Chapter 1

Everyone says Ezra Gilbert loves me more than life itself.

He would travel thousands of miles to another country to buy me the cake I once casually mentioned wanting from the shop outside my school when I studied abroad.

He would also drop all his work and show up before me, weary from the road, just to give me a hug whenever I was upset.

Even his decision to start his company in the first place was to give me a better life.

I always thought that meeting Ezra was the happiest thing in my life.

Until he sent me to entertain the executives of another company over drinks, just to help Bailey Winters land an internship.

Someone made me down a whole bottle of high-proof hard liquor, and I broke two ribs while fighting back.

And at that very moment, Ezra was with Bailey, watching the fireworks she loved.

That was when I finally woke up. The love I had been so sure of was only his masterful performance.

I decided to walk away and let the two lovers have their happy ending.

......

I had just come out of surgery, and the moment I woke up, I saw Ezra standing beside my hospital bed with guilt written all over his face.

I hadn't expected him to still have the nerve to show up in front of me.

Ezra looked at my ashen face and spoke.

"Camila, I'm sorry. I didn't know things would turn out like this."

I hadn't expected it either.

Ezra, who before this had been so meticulously attentive and had granted my every wish, had actually cheated on me.

His eyes were heavy with regret.

"Camila, I'll take good care of you. From now on I'll never let anything dangerous happen to you again."

"Everything that happened today is my fault. Blame me however you want."

His voice trembled, and he looked at me almost pleading.

"Ezra."

I said calmly.

"Let's break up."

The glass of water in Ezra's hand smashed to the floor, shattering into pieces.

He frantically bent to pick up the broken glass, but really he was avoiding what I'd told him.

"Camila, are you not feeling well? I'll go get the doctor. Wait here for me."

"Are you hungry? I'll go buy you your favorite food."

"Once you're discharged, we'll get married, and I'll take care of you for the rest of my life."

He was babbling incoherently, not even noticing that the broken glass had cut his hand and drawn blood.

He just kept apologizing and making promises to me over and over.

"Camila, believe me, I won't contact Bailey Winters again."

"Let's be good to each other from now on, okay?"

Bailey Winters is Ezra's junior from university.

She hadn't finished her master's degree yet and wanted to find an internship.

But Bailey had no family background, no credentials, and no work experience, so her résumés were rejected again and again.

Just when she was losing heart, an executive from one of the top companies in the industry suddenly called her out of the blue and sent her the address of a private room at a hotel, telling her to come.

Bailey was a little afraid, but she wasn't willing to give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

After weighing it all, she called Ezra.

And so Ezra came to me.

He said, "The company has a client who might need you to have dinner with him. If it works out, we'll land a huge order."

I believed him.

For his sake, I went.

But once I got to the private room, I learned the whole story, and I wanted to leave.

Instead someone made me drink an entire bottle of hard liquor.

Then someone forced himself on me, and when I fought back with everything I had, someone shoved me.

I fell straight into a fracture.

It was only then that I found out.

Ezra and Bailey had been together all along.