Chapter 1

The wedding vows had just begun. The officiant turned to the groom.

"Do you take Miss Pruitt to be your wife, to stand by her all your days?"

"Wait!"

The groom's junior assistant came rushing up onto the platform.

She pulled out her phone, looking up at him, hopeful.

"Mr. Henson, if we keep our streak going today, in thirty days it turns into a flame. Do you want to?"

The whole hall went still, every glance loaded, because there wasn't a person there who couldn't hear what she really meant.

I held tight to my fiancé's hand and begged him under my breath.

"Luke Henson, don't say 'I do' to her."

He pushed my hand away without hesitation.

"Eva's just a girl. Don't embarrass her in front of everyone."

He took out his phone and sent his assistant a heart, his eyes soft with indulgence.

"I do."

The whole hall broke into an uproar, everyone turning to watch me, amused.

I gripped the hem of my dress until my fingertips went white, and gave a bitter little smile.

Our wedding vows, and my fiancé said "I do" to another girl.

The assistant cheered and threw her arms around him, planting a hard kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you, Mr. Henson!"

I stepped down from the platform without a word and went to find his grandmother.

"Cheryl Henson, the contract to care for Luke. I'm not renewing it."

……

Watching Eva Fox's kiss land on Luke's cheek, the whole hall sucked in a sharp breath at once.

It felt like a hard slap across my face, my head spinning.

I used every last bit of strength just to stay on my feet.

Luke quickly shoved Eva behind him, his eyes full of guard.

"Nanette Pruitt, Eva has a child's temper, she doesn't know any better. Don't you dare try to bully her."

My nails dug deep into my palms. My smile came out uglier than crying.

"Luke, at our own wedding vows, you said 'I do' to another woman."

"You tell me. Who exactly is bullying who?"

Eva's eyes welled up instantly as she leaned into his chest.

"I'm sorry. I only wanted to hit thirty days on the streak with Mr. Henson. I didn't mean anything by it."

"Please don't read too much into it, okay? It's my fault. Don't be angry."

A few words, and somehow I was the scheming one.

Every guest below the platform had their eyes fixed on me.

Amused. Mocking. Glad to see me fall.

The officiant hurried to smooth things over.

"The bride doesn't look well. Let's pause the ceremony for now."

Before I could get a word out, Luke was already guiding Eva toward the guest room backstage.

So careful with her, as if she were some priceless treasure he was terrified of chipping.

I was left alone up on that platform, like a clown someone had thrown away.

It felt like a piece of my heart had been carved out alive, every breath tearing at me.

Three years by his side, and this was the absurd ending it bought me.

This marriage, I didn't want it anymore.

I stumbled down from the platform and went to the lounge to say goodbye to Cheryl.

The door opened and she pushed herself up on her cane, anxious, gripping my hands tight.

"Sweetheart, I heard what that bastard did."

"You wait right here. I'm going to go beat him, and I'll set this right for you!"

Looking at the pain in her eyes, my nose stung and the tears nearly came.

But I shook my head hard, my voice thick and rough.

"Cheryl, there's no need. I've already decided. I'm not marrying Luke."

The truth was, I should have made this decision long ago.

Three months ago, Luke hired Eva as his assistant and came home complaining that the girl talked too much, that she was annoying, that she was throwing off his work.

But I saw it clearly. A man who was cold and harsh with his staff, and there wasn't a trace of impatience in his eyes.

Instead there was a warmth I'd never seen in him before.

A month ago, he started staying on his phone with Eva every night, talking until it was late.

A man who used to only ever pick up the phone for work now smiled at that screen, gentle.

When I couldn't stop myself from asking, he wouldn't spare me so much as a glance.

"Eva's just a girl. She wants to keep our streak going every day, so I humor her. That's all."

Does keeping a streak going take talking until the middle of the night?

But I lied to myself. It was just a passing whim of his.

Until today, when he stood at our wedding and said "I do" to Eva Fox.

And yanked my head clean out of the sand I'd buried it in.

Cheryl looked at my reddened eyes, sighed with an ache, and stroked my hair.

"It's that bastard who doesn't deserve his luck. He isn't good enough for our girl."

She took a contract out of the drawer and handed it to me.

"This is the contract from back then. You keep it."

I had just reached out to take it when the lounge door was shoved open.

Luke stood in the doorway, seething, pointing at me as he snapped.

"Nanette, the guests are still waiting."

"I only granted Eva one small wish. Do you really have to throw a fit and walk out, and make the Henson family a laughingstock?"

Before I could speak, Cheryl raised her cane and brought it down hard against his leg.

"You bastard, the one making the Henson family a laughingstock is you. Now hurry up and apologize to Nanette!"

Luke winced at the pain and, unwilling to back down, was about to argue.

Then his eyes caught the contract in my hand, and he snatched it away.

When he saw what it said, his face went livid, and he flung the contract hard into my face.

The edge of the paper sliced across my cheek, leaving a thin line of blood that burned.

"Nanette, so you stayed with me for three years because my grandmother paid you two hundred thousand a year?"

His eyes were full of scorn and disgust.

"A woman who's crawled that far into the money, and you think you're entitled to be jealous?"