging fire without once looking back. He left me pinned under a shelf weighing hundreds of pounds, suffocating in the thick, black smoke. I dragged myself out of the fire and spent three days and nights fighting for my life in the ICU. Meanwhile, he posted a photo on Instagram of Vivian eating imported organic cherries in a luxury private hospital room. The caption read: “A false alarm. Thank God I protected my girl.” He even stole the core architectural blueprints I had stayed up for three months to draw, using them to kiss up to the global architectural giant, “Asterion Group.” My coworkers mocked me, calling me a pathetic charity case with no family backing who deserved to be abandoned. Looking at the painkillers scattered all over the floor, I smiled coldly. They had no idea. The Asterion Group—the ultimate powerhouse they were all desperately trying to claw their way into—was actually owned by me.

The air in the underground archives was as thick and hot as boiling asphalt. An electrical fire had sparked an explosion. Within minutes, the narrow aisles between the bookshelves became a sea of flames. Choking black smoke clawed at my throat, making it impossible to breathe. I was pinned to the concrete floor by a row of collapsed heavy steel bookshelves. Hundreds of pounds of metal crushed my chest. Every single breath sent a sharp, agonizing pain through my broken ribs. The intense heat blistered my skin, and I could smell the sickening scent of my own hair burning. Less than ten feet away, through the shimmering waves of heat, I saw Alfred. For him, I had worked three jobs at once just to pay for his master’s degree. I had stayed up countless nights drawing blueprints to pave his career path, single-handedly turning him into a rising star in the architecture world. But right now, he didn’t even look at me. His entire attention was focused on the woman clinging tightly to his neck. Vivian, the new intern at our firm. She was the type who always wore innocent white dresses and spoke in a sweet, helpless voice. “Alfred… I’m so scared. The fire is too big. My ankle hurts so bad…” Vivian buried her face in Alfred’s chest, crying like a helpless victim. I could see her ankle. The one she claimed was “sprained” didn’t even have a scratch on it. But her tears completely wiped out any logic Alfred had left. “Don’t worry, Vivian. I’m here. I’ll get you out of here right now.” Alfred’s voice carried a tone of panic and tenderness I had never heard before. He swept Vivian up in his arms, cradling her like she was some priceless treasure. “Alfred…” I squeezed a broken, raspy plea out of my throat with the last of my strength. I reached out with a hand covered in black ash and blood, blindly searching the hot floor. I needed leverage. If I could just prop the shelf up by a few inches, I could crawl out. My fingers brushed against a cold, cylindrical object—a dry chemical fire extinguisher that had fallen off the wall. This was my only lifeline. I grit my teeth, ignoring the blinding pain, and slowly dragged the heavy red canister toward the edge of the shelf. “Alfred… help me…” I coughed up a mouthful of bloody phlegm, looking desperately at his back. Alfred heard me. He turned his head. For a split second, I thought he finally saw me. I thought he would put Vivian down and rush over to lift this damn shelf off my chest. But he only frowned. His eyes were filled with pure, unadulterated annoyance. Vivian followed his gaze, saw me, and suddenly let out an exaggerated, dramatic shriek. “Oh my God! Alfred! That red thing is blocking the way! I’m scared it’ll trip us!” Alfred looked down at the fire extinguisher I was desperately clutching—the tool that was supposed to save my life. He didn’t see a dying partner who had sacrificed everything for him. He only saw an obstacle that might trip the delicate little bird in his arms. Without a single second of hesitation, he raised his foot. He was wearing the custom leather shoes I had spent three months of my salary to buy him. Thud! Alfred kicked the fire extinguisher with full force. The red canister slipped from my fingers, rolling heavily across the concrete floor before disappearing into the deep flames. “It’s just a stupid metal can. Don’t let it trip Vivian. Useless trash.” Alfred threw those cold words over his shoulder, tightened his grip on Vivian, and stormed toward the emergency exit. He didn’t look back. Not even once. The fire extinguisher was gone. My leverage was gone. My only lifeline was cut off by the man I had loved for three years. The flames greedily licked the paper files around me, making a terrifying crackling sound. My vision began to blur. The oxygen in my lungs was completely gone. Right before I lost consciousness, I didn’t cry. I just stared blankly at the direction where Alfred had disappeared, carving his cold, heartless face deep into my soul. Alfred, if I, Valerie Padilla, survive today… I will make sure you taste what real hell feels like.

When I finally opened my eyes, the first thing that hit my ears was the sharp, rhythmic beeping of an EKG monitor. I squinted against the blinding, cold white light of the room. My throat felt like it was lined with razor blades. Every breath was excruciating. I was hooked up to multiple IV drips, and my chest was wrapped in thick, heavy bandages. I was alive. The hospital room was completely empty, smelling strongly of bleach and antiseptic. Alfred wasn’t there. A nurse pushed the door open. Seeing me awake, she let out a huge sigh of relief. “Oh, Miss Padilla! You’re finally awake! You suffered severe carbon monoxide poisoning and multiple fractured ribs.” “You were in the ICU for three whole days. We even had to use the defibrillator on you. It’s a miracle you’re alive.” Three days and nights. I pulled the oxygen mask off my face, my voice sounding like sandpaper. “Who… brought me here?” The nurse looked at me with deep pity. “The firefighters. They found you pulled under the debris after they put out the fire.” “You weren’t breathing when they got to you.” It wasn’t Alfred. He hadn’t even called 911 to tell them someone was still inside. He hadn’t sent anyone to look for me. He had truly left me in that fire to die. “My phone…” The nurse took my cracked phone out of a plastic bag on the nightstand. I plugged it in and turned it on. Countless notifications flooded the screen, but not a single missed call or text was from Alfred. I opened our work group chat on WhatsApp. Rachel, a senior designer at the firm, had sent a voice note. Her tone was dripping with venom. “Honestly, we are so unlucky. Valerie is always so careless. How do you manage to start a fire just by looking for files in the basement?” “She almost got Alfred and Vivian killed!” Another coworker, Chris, immediately chimed in. “I know, right? I heard Vivian was traumatized. Her ankle is still swollen.” “Thank God Alfred risked his life to carry her out.” “As for Valerie, she made her bed, now she has to lie in it. She’s probably hiding in some corner too embarrassed to show her face.” I stared at the screen, my dry, cracked lips curling into a mocking laugh. I started the fire? I’m hiding because I’m embarrassed? I closed WhatsApp and opened Alfred’s Instagram. His latest post was from yesterday afternoon. The photo showed a luxurious VIP room in a private hospital. On the nightstand were expensive imported organic cherries and a massive bouquet of pink roses. Vivian’s hand, featuring a fresh, expensive manicure, was in the frame, holding a cherry. The caption read: “A false alarm. Thank God I was able to protect my girl when it mattered most.” “As for those who only cause trouble, I hope they learn to reflect on themselves.” My girl. Those who only cause trouble. A sharp, stabbing pain hit my chest—far worse than my broken ribs. But it lasted for only a second before it was entirely consumed by a cold, burning hatred. Three years. For three years, I worked three jobs, ate expired bread, and spent every penny to enroll him in the most expensive architecture seminars. I ruined my eyesight rewriting his blueprints so he could be the star of the firm. And in the end, my life wasn’t worth Vivian’s fake ankle pain. Suddenly, the door to my room was pushed open. Rachel and Chris walked in, carrying a cheap, sad-looking plastic fruit basket. Seeing me awake, surprise flashed across their faces, quickly replaced by their usual arrogant disdain. “Oh, look who’s awake. Valerie, you really are like a cockroach, aren’t you? Still alive.” Rachel slammed the fruit basket onto the nightstand and crossed her arms. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused?” “Do you know how many priceless paper archives the firm lost because of you?” I stared at her coldly, saying nothing. Chris rolled his eyes. “Don’t look at us like that.” “Alfred hasn’t slept in days because he’s been taking care of Vivian.” “Vivian has nightmares and cries every night because of you! And here you are, hiding in the hospital playing the victim.” “Playing the victim?” My voice was incredibly raspy. I slowly raised my arm, which was covered in IV lines and nasty red burn marks. “You call this… playing the victim?” Rachel sneered. “Cut the drama, Valerie. The doctor said you just inhaled a little smoke.” “Alfred said that once you’re discharged, you need to write a formal apology letter.” “You also have to publicly apologize to Vivian at the next all-hands meeting. Otherwise, consider your career in this industry over.” Apologize to Vivian? I stared at Rachel’s smug face. Suddenly, I snatched the cheap fruit basket from the nightstand and hurled it at the door with all my strength. Crash! The plastic basket shattered, and bruised apples and oranges rolled all over the floor. “Get out.” I stared at them, my eyes completely dead and cold. Rachel shrieked and jumped back, pointing a shaking finger at me. “Valerie! Have you lost your mind?!” “You’re just an orphan living off Alfred’s charity! How dare you tell us to get out?” “Alfred can get you kicked out of Los Angeles with a single phone call!” “I won’t say it again,” I said, my voice completely devoid of warmth. “Get. Out.” Maybe the sheer hatred in my eyes scared them. Rachel and Chris swallowed hard, shut their mouths, and slammed the door as they left. The room fell silent again. I leaned back against the pillow and stared at the ceiling. The naive, pathetic Valerie who begged for love had died in that thirty-nine-degree basement fire. The Valerie who survived was going to burn their lives to the ground.

It wasn’t until I was moved to a general ward the next day that Alfred finally showed up. He was wearing a perfectly tailored designer suit, his hair styled flawlessly. He still smelled faintly of the sweet, cloying perfume Vivian always wore. He stood by my bed, looking down at me. His brow was furrowed. There wasn’t an ounce of guilt in his eyes—only annoyance. “Stop acting so weak now that you’re awake,” he said. His first words were like poison. “The doctor said you’re out of danger. You made such a scene, Valerie. It’s embarrassing.” I looked at the face I used to adore, and a wave of intense nausea hit me. “A scene?” I asked quietly. “I was pinned under a steel shelf in a burning building. I spent three days in the ICU. And you call that a scene?” Alfred tugged at his tie impatiently. “Can you stop being so dramatic?” “The fire was huge, and Vivian sprained her ankle. Of course I had to save the weaker person first.” “Aren’t you always boasting about how tough you are? Why couldn’t you just climb out yourself?” “You had to stay inside and play dead. Are you trying to guilt-trip me into proposing to you?” He actually thought I stayed in the fire to force a proposal out of him. “Alfred,” I said, looking him dead in the eye. My voice was as quiet as a whisper. “When you kicked that fire extinguisher away, were you thinking the same thing?” Alfred’s face instantly froze. His pupils dilated, and he quickly raised his voice to cover his guilt. “What fire extinguisher? I didn’t see anything!” “The smoke was so thick! How could I see what was on the ground?” “Valerie, don’t you dare try to pin this on me!” “Really?” I picked up my phone and opened a video file. “The security cameras in the archives sync directly to the cloud in real-time.” “The camera eventually burned, but the high-definition footage from the first five minutes of the fire was saved perfectly.” Alfred’s face went dead white. He took a sharp step back. “You… you watched the footage?” His voice started to tremble. “I didn’t just watch it. I backed it up,” I said coldly. “I saw everything. I saw you look at me while I was pinned under the shelf. I saw you kick away the fire extinguisher I was trying to reach. And I saw you carry Vivian away without a single backward glance.” “The audio is very clear too, Alfred. Especially when you called me ‘useless trash’.” Alfred completely panicked. He rushed to the bedside, trying to grab my hand. “Valerie… it wasn’t like that… I was terrified.” “I didn’t realize you were trapped! I thought the canister was empty…” “Don’t touch me. You disgust me.” I slapped his hand away. I sat up, staring at the pathetic, hypocritical man before me. “Alfred, we’re done. We are over.” I thought saying those words would break my heart, but in this moment, I felt nothing but pure, intoxicating relief. Alfred stunned. A few seconds later, the panic on his face vanished, replaced by a arrogant, mocking sneer. “Over? Valerie, did the smoke damage your brain?” He shoved his hands into his pockets, returning to his usual condescending self. “You’re breaking up with me? You’re an orphan who had to take out massive student loans just to get through school. Without me, do you think you can even survive in LA?” “The only reason you have this job is because I fought the partners to get you onto the project team. You think you got here on merit?” He truly believed he was my savior. “And another thing,” Alfred leaned down, his eyes gleaming with greed and ambition. “Asterion Group’s ‘Sky City’ bidding process is about to wrap up. My design has already been selected as the number one finalist.” “Vivian’s father is a massive venture capitalist. He’s already agreed to invest ten million dollars in my startup.” “Once I land this multi-billion-dollar project, I’ll be made a senior partner immediately.” He pointed a finger at my face. “When that happens, even if you beg me on your knees, I won’t give you a second glance.” Sky City? I repeated the name in my mind, a dark smile playing at the corners of my lips. That design was mine. I had spent six months, pulled countless all-nighters, and rebuilt the model over a hundred times to perfect it. I had planned to give it to him on his birthday as a gift to help him get his foot in the door of the elite world. But while I was fighting for my life in the ICU, he had hacked my encrypted laptop, stolen my life’s work, and put his own name on it. “Great,” I said, looking at him like he was already dead. “I can’t wait to see you land ‘Sky City’.” Alfred sneered. “Crazy bitch.” He turned and strode out of the room, his posture radiating the confidence of a man who thought he was about to conquer the world. Once the door shut, I pulled out my phone. I dialed a number at the very bottom of my contact list—a number I had blocked for three years. It rang only once before a trembling, highly respectful voice answered. “Miss Padilla.” “Arthur,” I said, looking out at the glittering Los Angeles skyline. My voice was terrifyingly calm. “Send a car to pick me up. Also, notify the board of Asterion Group. My leave of absence is over. I am taking full control of the company tomorrow.” “Yes, Miss Padilla! But… how is your health?” “I’m not dead yet,” I replied, closing my eyes. “Have the legal department prepare a lawsuit against Alfred Miller for intellectual property theft and corporate espionage.” “And one more thing. I will personally chair the final bidding meeting for ‘Sky City’.”

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My childhood friend, Wesley, had a shoe closet he loved to brag about. “She gets a spark of inspiration, and suddenly I’ve got another pair,” he’d say, gesturing casually to the rows of custom boxes. “I have more than I could ever wear. But if I try to sell them, she gets jealous. Why don’t you take a pair, Logan?” Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he let out a self-deprecating sigh. “Right, I forgot. Gwen is a luxury designer. Why would you want her throwaways?” I instinctively tucked my feet under the bench, hiding my cheap, worn-out sneakers from the discount rack. Gwen, a renowned name in haute couture footwear, had never designed a single pair of shoes for me. Not even her flawed samples were allowed near my feet. “I have artistic standards,” she’d tell me whenever I asked. “If a piece isn’t absolutely perfect, I won’t let it touch the market. It’s about integrity.” But during our playful wrestling over the box, the lid slipped, and a shoe tumbled out onto the rug. I froze. The shoe on the floor was the exact design I had begged Gwen to make for me months ago. … After eight years together, I knew Gwen’s design signature better than anyone. “Logan? You okay?” Wesley waved a hand in front of my face. My throat felt incredibly tight. “Yeah. It just… looks familiar.” Wesley stiffened. He quickly snatched the shoe back, slipping it into the box with practiced ease. “Familiar? Come on, all sneakers look the same these days. Don’t overthink it.” “Is that so?” A cold dread began to pool in my chest. After leaving Wesley’s apartment, I walked down to the street before realizing I’d left my keys on his counter. I turned back, but as I reached the lobby, I saw Gwen’s car pull up to the curb. She got out, moving with a quiet, practiced familiarity straight into the building. My heart constricted. I followed her up, stopping just outside Wesley’s apartment door. Through the thin wood, Wesley’s anxious voice carried clearly into the hallway. “Gwen, Logan seemed to recognize those shoes. What if he suspects something?” “He won’t,” Gwen replied, her voice cool and entirely composed. “Logan rarely goes into my home office anyway. Even if he’s seen the drafts, he wouldn’t remember.” “Wes, stop worrying.” “Wes.” The casual intimacy of the nickname hit me like a physical blow. A dark, suffocating wave of realization washed over me, and I clenched my fists so hard my nails bit into my palms. Wesley hesitated. “Are we… is this really okay? Logan is my best friend. He took care of me when I was broke, brought me to Boston, and helped me get on my feet. I feel like a monster doing this to him…” “Wes, just give me a little more time. I’ll handle it.” A high-pitched ringing filled my ears. My chest felt violently torn open, leaving me hollowed out and breathless. I didn’t even have the strength to push the door open and confront them. Numb and disoriented, I made my way back to the apartment I shared with Gwen. Passing her home office, her words echoed in my mind. I pushed the door open. Her desk was cluttered with sketchbooks, and her laptop was awake. I sat down and began to scroll. Deep in her local files, I found an encrypted folder labeled simply “W.” I paused, then typed in Wesley’s birthday. It opened instantly. A cascade of design files flooded the screen, each one piercing my chest. Every single sketch was carefully dated. The first was from October 11, 2023. It was titled “The First Encounter”. I remembered that date. It was the day I brought Wesley to Boston, the day Gwen met him for the first time. Once, I had asked Gwen to design a pair of shoes to commemorate our first anniversary. She had brushed it off. “Design needs to flow naturally, Logan. I don’t like forcing things.” Despite my disappointment, I had tried to understand. I thought it was just her artistic integrity. The second sketch was dated February 14, 2024. Our anniversary. A day she insisted on skipping because “performative holidays are for insecure couples.” I had swallowed the disappointment, telling myself she was just too pure for commercialized romance. But she wasn’t incapable of romance; she just didn’t want to waste it on me. She had designed a pair of shoes with wave motifs for Wesley, celebrating their first holiday together. And that night, she had told me a client needed an emergency redesign and didn’t come home. Then there was their first weekend getaway, their first New Year’s countdown… Over three years, she had designed hundreds of shoes for him. Even the pair I had begged her for—the one she refused—was designed solely to make Wesley happy. My vision blurred. My hand shook so hard I could barely control the mouse. But I kept scrolling to the very bottom. I froze. It was an unfinished sketch of a wedding shoe. The entire design incorporated the letters of Wesley’s name into the delicate embroidery. Gwen always told me she couldn’t design our wedding shoes because she hadn’t found the “right inspiration for happiness” yet. But her happiness simply never included me. My throat tightened, tasting the bitter salt of my own tears. After a long time, I wiped my face and called my boss, Frank. “Hey, Frank. That relocation offer to the Zurich branch? I’ll take it.” An eight-year relationship built on a lie. I was done holding on. “Really?” Frank sounded surprised, then hesitated. “Zurich is a long-term placement, Logan. At least two years. Will Gwen be okay with that?” Before, I would have hesitated. I would have worried about her being lonely, about the strain of long-distance. But that required her to actually love me. “I’ll be fine, Frank,” I said quietly. Frank sensed the heavy shift in my voice but didn’t press. “Alright. I’ll book your ticket. You fly out in two days.” After hanging up, I searched for Wesley’s Instagram account. Since moving to Boston, he had become a lifestyle influencer, documenting his daily life. His most frequent posts featured shoes gifted by his “secret girlfriend.” Because of the unique designs and the romantic stories he attached to them, he had built a decent following. The comments were full of people praising his “thoughtful girlfriend” and expressing envy. I used to think he just had a talented partner, which explained why they were always too busy to meet me. I never imagined that partner was Gwen. Every single pair in his posts matched Gwen’s sketches perfectly. What a joke. I had even congratulated him on finding such a catch. His latest post was a photo of half-eaten palmiers from a local artisan bakery. The caption read: “Sweet on its own, but sweet and blissful when shared with you.” When Gwen came home that night, she carried a pastry box from that exact bakery. “I remembered you like palmiers, so I grabbed some on the way back.” But she forgot one thing: I hate sweet food. Swallowing the bitterness, I looked at her and said, “Gwen, let’s get married.” She froze. “Let’s wait a bit. My inspiration has been dry lately, and I want to design the perfect wedding shoes first.” The same old excuse. I thought back to her early days in the industry. She couldn’t get any commissions and had to set up at local flea markets to sell her samples. To get her the best spot, I would wake up at 4:00 AM in the freezing winter to camp out. Once, I got a severe fever but refused to go to the doctor, saving every penny to pay her vendor fees. Back then, she had cried and held my face. “Logan, one day I’m going to design a one-of-a-kind wedding shoe for you. I’ll let the whole world know how happy you make me.” I believed her. I waited from age twenty to twenty-eight. “I don’t want to wait anymore, Gwen.” Startled by my bluntness, her expression darkened. “Logan, can you not pressure me like this? Is a piece of paper really that important to you?” She turned and walked into the bedroom. I closed my eyes. The next day, I went to the boutique hotel I managed to handle my transition paperwork. As I was about to leave, a colleague asked me to cover his evening shift. That night, the banquet manager mentioned a private room was booked for a design studio’s celebration. “The owner is a rising star in the shoe industry, Gwen Song. She just won a major award and plans to propose to her boyfriend tonight. She asked us to prep our best private suite.” My heart skipped a beat. I knew I shouldn’t hope, but I couldn’t help it. Until she walked in. And Wesley was right beside her. Both were dressed in formal attire, looking like a perfect couple. Since Gwen’s studio took off, she had told me she didn’t want employees gossiping about her private life, so she banned me from visiting her work. I thought she just kept a strict line between personal and professional. But seeing how familiar her employees were with Wesley, I realized she just didn’t want “me” there. “The red carpet is ready! The wedding shoes are waiting!” “We all know Gwen designed these for Wesley. It’s time to make it official!” The room erupted in cheers. Wesley smiled warmly, while Gwen blushed, presenting a beautifully crafted pair of shoes for Wesley to put on. The tenderness in her eyes was something I had never seen. A sharp ache rose in my chest. Even though no one here knew me, I felt the humiliating sting of my own foolishness. Then, Gwen’s eyes met mine. The air went still. I took a slow breath, turned around, and walked away. Not to run, but to preserve whatever dignity remains of these eight years. Gwen ran out after me. “Logan, don’t get the wrong idea.” Her beautiful face carried a flicker of annoyance, masked by a placating tone. “The staff were just joking around. It’s just office banter.” I looked down at her, silent. She continued, “The award-winning design only came together because Wes—I mean, Wesley—gave me the creative spark. This dinner is just my way of thanking him.” Then she added, “Besides, you’re the one who told me to look out for him. I thought I was doing this for you.” Right. When Wesley first moved here, I was worried he’d be lonely and asked her to help him adjust. Back then, Gwen told me I was overthinking it and that Wesley wasn’t a child. Now, she used my own kindness as her shield. “And giving him a pair of wedding shoes is also ‘doing it for me’?” The bitterness in my throat was overwhelming. Wesley walked out, looking incredibly anxious. “Logan, please don’t misunderstand. We were just playing around. These shoes… Gwen actually designed them for you.” He frantically tried to pull them off. But he forgot that we didn’t wear the same size. The shoes were visibly loose on him, yet they would never fit my larger feet. Wesley’s face drained of color. “Maybe… a design error…” I looked at his pale face, remembering when we were kids and he was getting beaten up, and I stood in front of him. When his stepfather cut off his allowance, I made a scene in the neighborhood until the man backed down. When he had a wage dispute with a corrupt boss, I stayed up for nights preparing his labor arbitration files to get his compensation. I never begrudged him any of it. He was my best friend. And now, he was the one holding the knife in my back. Wesley shifted uncomfortably under my gaze. “Maybe I should just leave. Logan, please don’t be mad.” “No, stay,” Gwen said, her voice thick with worry for him. “Your stomach is acting up. You need to eat. Go back inside.” She turned to me, her eyes turning cold. “Can you stop being so petty? Wesley is your best friend. Why do you have to make things difficult for him?” “Petty.” The word landed like a physical blow, shattering the last remaining piece of my heart. Gwen seemed to have forgotten that when we first started out, she couldn’t make a dime. I worked three jobs to support her. I skipped meals, pulled double shifts, and ruined my own stomach. The chronic ulcers were so bad I would spend entire nights curled on the bathroom floor, unable to sleep. But in eight years, she never remembered my stomach issues. She didn’t care about my pain. The massive divide between her care for Wesley and her neglect of me left my heart completely hollow. I had nothing left to say. Wesley looked at me, stepping away from Gwen. “I’m fine. I don’t want you and Logan fighting because of me.” He turned to leave, but in his haste, he bumped into a heavily intoxicated female customer. “Watch where you’re going!” the woman snapped. Already frustrated, Wesley shoves her back. “You’re the one stumbling drunk. Keep your eyes open.” The confrontation escalated instantly. The woman grabbed a wine glass from a nearby cart and hurled it. “Say that again!” The glass shattered. A flying shard grazed my cheek, leaving a sharp sting. In my peripheral vision, I see Gwen lunging to pull Wesley out of the way without a second thought. “Wes! Are you hurt?” In that moment, I had to admit defeat. Complete, absolute defeat. Gwen noticed my bleeding cheek, and a flash of panic crossed her eyes. She took a step toward me. But Wesley let out a sharp cry. “My ankle…” He winced, gripping his leg. Gwen’s attention snapped right back to him. She held him tight. “Don’t worry, I’ll take you to the ER.” She looked back at me. “Wesley can’t handle pain. I have to get him to a doctor. Get that cut on your face cleaned up, okay? I’ll come back for you.” And then she was gone. I stood in the hallway, the cut on my cheek turning numb. The drunk woman, seeing her targets gone, turned her fury on me. Knowing I was the manager, she screamed, “I’m a VIP member! Is this how you treat your guests?” She made a massive scene, drawing crowds from other rooms. Since I was only covering this shift, a formal complaint would ruin my colleague’s record. I had to swallow my pride and apologize. Her friends demanded penance. They lined up three glasses of high-proof whiskey. “Drink these, or this doesn’t end.” The alcohol hit my empty, damaged stomach like liquid fire. A violent, searing spasm radiated through my entire body. When I finally stumbled out of the hotel, the pain was so intense I can barely stand. I leaned heavily against the cold brick wall, my hand shaking as I dialed Gwen’s number. “Gwen… my stomach hurts so bad… can you please come…” “Hold on, Logan, I can’t leave right now.” In the background, I heard Wesley’s voice whimpering in pain. Gwen hung up. The world went black, and the pain swallowed me whole. When I woke up, I was in a sterile hospital room. The doctor was looking at me with deep frustration. “How could you be this reckless? You have severe, advanced gastric ulcers—practically on the verge of stomach cancer—and you’re drinking hard liquor?” I froze. Though they pumped my stomach in time, the doctor warned me the damage was severe and would leave lasting issues. I touched my stomach. The very last thread of hope in my heart snapped. The next day, I discharged myself and returned to the apartment. Gwen wasn’t there. I open my phone and see a text she sent last night: “Wesley was in so much pain, he couldn’t be left alone. Logan, try to be the bigger person here.” I didn’t reply. Instead, my phone notifications chimed with a public post from her studio. It was a collection of romantic photos from the banquet last night. She was proposing to Wesley in front of the crowd. The internet quickly found Wesley’s account. Matching it with his previous posts, the comment section was flooded with congratulations. “No wonder those shoes were so beautiful! She’s a genius!” “Congratulations!” “A match made in heaven.” I stared at the screen. It was absurd, sickening, and cold. I decided I was done protecting her. I uploaded a thread containing my eight years of relationship history with Gwen, the dates of her sketches, and my hospital admission slip from last night, posting it directly under her studio’s announcement. “Now you two can be together without any burden. My best friend and my partner of eight years.” I turned off my phone, packed my single suitcase, and headed to the airport. As the plane prepared to taxi, my screen lit up with a call. “Gwen.”

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Just before the green flag dropped at the Pacific Crest Rally, my fiancé, Wade, stepped in front of my machine. “Keira, we’re putting Daisy in the primary seat today. You’re going to run block for her.” The world went completely silent around me. I stared at him, my hands frozen on the handlebars. Wade knew. He knew better than anyone that this was my retirement race. It was my final ride before we were supposed to get married. It was also my shot at a historic sixth consecutive world title—the one that would cement my legacy as the greatest female rider in the sport’s history. Six years ago, Wade’s family garage, Caldwell Racing, was on the verge of bankruptcy. I was the one who dragged them out of the red. I took the titles, secured the sponsors, and turned an obscure, struggling crew into a global powerhouse. And now, they wanted me to step aside for a rookie who had barely survived her qualifying runs. I didn’t blink. “This is my race, Wade. I’m not stepping aside.” His brow furrowed, a flicker of irritation crossing his face. “Daisy needs this win. You already have five titles under your belt, Keira. A sixth won’t change your life.” His voice hardened, dropping into that clinical, managerial tone I’d grown to hate. “It’s a board decision. If you don’t fall in line, you know what happens.” A dry laugh escaped my throat. “What, you’re going to fire me?” Wade didn’t look away. He didn’t deny it either. Behind him, the mechanics and crew members—men who had celebrated five world championships by my side—suddenly found the dirt on their boots incredibly interesting. None of them looked at me. In that quiet, devastating flash of clarity, I realized it wasn’t about Daisy needing the trophy. It was that they believed they didn’t need me anymore. Slowly, I unclipped the team badge from my chest. Then, I pulled the diamond engagement ring off my left ring finger. I slid them both across the metal tool bench, leaving them right in front of him. “If that’s how it is,” I said, my voice shockingly steady. “Then you can keep the team. And you can keep the ring.” … I turned on my heel and walked toward the pit lane, my boots heavy against the asphalt. But when I reached my bike, Daisy was already sitting on it, wearing a pristine, custom-tailored leather suit. She looked up as I approached, offering a timid, wide-eyed gaze as if she’d just realized she was trespassing. “Oh, Keira… I’m so sorry. But Wade told me this machine is mine to ride today.” A high, ringing noise filled my ears. I spun around, grabbing the lapels of Wade’s jacket, yanking him toward me. “What is this?” My voice cracked, the raw panic leaking through. “You gave her my bike? On what authority? That is “my” machine! You have no right!” My eyes burned as I stared at him. “I built that machine’s legacy over six years of blood and sweat,” I hissed. “Three hundred races. Broken collarbones, concussions, endless nights working side-by-side with the engineers to shave off milliseconds. That data belongs to “me”.” “It took me to five world titles. And it was…!” I bit my lip so hard I tasted copper, swallowing the threat of tears. It was also the very first bike Wade had ever built from scratch. It was his promise to me. I still remembered the humid summer evening he pushed it out of the workshop, his cheeks flushed with nerves, asking if I’d partner with him to conquer the racing world. “Keira,” he had whispered then, “racing is a lonely, dangerous thing. Out on those tracks, you’re entirely on your own against the clock and the terrain. But I want this machine to be my hands, keeping you safe when I can’t be out there.” And now, he was handing that sacred piece of our history to a stranger. Wade calmly reached down, peeling my fingers off his jacket. His voice was entirely devoid of heat. “The bike is registered under Caldwell Racing,” he said. “Every custom modification was paid for through the team accounts.” He looked at me, his eyes cold. “Didn’t you just say you were done with the team? Done with me?” “Since you’re resigning, you no longer have access to team assets. Why shouldn’t I give it to our lead rider?” His words felt like a physical blow, knocking the wind out of me. I stared at him, feeling a profound, bone-chilling cold settle deep into my chest. Six years ago, when this team couldn’t even afford the track rental fees, I was the one who poured every single cent of my prize money back into the garage. I ran back-to-back races, slept in airport terminals, and begged sponsors just to keep the lights on. But because those millions went through the team’s accounts, it was no longer mine. I didn’t even have the right to ride the machine I bought with my own bones. Daisy gently reached out, tugging at Wade’s sleeve. “Wade… maybe we should just forget it. Keira is a veteran of this team. If she’s this upset because of me, I’ll never forgive myself.” She turned her soft, pitying eyes toward me. “Keira, please don’t be angry with him. A rally of this intensity is grueling. You’re thirty now. He’s only thinking of your health.” I let out a harsh, incredulous laugh. But Wade was already turning away from me, his attention fully captured by her. “Let’s check your safety harness.” He dropped to one knee, lifting her boot onto his thigh, carefully tightening the straps. Daisy’s cheeks flushed pink, her eyes darting to me with a carefully crafted look of innocence. “Wade, people are watching… is this okay?” He let out a low chuckle. “Of course it is. You’re the future of this team. Today, nobody matters more than you.” It felt like a slap to the face. The surrounding crew members crowded around them, letting out easy, good-natured laughs. They started running through the wind-shear reports, the track conditions, and the rival telemetry with her. I stood alone in the center of the pit. Nobody looked at me. Nobody even handed me a radio headset. All that was left for me was a dusty, outdated backup bike in the corner of the garage—a model we’d decommissioned a year ago. They were freezing me out. They wanted me to beg, to realize that without a support crew, I couldn’t survive a single lap. I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms until they nearly drew blood. Right then, my phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a text from Adrian Ward, the manager of Aether Motorsports, our biggest rivals. Attached was a highly detailed, real-time track and wind analysis. “I heard the shouting in the garage,” the text read. “Keira, my doors are always open to you. Let me know.” “Still throwing a tantrum?” I hadn’t heard Wade walk up. I locked my phone and looked up at him. He acted as though nothing had happened, holding out an iPad with the latest course telemetry. “The wind shifted. There’s a heavy crosswind coming off the ridge after checkpoint three. I had the engineers highlight the safe lines. Take a look.” I didn’t reach for the screen. Wade’s brow twitched. He let out a soft sigh, crouching down to perform a cursory check on my old backup bike. “By the way,” he said, his voice light and conversational. “Weren’t you asking me to visit your parents? I know I’ve had to cancel every time because of team emergencies. Once this race is over, I’ll clear my schedule. We’ll go together.” A heavy, suffocating knot tightened in my throat. I didn’t know when the Wade who used to worship the ground I walked on had turned into this calculating stranger. Whenever he needed me to sacrifice something for his benefit, he would freeze me out until I broke. And if I didn’t break, he’d offer a tiny, effortless olive branch, expecting me to fall back into line and pretend the hurt never happened. I looked down at the concrete. “We’ll see,” I whispered. Wade’s hand paused on the bike frame, clearly caught off guard by my lack of enthusiasm. But my mind was already drifting back to all the times I had begged him to come home with me. Every time, my parents would spend days preparing. My mother would wake up before dawn to bake his favorite pies; my father would spend hours manicuring the lawn. They would set a beautiful table, warming up dinner hour after hour, only to receive a text saying Wade had a “pressing engagement.” They tried so hard to hide their disappointment, offering me tight, reassuring smiles. “It’s fine, sweetheart. A young man has to build his business. We can always do it next time.” But “next time” never came. Suddenly, my phone vibrated with a social media notification. It was a post from Daisy’s public account. I had never followed her, but in that moment, a sick curiosity took hold. I tapped the screen. My hand began to tremble. None of the “emergencies” that kept Wade from my family were real. The night he claimed he was meeting with a crucial title sponsor, he was photographed carrying shopping bags for Daisy in Beverly Hills. The day he said he had a critical board meeting, he was pictured at Disneyland, holding Daisy’s cotton candy. And the weekend he claimed the wind-tunnel data was corrupted and required his overnight presence in the lab, there was a photo of him sitting at Daisy’s parents’ dining table, smiling over a home-cooked roast. In the comments, Daisy’s relatives joked about “the future son-in-law” and asked when the wedding was. Wade had liked every single comment. My chest grew so tight I could barely breathe. I scrolled to her latest post. It was a close-up of a racing bike. My bike. The caption read: “He said he wanted to give me a lucky charm for my golden year. From today on, Caldwell’s legendary ‘Vow’ is officially rechristened ‘Little Bell’.” I stared at the image. The hand-carved letters of my name, “Keira”, which Wade had painstakingly engraved into the alloy frame years ago, had been ground away. In its place was a shiny, laser-etched silver bell. The realization hit me like cold water. The swap wasn’t a last-minute tactical decision. My demotion wasn’t temporary. He had planned this weeks ago. I raised my head, holding the phone up to his face. My voice was dangerously thin. “How do you explain this?” Wade glanced at the screen, his expression unchanged. “It’s just a PR stunt to build her brand, Keira. You can be mad at me, but don’t start spreading cheap rumors about a young girl.” “And the bike?” I pressed, my heart hammering against my ribs. “Why did you grind my name off?” Wade finally stopped working and stood up to face me. There wasn’t a trace of guilt on his face—only a calm, infuriating rationality. “Keira, you’re thirty. Any other elite garage would have forced you out two years ago. I’m the only reason you’re still holding a primary seat.” I froze, the cruelty of his words leaving me numb. “You’re getting married next year,” Wade continued, as if he were explaining a simple business transaction. “You’re going to settle down and start a family soon anyway. The machine needs to be passed to the next generation, and this race is the perfect stage to launch Daisy’s career. What’s the issue here?” He reached out, his voice softening into a patronizing pat. “Be reasonable, Keira. Don’t make a scene.” A strange, absolute calm washed over me. I looked at him, nodding slowly. “I understand.” I turned and began pushing the heavy backup bike toward the starting grid. Wade let out a visible sigh of relief, clearly assuming I had surrendered. But he didn’t know that just seconds earlier, I had replied to Adrian’s message with a single word: “Yes.” When I lined up on the starting grid with a dusty, outdated machine, the grandstands erupted. Spectators stood up, pointing and shouting. “What the hell is going on? Why isn’t Keira on the primary?” “Is that her championship bike? Why is a rookie riding it?” “Putting a five-time champion on a scrap heap and giving the custom build to a novice? Has Caldwell Racing lost their minds?” Angry voices boomed from the front rows, directing their fury toward our pit. “Give Keira her machine back!” But their cries were ignored. The starter pistol cracked, and twenty high-performance engines screamed to life, tearing down the tarmac. The old backup bike was a beast. It lacked the smooth handling of my custom build; the engine ran incredibly hot, the heat radiating through the frame and scorching my inner thighs. But I didn’t care about the pain. My mind narrowed to a single, burning focus. Ride. Faster. I threw the bike into the corners, skimming centimeters from the rocky cliffs, leaning so low my knee sliders scraped the asphalt. Through the track speakers, the announcer’s voice grew increasingly frantic. “Keira is making a move! On a decommissioned machine!” “Oh my god, she’s slicing through the pack! She’s in the top five!” “Second place! Keira has taken second!” Meanwhile, on my championship bike, Daisy was collapsing under the pressure. She had started near the front, but as the technical mountain passes stretched on, she began to slip. Fifth. Seventh. Soon, she was swallowed by the mid-pack. The official track broadcast picked up the audio from her team radio. “Daisy is in tears! She’s crying in her helmet! The pressure is clearly too much for the rookie!” I tuned it all out. My eyes were locked entirely on the tail of the lead bike. Just one final climb, one sharp chicane, and I would take the lead. Suddenly, my comms channel crackled to life. Wade’s voice cut through, tight with suppressed rage. “Keira, that is enough. Slow down.” “Drop out of the lead pack.” “Fall back immediately and pull Daisy through the crosswinds.” I gripped the throttle, leaning into the wind. “No,” I said. The radio went silent for a beat. When Wade spoke again, his voice was deathly quiet. “Keira.” “Do not forget who owns your contract. If you disobey a direct team order, I will terminate you. You’ll be blacklisted from the sport, and I will sue you for every penny of the liquidated damages.” He paused, his voice dropping to a low threat. “And our wedding—if you keep acting like a child, I will seriously have to reconsider our future.” I watched the gap between me and the leader shrink. “I told you,” I said, my voice perfectly steady over the roar of the engine. “I don’t want the team. And I don’t want you.” “Wade.” “You have nothing left to threaten me with.” “My legacy is mine to keep.” The comms went silent. Wade didn’t yell. When he spoke, he sounded chillingly calm. “You’re going to regret this, Keira.” My stomach lurched. A fraction of a second later, the front forks began to shake violently. The steering dampener gave out completely. The handlebars whipped left and right, threatening to throw me off. Panic seized me as I realized what had happened. The bike had been sabotaged. I gripped the bars with everything I had, fighting the death wobble, forcing the machine toward the finish line. Even if I crashed, I was going to cross that line. But the speed was too high, the machine too broken. The front wheel caught a rut, and the bike high-sided, launching me into the air. The sound of metal slamming against rock echoed through the canyon. I hit the ground hard, rolling repeatedly until my body slammed into a boulder. Warm blood flowed down my forehead, blurring my vision. As my consciousness began to slip away, a faint whisper came through my helmet earpiece. “Keira,” Wade sighed, his voice laced with a strange, pitying sadness. “Why couldn’t you just listen?” Then, the world went completely black. I woke up late that evening in a sterile hospital room. The only person beside my bed was a young intern from the garage, a girl named Fiona. Fiona’s eyes were red, and the moment she saw me stir, she burst into tears and ran to call the doctor. The diagnosis was grim. My right femur was shattered in multiple places, and the skin on my right thigh had suffered severe third-degree burns from the overheating engine block. Even with the best surgeries, I would likely walk with a permanent limp. As for racing… My career was over. I stared blankly at the ceiling tiles, a suffocating weight crushing my chest. I couldn’t even find the voice to cry. Fiona buried her face in the edge of my mattress, sobbing. She was a young mechanic who had joined the garage simply because she idolized me. She never expected our first real interaction to be her watching me get wheeled out of an operating room. “It’s not fair,” she wept, her voice shaking with anger. “You were broken on the track, and Wade wouldn’t even ride in the ambulance with you. He stayed at the VIP tent to help Daisy handle the reporters.” “She finished fifth, and he’s throwing her a massive afterparty at the hotel. He hasn’t called once to check on you.” My throat was dry, my voice barely a whisper. “Did I… did I cross the line?” Fiona’s tears flowed faster. She hesitated for a long time before whispering, “No.” “You went down ten yards short. You didn’t get a time.” I closed my eyes, letting the tears slip quietly into my hair. The door clicked open, and Wade’s personal assistant walked in with two security guards. He told me Wade had ordered them to bring me to the press conference. Fiona jumped up, furious. “The doctor said she needs absolute rest! She’s severely injured, where do you think you’re taking her?” The assistant didn’t answer her. Instead, he pulled out his phone and dialed Wade on speaker. Wade’s voice filled the room. “Keira. The press is already spinning a narrative that Daisy stole your seat and that the team forced you out. It’s damaging her brand.” “I need you to show up and clear the air. Tell them you decided to retire due to old injuries, and that you fully support Daisy as the future of Caldwell Racing.” Fiona was trembling with rage. I looked down at my heavily bandaged, immobilized leg. After a long silence, I spoke. “I’ll do it.” “But I want a full release. An immediate, mutual termination of my contract with no financial penalties.” Wade’s tone instantly dropped. “Are you still trying to negotiate with me, Keira?” “My leg is shattered, Wade,” I said, my voice dead. “I will likely never ride a bike again. I’m useless to your team. Letting me go is the easiest way to clear your books. I just want to ensure you don’t use those liquidated damages to hold me hostage.” The line went silent for a long moment. Finally, he uttered a single word. “Deal.” Thirty minutes later, I was lifted onto a wheelchair and wheeled into the hotel ballroom. Daisy was standing in the center of the room, wearing a stunning cocktail dress that matched the deep navy of Wade’s suit. She was laughing, sipping champagne with a group of major investors while Wade introduced her to the sport’s power brokers. When he saw me enter, he gave me a brief, unreadable glance before gesturing for the security team to wheel me onto the stage. In front of the blinding flashbulbs, Wade announced my official retirement due to health concerns, naming Daisy as the primary rider for the upcoming season. A reporter in the front row stood up. “Miss Mercer, what caused the crash today? There are rumors online that the backup bike’s telemetry was altered to ensure the rookie’s victory. Is there any truth to that?” The room went dead silent. All eyes turned to Daisy, whose lower lip began to tremble. Wade gently placed a hand on her shoulder, stepping up to the microphone. “There was no foul play,” he said smoothly. “Keira suffered a rider error due to the physical limitations of her age. The incident had nothing to do with the machinery or the team.” I sat in my wheelchair, my fingers curling tightly around the armrests, and kept my head bowed. Before the press conference even concluded, the online smear campaign had already begun. Articles flooded the web, claiming I was a washed-up veteran who refused to hand over the reins to younger talent. They painted me as a bitter loser trying to blame my own mistakes on the garage. Meanwhile, Daisy was hailed as a rising star who had shown immense promise by finishing fifth in her debut. Some blogs even posted photos of Wade and Daisy from her social media, calling them the ultimate power couple, noting how much better they looked together than Wade and a “weathered” racer like me. At the end of the night, Daisy, slightly tipsy, clung to Wade’s arm, whispering that she was too tired to drive home. Wade looked down at her with a soft, indulgent smile I hadn’t seen in years. “Alright. I’ll drive you.” Then, as if suddenly remembering I was there, he glanced at me in my wheelchair. “You can make your own way back to the hospital, right?” I looked at him and nodded quietly. Without another word, he walked out, guiding Daisy through the lobby doors. I sat alone in the empty, littered ballroom. “Let’s go,” I whispered to Fiona. But as we reached the lobby, a sleek black SUV pulled up to the curb. The door opened, and Adrian Ward, the manager of Aether Motorsports, stepped out. He walked up to my wheelchair, offering me his hand. “Keira,” he said softly. “Let’s go. I’m going to help you take back everything they stole.”

🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “MotoNovel” app 🔍 search for “512303”, and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel

My best friend has an entire jewelry box overflowing with custom-made rings, a fact she never misses an opportunity to complain about. “Every time he gets a tiny spark of inspiration, he designs another one for me,” she said, letting out a performative sigh as she sifted through them. “I can’t possibly wear them all. But if I try to sell them, he gets incredibly jealous. Why don’t you take a few? Just to help me clear some space.” Then, as if a sudden thought had struck her, a flush crept up her cheeks. “Oh, wait. I completely forgot. Adrian is a chief designer now. You probably wouldn’t even look at these.” I felt a sudden, sharp heat radiate from the simple platinum band resting on my own ring finger. It felt less like a piece of jewelry and more like a brand. Despite his reputation as a brilliant, rising designer, Adrian had never designed a single ring for me. Not even his flawed prototypes or cast-off drafts were allowed on my fingers. “I have standards for my art,” he had told me once, his voice cool and absolute whenever I asked. “If it’s not perfect, I won’t let it out of my studio.” As we nudged the jewelry box back and forth across the table, one of the rings slipped out and rolled onto the polished wood. I froze. The delicate, intertwined band was a design I knew intimately. It was the exact ring I had practically begged Adrian to make for me. … After eight years of living together, of watching him work late into the night, I knew Adrian’s creative brushstrokes better than my own reflection. “Isabel? What’s wrong?” Linda waved her hand in front of my face, her bright pink nails catching the light. My throat felt dry, lined with sand. “Nothing. It just… looks incredibly familiar.” Linda’s smile faltered for a fraction of a second. She quickly snatched the ring off the table, her movements slightly too frantic. “Well, contemporary jewelry is all starting to look the same these days,” she said, her voice carrying a forced lightness. “Don’t overthink it.” “Don’t overthink it.” But the uneasy weight in my chest refused to shift. It wasn’t until I had left Linda’s apartment and walked down to the street that I realized I had left my keys on her counter. I turned back, only to halt near the entrance of the building. Adrian’s black sedan was parked by the curb. I watched as he stepped out of the driver’s seat, walking with a familiar, easy stride straight into the lobby. He didn’t page her dial; he had a key fob. My heart contracted, a tight, cold spasm. I followed him up, my steps silent on the carpeted corridor. Standing outside Linda’s door, her muffled voice drifted through the thin wood, trembling with anxiety. “Adrian, Isabel seemed to recognize that ring today. What if she starts asking questions?” “She won’t,” Adrian’s voice came through, steady and utterly dismissive. “Isabel barely steps foot in my home studio. Even if she saw the drafts, she wouldn’t remember.” “Linda, stop worrying.” “Linda.” The casual tenderness in his voice when he said her name felt like a physical blow. A dark, suffocating wave of dread washed over me. I had to lean against the corridor wall to keep my knees from buckling. “I just feel so awful about this,” Linda sniffled, her voice thick with unshed tears. “Isabel is my best friend. She’s taken care of me since we were kids. When I lost my job, she brought me to Seattle and helped me get back on my feet. And now I’m doing this to her… I’m a horrible person…” “Linda, give me a little more time. I’ll handle it.” A high-pitched ringing filled my ears, drowning out the rest of their conversation. My chest felt hollowed out, as if something vital had been brutally torn from me. I didn’t have the strength to push the door open and demand answers. Numb and hollow, I walked back down to the street and returned to the apartment I shared with Adrian. Passing his locked studio, his dismissive words echoed in my head: “Isabel barely steps foot in my home studio.” I pushed the door open. The desk was cluttered with sketches, and his desktop computer was still humming. I sat down and began clicking through his digital design folders. Buried deep within the directories, I found an encrypted folder labeled simply “L”. I hesitated for a second, then typed in Linda’s birthday. The folder clicked open. Rows upon rows of detailed design files filled the screen, each one labeled with a specific date. The first sketch was dated October 11, 2023. It was titled “First Sight”. That was the exact day I had brought Linda to Seattle to live with us. It was the first time Adrian had ever laid eyes on her. I remembered asking Adrian once if he could design a small piece to commemorate the anniversary of our first date. He had scoffed, tapping his pencil against his sketchpad. “Design should be organic, Isabel. I don’t want to force it for the sake of a calendar date.” I had accepted his explanation, swallowed my disappointment, and tried to respect his creative freedom. The second design was dated Valentine’s Day, 2024. That date was our actual anniversary, a day we never celebrated because Adrian insisted that commercial holidays were beneath him. “The most important thing is our daily companionship, Isabel, not some capitalist ritual.” I had believed him. Only now did I realize he didn’t lack a romantic bone in his body; he just didn’t want to waste his romance on me. He had designed a delicate, vintage-inspired lace band for Linda to celebrate their first joint holiday. On that very night, he had told me an urgent client required him to stay at the studio overnight. There were hundreds of designs, spanning the last three years. Every milestone they shared—their first trip together, their first New Year’s Eve countdown—had its own ring. Even the ring I had begged him for, the one he claimed was a flawed prototype, had been specifically designed to comfort Linda when she was bedridden with severe cramps. My vision blurred, and my hand shook so violently I could barely control the mouse. Yet, I forced myself to scroll to the very bottom of the directory. My entire body went rigid. It was an unfinished draft of a wedding ring. The intricate metalwork was meticulously shaped to spell out Linda’s name in elegant, hidden cursive. Adrian had always told me he couldn’t design our wedding rings because he hadn’t found the “creative spark of pure happiness” yet. Now I knew the truth. His definition of happiness simply didn’t include me. I bit my lower lip so hard I tasted copper, but the tears still spilled over, hot and silent. After a long time, I wiped my face, took a deep breath, and dialed my supervisor’s number. “Ruth, about the transfer to the Geneva office… I’ll take it.” An eight-year relationship built on a foundation of polite neglect. I was done begging for scraps. “Really?” Ruth sounded genuinely surprised, though her tone quickly turned cautious. “The Geneva branch is a major commitment, Isabel. It’s a minimum of two years. Will your partner be okay with that?” If she had asked me yesterday, I would have hesitated. I would have worried about Adrian’s meals, his laundry, and how the long distance might strain our relationship. But those worries required a foundation of mutual care. He didn’t love me. Why would he care where I was? “I can handle it, Ruth,” I said, my voice steady. Sensing the finality in my tone, Ruth didn’t press further. “Alright. I’ll book your ticket. You leave in two days.” After hanging up, I looked up Linda’s public social media accounts. Since moving to Seattle, she had built a modest following as a lifestyle influencer. Her feed was dominated by photos of her hand, showcasing various exquisite rings. She wrote elaborate, poetic stories for each one, and her comment section was filled with envious followers praising her “thoughtful, wealthy boyfriend.” I had always assumed she was dating some reclusive tech entrepreneur, which was why she never introduced him. How incredibly naive I had been. Every single ring on her feed matched a file in Adrian’s hidden directory. I had even left supportive comments on those posts, wishing her endless happiness. Her most recent post was a photo of a half-eaten palmier pastry from a boutique bakery downtown. Her caption read: “Eating alone is sweet, but sharing it with you is pure happiness.” When Adrian came home that evening, he set a small, ribbon-tied box of palmiers on the kitchen island. “I remembered you liked these,” he said, offering a tired smile. “I stopped by that bakery on my way home.” It was the exact same bakery. But he had forgotten one fundamental thing: I had always detested sweets. Swallowing the bitter taste in my mouth, I looked at him and said, “Adrian, let’s get married.” Adrian stiffened, his hand pausing over his briefcase. “Let’s wait a little longer, Isabel. I’ve been in a creative rut lately, and I want to design the perfect wedding ring for us first.” Always the same excuse. My mind drifted back to his early days in the industry, when he couldn’t get a single commission and resorted to selling wire-wrapped jewelry at street markets. To secure him a prime spot, I would wake up at five in the morning to stand in the freezing rain. I had caught a fever that winter but refused to see a doctor, saving every penny to pay his booth fees. Back then, Adrian would hold my chapped hands and cry. “Isabel, I swear I’m going to design the most beautiful wedding ring in the world for you. I want everyone to see how happy you are.” I had believed him. I had waited from age twenty to twenty-eight. “I don’t want to wait anymore, Adrian.” Startled by my bluntness, Adrian’s expression darkened. “Isabel, can you stop suffocating me? Is a piece of paper really that important to you?” He turned and slammed the bedroom door behind him. I closed my eyes, letting the silence of the apartment wash over me. The next morning, I went to the boutique hotel where I worked to finalize my transfer paperwork. As I was leaving, a colleague asked if I could cover the evening shift for her. By nightfall, the banquet manager informed me we were hosting a private VIP celebration for a design studio. “The owner is a rising star in the jewelry scene, Adrian,” the manager whispered. “He won a major regional award tonight and is planning to propose to his muse. We cleared out the premier private dining room for them.” My heart skipped a beat. Despite everything, a foolish, desperate part of me wondered… but the hope was dead before it could even form. When the elevator doors opened, Adrian walked out, and right beside him was Linda. They were dressed in matching, formal evening wear, looking like a perfect couple from a high-society magazine. When Adrian’s studio had started making a profit, he had told me he didn’t want me visiting the office because “professional boundaries are important.” I had respected his wishes. But seeing how easily his employees interacted with Linda, I realized his boundaries were reserved only for me. “The room looks amazing, Adrian! Don’t keep her waiting!” “Yeah, the ring is right there in your pocket!” “You designed it specifically for Linda, boss. It’s time to make it official!” The staff’s playful teasing echoed down the hallway. Linda blushed, looking down at her shoes. Adrian smiled, a look of pure warmth on his face as he pulled a small velvet box from his coat. He slipped the intricate ring onto Linda’s finger with a gentleness I had never seen him display. My chest tightened so hard I could barely breathe. Even though no one in that hallway knew who I was, I felt stripped bare, exposed in my own quiet humiliation. Suddenly, Adrian’s eyes drifted toward the reception desk. Our gaze met. The smile died on his face, and the hallway fell silent. I squeezed my hands into tight fists, turned on my heel, and walked away. I wasn’t running; I simply refused to give the last eight years of my life an undignified ending. But Adrian followed me out to the lobby. “Isabel, don’t make a scene,” he said, his voice laced with annoyance and a patronizing attempt to soothe me. “The employees were just joking around. It was all for show.” I stared at him, saying nothing. Adrian kept going, his words tumbling out faster. “Linda… she provided the core conceptual inspiration for this award-winning collection. I only brought her along tonight to show my professional appreciation.” He paused, adding, “Besides, you were the one who asked me to look after her when she moved here. I thought I was doing this for you.” “For me.” When Linda first arrived in Seattle, alone and overwhelmed, I had asked him to show her some kindness. I remembered how Adrian had scoffed back then, complaining that Linda wasn’t a child. Yet now, he was using my past kindness as a shield. “Was putting a ring on her finger for me too?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. Linda appeared at the end of the corridor, looking small and fragile. “Isabel, please don’t be mad,” she stammered, tears welling in her eyes. “It was just a silly game. This ring… Adrian actually designed it for you.” She hurriedly slid the ring off her finger and tried to force it onto mine. But our hands were different sizes. The sharp, unpolished edge of the setting scraped hard against my knuckle, drawing a thin line of blood. Linda gasped, pulling her hands back. “Oh my god, Isabel, I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean to…” I looked at her tear-streaked face, and memories of our childhood flashed before my eyes. When her stepmother refused to give her lunch money, I had shared my meals. When she faced an abusive boss in her first job, I spent three sleepless nights drafting her legal complaints to secure her severance. I had never complained. I had loved her like a sister. And now, she was holding the knife that was tearing my life apart. Sensing my cold gaze, Linda shifted uncomfortably. “Maybe… maybe I should just leave. I don’t want to cause trouble between you two.” “No,” Adrian said, stepping forward to catch her arm. His voice was thick with protective anger. “You have a sensitive stomach and you haven’t eaten all evening. Go back inside.” He turned back to me, his eyes turning cold. “Isabel, must you always be so incredibly petty? Linda is your best friend. Why do you have to humiliate her like this?” “Petty.” The word felt like a physical slap. It shattered the very last piece of devotion I held for him. Adrian had seemingly forgotten that during his leanest years, I had worked three separate jobs to keep us afloat. I had skipped meals, survived on instant coffee, and worked through the night, eventually developing a chronic stomach ulcer. I still remembered lying awake in the dark, curled in pain, trying not to wake him. After eight years, he couldn’t remember my dietary restrictions, but he knew exactly how sensitive Linda’s stomach was. The vast chasm between his care for her and his neglect of me left me entirely hollow. Linda looked between us, stepping back. “I’m fine, really. I don’t want you and Isabel fighting because of me.” She turned to leave, but in her haste, she collided with an intoxicated male patron coming out of the adjacent lounge. “Watch where you’re going!” the man barked, slurring his words. Linda’s eyes welled with fresh tears. “You’re the one who ran into me.” The confrontation escalated in an instant. The man, red-faced and furious, snatched a heavy cocktail glass from a nearby tray and slammed it down onto the marble counter. “What did you say to me?” The glass shattered. A stray shard flew through the air, slicing across my cheek. I felt the sharp sting before the blood began to trickle down my jaw. But Adrian didn’t look at me. In that split second, his body had moved on pure instinct, pulling Linda tightly against his chest, shielding her from the flying debris. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?” he asked her, his voice trembling with panic. At that moment, I knew I had lost. Completely and irrevocably. When Adrian finally looked up and saw the blood on my face, a flash of guilt crossed his eyes, and he made a move toward me. But Linda let out a soft wail. “My ankle… I think I twisted it…” Adrian’s attention snapped back to her instantly. Without another word, he scooped her up into his arms. “Don’t worry, I’m taking you to the emergency room.” He cast a fleeting, apologetic glance back at me. “Linda has a very low pain tolerance. I have to get her to a doctor. Get someone at the desk to help you with that scratch, and I’ll come back to pick you up later.” Then, he hurried down the hall, leaving me behind. The physical sting on my cheek was nothing compared to the cold numbness spreading through my chest. The drunk patron, seeing his target leave, turned his anger on me. Discovering I was a manager, he pointed a finger at my face. “I am a premier rewards member here! Is this how your staff treats guests?” His shouting drew a crowd. If he filed a formal complaint, it would ruin my colleague’s performance record for the quarter. I had no choice but to swallow my pride and apologize. “If you’re really sorry,” the man sneered, pouring three double shots of high-proof whiskey onto the bar, “drink these. Then we’ll call it even.” The alcohol hit my empty, ulcer-damaged stomach like liquid fire. A violent wave of nausea and sharp, stabbing pain radiated through my abdomen. By the time I staggered out of the hotel lobby, I could barely stand. I leaned against the cold brick wall, my hand shaking as I dialed Adrian’s number. “Adrian… my stomach hurts so bad… please, can you come get me…” “Just hold on, Isabel. I can’t leave right now—” Before he could finish, Linda’s voice echoed in the background, crying out in pain. Adrian hung up immediately. My vision went black, and the pain dragged me down into unconsciousness. When I opened my eyes, the sterile smell of disinfectant filled my nose. A doctor stood over my bed, looking at me with a mixture of pity and frustration. “You need to be much more careful,” the doctor said softly. “How could you drink high-proof alcohol while pregnant?” My heart stopped. “The… pregnancy?” I whispered, my hand instinctively drifting to my flat, empty stomach. “I’m sorry,” the doctor replied gently. “We couldn’t save the pregnancy.” A dull, heavy ache settled deep in my bones. The loss of that tiny, unborn life took the very last of my lingering hope with it. The following afternoon, I discharged myself and returned to the quiet apartment. Adrian wasn’t there. I turned on my phone and saw a text he had sent the previous night: “Linda took a nasty fall and there’s no one else to watch her. Isabel, please be the bigger person for once.” I didn’t reply. As I closed the messaging app, a notification from his studio’s official account popped up on my feed. It was a professionally shot photo from the previous night’s dinner. Adrian was on one knee, sliding a ring onto Linda’s finger under a canopy of fairy lights. The caption was filled with romance and promises of forever. Linda’s personal account had already been tagged by his followers. The comment section was a flood of congratulations. “No wonder that ring is so beautiful! Adrian outdid himself.” “You two are absolute couple goals!” “A match made in heaven.” I stared at the screen, a cold, dry laugh escaping my throat. I was done keeping secrets. I compiled a digital folder of my eight years with Adrian—the rent receipts I paid, the hospital bills from my overworked years, the dates of his designs matching Linda’s timeline, and finally, my miscarriage discharge papers from last night. I posted them all directly under his studio’s announcement. “Now you two can love each other without any secrets. Congratulations to my best friend and my partner of eight years.” I turned off my phone, grabbed my pre-packed suitcases, and walked out the door toward the airport. As I boarded the plane to Geneva, my phone, which I had briefly turned back on to check my boarding pass, began to ring frantically. The screen flashed with a single name: “Adrian”.

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Dating Jack for seven years meant living by his rules. Everything was split 50/50. Dinner, utilities, rent—even Valentine’s Day gifts had to be balanced down to the penny against the receipt. If he bought me a forty-dollar lipstick, I had to find a tie that cost exactly forty dollars to give him in return. If there was a two-dollar difference, he’d Venmo me the balance with the memo: “Adjustment.” My friends used to joke that my boyfriend was a walking spreadsheet. For seven years, I defended him: “That’s just who he is. He’s fair to everyone.” Until Prime Day, when I saw his childhood friend’s Instagram post. A nine-photo grid. Screenshots of her cleared-out shopping cart, totaling $4,200. Her caption: “Thank you, Jack. Clearing my cart every Prime Day for five years straight. You’re the best!” And underneath, a like from Jack, with his comment: “Told you, don’t worry about it.” I scrolled back through her profile. Last Prime Day. The year before. The year before that. Every single year. A nine-photo grid. Cleared-out cart. Thanking Jack. I stared at my phone, remembering my trip to urgent care last month when my stomach ulcers flared up. He had slid the bill across the counter to me at the discharge window: “Pay it first, and you can Venmo me half when we get home.” Seventy-three dollars and twenty-five cents. He wouldn’t even let the copay slide. I didn’t yell. I didn’t cry. I didn’t demand an explanation. I simply opened my work email and signed the contract for the corporate transfer to Singapore. 1 “Why hasn’t your signed relocation agreement come through yet?” “I just signed it. It should be in your inbox now.” I hung up with HR and slowly turned over the framed photo of Jack and me on my desk, facing it down. The front door clicked open. Jack walked in, carrying a cheap plastic bag from the corner bodega containing two pre-packaged tuna sandwiches close to their expiration date. “Dinner,” he said, tossing the bag onto the coffee table. “BOGO deal. Six bucks total. Send me three.” Without saying a word, I pulled out my phone, scanned his QR code, and Venmoed him three dollars. Jack stared at his screen for a second, his brow furrowing slightly. “No memo today? Don’t you usually write ‘Dinner 50/50’?” “Forgot,” I said quietly. “Try to remember next time. It messes up my end-of-month reconciliation.” He pulled out his chair at the dining table and opened his laptop, with practiced ease pulling up the spreadsheet titled Relationship Fund. It was his masterpiece—the thing he was proudest of. Over our seven years together, every single expense had been tracked in this spreadsheet, calculated down to the decimal. “For your urgent care visit last month, I covered seventy-three twenty-five.” His long, slender fingers tapped rhythmic patterns on the keyboard. “Plus the three dollars from tonight, you owe me forty-eight dollars and seventy-five cents.” “Sure. I’ll send it now.” I kept my head down, navigating the app, clearing my debt to him dollar by dollar. Right then, his screen lit up. Phoebe sent a voice memo. It played automatically, her voice loud, bright, and sweet in the quiet room. “Jack! I saw that new Dyson Airwrap online, but it’s so expensive… You said you’d get me something big for my birthday this year. Does that still stand?” A soft, genuine smile spread across Jack’s face. It was an expression I rarely saw anymore—one he never used when staring at his spreadsheets. He picked up his phone, holding down the microphone button. “Of course. Send me the link.” Within thirty seconds, Phoebe sent a screenshot. Five hundred and forty-nine dollars. Without a moment’s hesitation, Jack authorized the payment, his thumb tapping the confirmation screen with practiced speed. He didn’t search for a coupon code. He didn’t ask if there was a sale. I watched his fluid, effortless movements, and then looked down at the dry, cheap tuna sandwiches on our table. A five-hundred-dollar hair styler, paid in full, without a second thought. Meanwhile, my urgent care copay of seventy-three dollars had to be sliced down the middle, exacted to the penny. “Is it Phoebe’s birthday?” I asked, my voice flat. “Yeah, next week.” He didn’t look up. “You’re spending that much on her. Do you expect her to pay half?” Jack’s fingers froze over the keyboard. He looked up, his eyes flashing with a familiar, weary irritation. “Iris, are you trying to pick a fight again?” “I’m just curious about how you define fairness.” “Phoebe is practically my little sister. What’s wrong with buying her a birthday gift?” His brow pinched, his tone sharp with the annoyance of being interrupted. “Why do you have to compete with her? You and I split things because we are equal, independent adults. I respect your independence.” I respect your independence. He had used that phrase like a shield for seven years. In the beginning, I believed him. I thought he was progressive, modern, treating me as an equal partner rather than a dependent. Now, it just made me feel hollow. “Right. I’m not competing,” I said, putting my phone away. “Then why the attitude?” “My stomach is still acting up. I’m going to bed.” I didn’t wait for his reply. I turned and walked into the bedroom. Closing the door behind me, I pulled my suitcase out from under the bed and opened the closet. My wardrobe was sparse. Any purchase that went beyond bare-minimum necessities would be flagged in red on Jack’s spreadsheet at the end of the month, followed by a lecture on “lifestyle inflation.” But I knew for a fact that the designer bags and expensive perfumes he bought Phoebe had never touched a single cell of those spreadsheets. From the living room, Jack’s voice drifted through the door. “Hey babe, tomorrow’s the weekend. We should go put down the deposit on the wedding venue. It’s two thousand dollars. Make sure you have your thousand ready.” I folded my last winter coat, pressing down the creases. “I’m busy tomorrow. Go ahead without me.” “You need to be there to sign. Otherwise, you’ll complain about the layout.” “Whatever you choose is fine.” “What is wrong with you today?” 2 When Jack pushed the bedroom door open, I had just slid the suitcase back under the bed. He leaned against the frame, his eyes scanning the half-empty closet. “Why are you packing up your clothes?” “Donating stuff I don’t wear anymore,” I lied easily. He didn’t question it. In his mind, I was a permanent fixture in his life. I would never leave. “We’re doing the venue walkthrough tomorrow. Phoebe’s coming too.” He walked over to the dresser, rummaging for his pajamas. “Why is she coming?” “She offered to help us coordinate. Plus, she wants to pick out her maid of honor dress while we’re there.” He said it so casually. I watched him from behind. “And who’s paying for her dress?” He paused, turning around to face me. “It’s a couple hundred bucks. I’ll just cover it. Do we really need to split hairs over this, Iris?” “I thought you believed in clean accounts.” “Are you seriously going to be this petty about everything?” His patience was gone. “Phoebe is trying to help us. Can you please just be the bigger person?” “I am being the bigger person,” I said, taking a step back. “Which is why you two should go ahead without me tomorrow.” The next morning, I went to the leasing office alone. I cancelled the application for the townhouse we had spent the last month touring—the one we were supposed to sign the lease on next week. The leasing agent looked at me in disbelief. “Ms. Campbell, you and Mr. Davis have been looking at this place for weeks. I thought you were putting down the deposit today?” “We changed our minds.” “Is it the security deposit? We might be able to work out a payment plan…” “No, thank you. The wedding is off.” I signed the cancellation form and walked out into the crisp morning air. The sun was blinding. My phone buzzed in my hand. It was a photo from Phoebe. She was standing in front of a mirror at a high-end boutique, wearing an incredibly intricate, beaded champagne gown. In the background, Jack sat on a velvet sofa, staring down at his phone. Her text read: Do you like this one, Iris? Jack says it makes my skin tone pop, but it’s a little pricey… I zoomed in on the photo. The price tag was hanging off the sleeve, partially visible. $1,800. A maid of honor dress that cost more than the budget we’d allocated for my entire bridal look. I didn’t reply. I muted her notifications. Thirty minutes later, Jack called. I answered. “Where the hell are you? Phoebe and I have been waiting for an hour.” His voice was tight with frustration. “I’m running some errands.” “What errand is more important than our wedding venue? Phoebe has a Pilates class at two.” “If she’s that busy, you two should just make the decision.” “Iris, if you’re going to throw a tantrum, at least choose a better time.” Jack took a deep breath, trying to steady his voice. “Fine. If you’re not coming, I’ll handle it. Phoebe found a dress she loves. It’s eighteen hundred. I think it’s a bit much, but she really has her heart set on it.” There was a brief pause on the line, as if he was waiting for me to object. I said nothing. “Here’s what we’ll do: we’ll put it under the general wedding budget.” He laid out his solution. “So, we’ll just split it. Nine hundred each.” I laughed. A sharp, physical laugh that made my stomach ache. “She likes it, you’re buying it, and I’m supposed to pay half?” “She’s our maid of honor! It’s a wedding expense!” He sounded entirely justified. “I don’t need a maid of honor, and I don’t need an eighteen-hundred-dollar dress.” “You are being completely unreasonable.” Jack let out a cold, bitter laugh. “I’m not going to argue with you on the phone. I already paid for it. Just Venmo me the nine hundred when you get home.” “I’m not paying you, Jack.” “What is that supposed to mean?” “Exactly what I said.” 3 Jack didn’t come home for dinner that night. He texted saying he was going out with some colleagues from work. I sat on the living room floor, sorting through the clutter in the drawers. At the bottom of one, I found an old smartwatch. I had saved up for weeks to buy it for his birthday during our third year together. He wore it for three days before taking it off. His excuse was that the band wasn’t breathable and irritated his skin when he worked out. A month later, Phoebe bought him a vintage watch. He had worn it every day for the last four years. I tossed the smartwatch into the trash bag and kept digging until my fingers brushed against a cold, metal ring. It was Biscuit’s collar. Biscuit was a stray Golden Retriever we had found shivering behind our apartment complex two years ago. When we first brought him in, he had parvo and was on the verge of death. I stayed up for three nights straight at the 24-hour animal hospital, spending over two thousand dollars of my own savings to keep him alive. Jack had told me then: “You’re the one who wanted to save him. The vet bills are on you.” And I accepted it. Biscuit was the sweetest dog. He seemed to know he was rescued, never barking, always gentle. Every time Jack came home from work, Biscuit would be waiting at the door with his slippers in his mouth. Eventually, even Jack warmed up to him, patting his head and buying him cheap treats. Until six months ago, when Phoebe came over. The moment she saw Biscuit, she screamed and jumped onto the kitchen counter. “Jack, I can’t do big dogs! What if he bites me?” Jack had quickly locked Biscuit out on the balcony. “Don’t worry, he’s harmless.” “But his fur… I can’t breathe when there’s pet dander in the air. I think I’m having an allergic reaction.” She clutched her chest, wheezing dramatically. That very night, after she left, Jack gave me an ultimatum. “Get rid of the dog.” “Why? Biscuit is perfectly trained.” “Phoebe is allergic. How is she supposed to visit us if we have dog hair everywhere?” I stared at him, stunned by his casual disregard. “This is my home too. Biscuit is part of our family.” “Are you seriously choosing a dog over me?” His brow furrowed. “I already talked to a guy who has a farm upstate. He’s coming to pick him up tomorrow.” “Don’t you dare.” It was the first time in seven years I had screamed at him, my eyes burning with tears. But he didn’t care. When I got home from work the next day, the balcony was empty. Only a solitary water bowl remained. I spent a week searching, even driving up to the acquaintance’s place upstate. The man told me the dog had slipped out of his truck at a gas station along the highway. He didn’t know where he went. I sat on the gravel driveway that night and sobbed until I couldn’t breathe. When Jack called, his voice held nothing but mild confusion. “It’s just a stray dog, Iris. Why are you acting like you lost your mind? If you want a pet that badly, we can get a hypoallergenic cat later.” Just a dog. To him, nothing I loved was ever worth keeping. I gripped the cold metal of the collar, my fingers tightening until they hurt. The front door swung open. Jack walked in, smelling of whiskey and stale smoke. Seeing me on the floor with the collar in my hand, his face darkened instantly. “Are you seriously still holding onto that old junk?” He kicked off his shoes and stepped closer. “It’s late. Go wash up and go to sleep.” I looked up at him. “Jack, when Biscuit went missing, did you actually look for him at all?” He blinked, caught off guard by the sudden question. “Why are you dragging up ancient history again?” “I just want to know.” “Yes, I looked. I drove around the block once, didn’t see him, and came back.” He pulled off his tie with an irritated yank. “It’s been six months. Can you stop obsessing over this?” I stood up, slipping the collar into my pocket. “You’re right,” I said softly. “It’s time to let go.” He let out a sigh of relief, assuming I was yielding, just as I always did. “There’s a group dinner tomorrow night. Phoebe’s coming too.” He spoke over his shoulder as he walked toward the bathroom. “Tyler and the guys said they haven’t seen you in ages. Get ready early, and wear something nice.” “I’m not going.” “Iris, seriously, what is your problem?” He stopped, turning back to face me. “You’ve been walking around with this miserable face for days. I’ve had just about enough.” 4 It was my last day before the move. My flight to Singapore was scheduled for three o’clock tomorrow afternoon. I finished checking out at the office, handed in my credentials, and returned to the empty apartment. Over the last week, I had slowly, quietly packed away my life. Piece by piece, like an army of ants, I cleared out my existence from the space. Even my toothbrush was gone from the bathroom sink. I pulled my single suitcase to the entryway, leaving it by the door. Then, I sat down at the dining table and opened Jack’s spreadsheet on my phone. Seven years. Two thousand five hundred and fifty-five days. I went through every single expense he had ever logged. After deducting the money he owed me, I owed him exactly four hundred and sixty-eight dollars and twenty-three cents. I opened my banking app and transferred the exact amount to his account. In the payment description, I wrote: Paid in full. Moments after the transfer went through, my phone rang. “Why did you just send me money?” Jack’s voice was nearly drowned out by the thumping bass of a bar in the background. “I thought we liked keeping clean accounts.” “Look, stop being dramatic,” he said, his voice softening slightly. “We’re at the lounge. Grab an Uber and get over here. Everyone’s asking for you.” “I’m not coming. I’m tired.” “Iris, Phoebe wore her new dress tonight. Everyone’s talking about how great she looks.” His voice dropped, suggesting he had stepped away from the crowd. “Just come out for my sake. Put in an appearance, and we can forget about you splitting the cost of the dress. How about that?” A bribe of nine hundred dollars to swallow my dignity while Phoebe flaunted her dress in front of our friends. Seven years of this cycle: a slap in the face followed by a cheap peace offering. “Jack,” I said quietly. “Yeah?” “I hope you and Phoebe get exactly what you deserve.” There was a long pause on the line. “What the hell is wrong with you?” his voice turned freezing cold. “Phoebe and I are friends. You’re seriously going to make a scene in front of everyone because of your jealousy?” “Believe whatever you want.” “Fine. Don’t come. Stay home and think about how you’re acting.” He cut the line. I stared at the black screen, feeling absolutely nothing. Thirty minutes later, my rideshare arrived downstairs. I took one final look at the apartment where I had lived for five years. He had chosen the dark gray couch cushions; I had hated them. Phoebe had suggested the sage green curtains; they had always given me a headache. There was nothing of me left here. I pulled the door shut behind me, leaving it unlocked. I slid the key under the doormat. The highway to the airport was empty under the night sky. Sitting in the backseat, watching the streetlights bleed past the window, I opened my phone. I blocked Jack’s number. I left every group chat we shared. And then, I popped out the SIM card I had used for seven years and dropped it into the rideshare’s small trash bin. I slid in the new international SIM card my company had issued me. — At eleven that night, Jack stumbled into the apartment, smelling of alcohol. “Iris, have you finally gotten over yourself?” He called out to the bedroom, expecting the usual silence of a cold shoulder. Nothing. As he kicked off his shoes, he glanced at the entryway rack. My everyday flats were missing. He frowned, walking straight to the bathroom. The cup on the vanity was empty. My toothbrush was gone. His brows knit tighter as he marched into the bedroom and yanked the closet doors open. My side was completely bare. Not even a wire hanger remained. The alcohol flushed out of his system instantly. He grabbed his phone, searched my name, and typed a message. Where did you move your stuff to? He hit send. A red exclamation mark popped up immediately. Message could not be delivered. You are no longer connected with this contact.

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Early Saturday morning, my roommate Cassie walked over to my bed. “Becca, can I borrow your Costco card? I just need to run in and grab some things.” I was too sleep-deprived to think it through. Since a Costco card is just a membership pass and not an actual payment method, I didn’t see the harm in it. I mumbled an agreement and drifted back to sleep. By the time my eyes cracked open again, the afternoon sun was cutting a sharp, dusty line across my dorm room. It was 2:00 PM. I reached for my phone, and the screen was already drowning in notifications from our sophomore class group chat. Cassie: Hey guys, since the new Costco just opened up down the road, I figured some of you might not have had a chance to check it out. I’m going tomorrow. My treat—grab whatever you want. The replies were a cascade of sudden, sycophantic praise. “Cassie, since when are you a secret heiress?” “Wow, big spender! Thanks, boss!” I stared at the screen, my brain struggling to connect the girl in those texts with the roommate I actually knew. Cassie’s family was struggling—deeply so. She was on the university’s maximum financial aid package, and her daily life was a masterclass in aggressive survival. She worked long hours washing dishes at the campus dining hall, mostly because it paid a small stipend and, more importantly, came with free meals. Where on earth was she getting the money to host a wholesale shopping spree? Then, a cold realization bloomed in the pit of my stomach. My card. Did she think the membership card was a pre-loaded gift card? Did she think my annual fee meant there was actual cash sitting on that little piece of plastic? 1. The new Costco had opened near campus a few weeks ago, and it was all anyone could talk about. I’d gone out and bought an Executive Membership the very day it opened. Not for any logical reason, really—I just had a massive craving for their bulk snacks. I’d always loved their giant tubs of peanut butter pretzels and the massive bakery muffins, but since there hadn’t been a location near my hometown, my parents used to ship them to me in oversized cardboard boxes. Using my parents’ shared account always felt slightly stifling, though. They could track every single transaction, every late-night run for chocolate-covered almonds. So, I sucked it up, paid the annual fee myself, and walked out feeling a strange, adult sense of sweet independence. When I got back to the dorm, my roommates were sitting around the cramped common area, debating whether it was worth the money to sign up. I threw my hands up in a grand, generous gesture. “Don’t bother spending the cash. You guys can just use mine whenever you want.” Everyone was there, including Cassie. The offer had hovered in the air, a casual piece of college camaraderie. And then came this morning. The sun wasn’t even up when she shook my shoulder. “Cassie, what the hell?” I groaned, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I’ve never been a morning person, and being jolted awake at dawn is a surefire way to ruin my mood. But she didn’t seem to notice—or care about—my irritation. She stood over me, her hands clasped together. “Becca, can I borrow your Costco card?” My brain was still fogged with sleep. It took me a few seconds to even register what she was asking for. Seeing me hesitate, her face tightened, and her voice took on a sharp, whiny edge. “You literally said we could all use it. I’ve never even been to one. Come on, Becca. Just do me a favor and let me borrow it.” I shrugged it off. It wasn’t a big deal. It was just a laminated pass to get through the sliding glass doors. And looking at her tense, expectant posture, I knew that if I said no, she’d probably stand there arguing until my Saturday morning was completely ruined. “Fine, it’s on my desk. Just let me sleep.” I let the heavy warmth of sleep pull me back under, completely missing the warning signs. When I finally woke up and saw the 99+ unread messages, my heart did a little flutter. I thought there had been some kind of campus emergency. I scrolled back to 9:30 AM. Cassie had posted in the group chat, inviting everyone on a trip to Costco. Some of the wealthier, more cynical kids had immediately started poking fun at her. “Why would we go with you? To stare at the ceiling? Do you even know how expensive bulk shopping is?” “Honestly, I doubt you can even afford the parking.” Cassie didn’t back down. Instead, she dropped the bomb: “My treat. Grab whatever you want.” That shut them up. The teasing turned to immediate, desperate flattery. But I knew Cassie. I lived with her. Her monthly allowance from her parents was barely enough to cover laundry, let alone groceries. She survived on campus jobs, taking the worst shifts at the dining hall because it guaranteed her a hot meal she didn’t have to pay for. Even if she somehow had a sudden windfall of cash, Cassie was not the type to share it. She was deeply, painfully frugal—except when it came to her own image. She had once taken out a high-interest point-of-sale loan just to buy a designer winter coat she couldn’t afford, just so she could wear it to lectures. When she ran out of money, she would casually “borrow” our food to survive. A splash of my oat milk here, a scoop of Leah’s peanut butter there. Once or twice was fine, but over months, it became an exhausting tax on our patience. We’d tried gently bringing it up, but she’d just nod and then, when she thought we weren’t looking, rifle through our drawers anyway. She was fiercely protective of her own resources, yet entirely comfortable consuming ours. So why this sudden, reckless generosity? Then, the puzzle pieces clicked. She had heard me complaining about how expensive the membership fee was a few days ago. She must have thought the Costco card was a loaded debit card. She thought my annual fee was actual store credit. 2. The idea was so absurd that if it were anyone else, I would have laughed it off. But Cassie had grown up in an incredibly isolated, impoverished rural town. Our academic advisor had once subtly mentioned her background to us, asking us to be patient with her transition to college life. She truly might not understand how these wholesale clubs worked. Feeling a sudden knot of anxiety, I decided to call her. The first two calls rang out. On the third, just as I was about to hang up, she finally answered. The moment the line connected, a wave of hesitation hit me. How was I supposed to ask her this? “Hey, do you realize you’re broke?” What if she actually did have the money? What if she’d saved up from her dining hall shifts to do something nice for her classmates? If I brought it up, I’d look like the elitist roommate making cruel assumptions based on her background. I didn’t want to humiliate her. It’s not that I looked down on her, but her methods of saving money were legendary in our dorm. Once, we’d gone out for a group dinner. Cassie refused to order anything, sitting there with an empty plate, watching us eat. Every time I reached for another slice of garlic bread, she would let out a loud, pointed cough. I didn’t realize what she was doing until after we paid and left. She pretended she’d left her umbrella at the table, went back inside, and packed up all our leftovers. The next day, she reheated the food, packaged it into small containers, and sold it to the girls down the hall as “homemade stir-fry.” We were horrified when we found out. But she just beamed, completely immune to our lectures on hygiene and basic ethics, thrilled by her profit margin. That was just the tip of the iceberg. During her period, she would spend hours sitting in the communal bathroom stalls to avoid buying tampons. When we finally felt bad and gave her some of ours, she’d turn around and sell them to underclassmen for a dollar a piece. She used AI-generated photos of damaged goods to get refunds on Amazon. She practically cleared out the dining hall’s supply of napkins and toilet paper every single week. I lived in constant fear that one day, someone was going to lose their temper and physically confront her. Yet, despite this desperate penny-pinching, her vanity was boundless. She would starve herself for a week just to buy a knockoff handbag, all while maintaining an online persona of a wealthy girl simply “experiencing the rustic charm of campus life.” Because we never publicly called her out, most of our classmates still bought into the act. “Hello? Becca? What do you want? International minutes are expensive,” she snapped over the line. “This call is on your dime, by the way.” I opened my mouth, but the words caught in my throat. “Never mind. I was just wondering when you’d be back.” “Late. Don’t wait up.” She hung up. She did come back late—just minutes before the dorm’s midnight curfew. Before she arrived, Leah was sitting on her bed, venting her frustration. “I thought college was supposed to be the best four years of my life,” Leah muttered, throwing her hands in the air. “Instead, I’m living with a literal psychopath.” “She doesn’t listen to a word anyone says.” “I’ve told her a thousand times: do not cook raw garlic and fish in the bedroom. My clean laundry smells like a cheap takeout place. How am I supposed to wear this to my internship interview?” “And she never washes her dishes. There are actual fruit flies hovering over her desk.” Leah was practically vibrating with rage, trying to get all her anger out before Cassie walked through the door. Fiona and I nodded in silent solidarity. Our dorm didn’t have a balcony, so the only place to dry our clothes was on a rack near the window—which happened to be right next to Cassie’s bed. To save money on dining hall meals, Cassie had bought a cheap hotplate and cooked heavy, pungent meals right in the middle of our small room. The grease and smoke clung to everything we owned. We’d tried to negotiate shifting our beds around, but Cassie had shut it down immediately. “No way. I like the sunlight here. It saves me money on vitamin D supplements,” she’d said, without a hint of irony. “But if you guys want to swap so badly, you can just pay for my meal plan. And buy my vitamins.” “Since we’re roommates, I’ll give you a discount. Three hundred bucks a month.” Three hundred bucks? It was absolute extortion. We had been left speechless, entirely powerless against her thick-skinned audacity. When the door clicked open and Cassie stepped in, we immediately fell silent. As she brushed past me, I remembered her planned excursion for the next day. I felt a sudden, annoying pang of conscience. I had to say something. “Hey, Cassie,” I said, keeping my voice as gentle and non-confrontational as possible. “Just so you know, my Costco card is only to get you through the door. You can’t use it to actually pay for the groceries at the register.” If she already knew, it was just a harmless reminder. If she didn’t, I was saving her from a massive public embarrassment. Instead, her face twisted in instant fury. She marched over, cornering me by my desk, and pointed a finger directly at my face. “What is that supposed to mean? Do you think I’m trying to steal your money?” she shrieked. “You’re making up lies just to keep me from using it!” I raised my hands, retreating slightly. “No, Cassie, you’re misunderstanding. There’s literally no money on that card. It’s just an ID.” Leah and Fiona jumped in to defend me, but Cassie was completely deaf to reason. “You guys are just looking down on me!” she yelled, her eyes flashing with a deep-seated, toxic insecurity. “If I had the kind of family money you guys have, I’d be doing way better than any of you.” “You called me earlier just to grill me about this, didn’t you? It’s a stupid plastic card, Becca. I can’t believe you’re being this petty. Get a life.” I rolled my eyes, the last drops of my empathy evaporating. If I hadn’t given her the secondary card on my account this morning, I wouldn’t even be in this mess. Fine. Let her do whatever she wanted. I was done trying to protect her. Even if she did have some secret stash of money to pay for everyone, it wasn’t my business. And if she didn’t, well, my Costco account didn’t have a line of credit attached to it anyway. She couldn’t ruin my finances. I had tried to be a decent roommate. If she wanted to run headfirst into a brick wall of her own making, I wasn’t going to stop her. 3. The next morning, I woke up to the sound of rustling. Cassie was sitting at my vanity, her back to me. I didn’t say anything, quietly slipping out of bed to see what she was doing. She was digging her fingers into my expensive moisturizers, smearing them haphazardly over her face. My vanity, usually neatly organized, was a disaster zone of open caps and spilled powders. With one clumsy scoop, she had scooped out nearly half of my expensive face cream. The sheer disrespect snapped my patience. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I yelled. “Who gave you permission to touch my stuff?” Cassie spun around. But it wasn’t her garishly painted, ghostly pale face that stopped me cold—it was her phone, propped up against my mirror, showing a live FaceTime call. I didn’t have my contacts in, but I could clearly make out the outline of a guy on the screen. I let out a sharp gasp, suddenly hyper-aware of my thin summer pajamas. I was practically exposed on a live video feed to some random stranger. Leah and Fiona bolted upright, fully awakened by the shouting. “What is your problem?” Cassie sneered, completely unfazed. “It’s just a little lotion. You don’t have to scream like a maniac first thing in the morning.” “Cassie, we literally agreed on this,” Leah said, her voice shaking with anger. “No FaceTime calls without warning between 10 PM and 8 AM. We sleep in here. Some of us actually care about our privacy.” “If you want to talk to your boyfriend, draw your bed curtains or go out into the hallway.” Cassie rolled her eyes, packing up her bag. “Oh, please. With your flat chest, nobody’s looking at you anyway.” “I pay rent here. This is my room too, and I’ll do whatever I want. You don’t own me.” She finished her makeup, entirely ignoring our boiling rage, and shoved past me to get to the door. “Move. I’m going to be late.” I stood there, trembling, looking at my ruined makeup and the expensive jar of cream that was now mostly smeared on her collarbones. It wasn’t just me, either. Leah’s closet doors were wide open, and Fiona’s desk drawers had been rummaged through. Cassie had clearly gone on a shopping spree in our own room before heading out. “I can’t do this anymore,” Fiona whispered, staring at her messy drawer. “I am going to lose my mind.” Buzz. My phone lit up. It was a message in the sophomore group chat: “We’re meeting by the campus gates in ten. Don’t be late!” A string of enthusiastic thumbs-up emojis followed. Our major was relatively small. Excluding the three of us and a few others who saw right through Cassie’s act, there were only about four or five classmates going with her. If they only bought a few small things, maybe she could actually cover it. But remembering her defensive, arrogant outburst from last night, I had a sinking feeling this wasn’t going to end quietly. She was too proud to back down, and too ignorant of how the system worked to realize she was walking into a trap. When I voiced my suspicion, Leah and Fiona’s eyes lit up. “Oh my god,” Leah gasped, clapping her hands. “She really thinks she can just swipe your membership card at the checkout.” “What is she going to do when it gets declined?” “She probably thinks that if she gets a massive haul and it somehow goes through, she can play the wealthy benefactor. And if you find out later, she’ll just use the ‘we’re roommates, don’t make a big deal out of it’ card.” “But she doesn’t realize…” Fiona started laughing, a bright, wicked sound. “Oh, this is going to be a disaster. Sweet, cosmic justice.” I rubbed my temples. “Come on, guys. We don’t know for sure.” Leah grabbed my arm, already pulling me toward the door. “Are you kidding? We are absolutely going to Costco right now to watch this show.” We didn’t even have to look hard to track them. Half the sophomore class was posting on their Instagram Stories. “Costco Sunday with the crew. Big things coming.” “Seeing how the other half lives. Thank you, Cassie!” The photos featured shopping carts stacked high with expensive electronics, prime cuts of beef, and imported chocolates. It was easily hundreds of dollars per cart. By the time we arrived at the warehouse, we spotted them near the bakery section. Cassie was leading the pack, tossing items into three separate carts like she was on a game show. The carts were piled so high they blocked her line of sight. We kept our distance, ducking behind a massive pyramid of toilet paper rolls to avoid being seen. She was completely intoxicated by the attention, basking in the compliments of the classmates trailing behind her. She didn’t notice us at all. I watched her add a massive Bluetooth party speaker to the pile. In my head, I was doing the math. Three carts. High-end groceries. Electronics. This wasn’t a bill a college student could just casually shrug off. This was thousands of dollars. Finally, the group headed toward the checkout lines. Since the register area was wide open, we lingered by the seasonal items nearby, pretending to examine patio furniture while keeping our eyes glued to the scene. The cashier began scanning the mountain of items. Cassie stood there, looking exhausted but smug, her arms crossed. “Alright, your total is $1,482.50,” the cashier said, her voice flat. “How will you be paying today?” Cassie reached into her pocket, pulled out my Costco membership card, and slid it across the counter. “Just charge it to this.” The cashier looked at the card, then up at Cassie, her brow furrowing. “Ma’am, this is just a membership card. Do you have a Visa or cash?”

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