Chapter 1

At the exact moment my engagement party with Caleb Gilbert hit its high point, my graduate recommendation spot was announced.

This was what Caleb called a double blessing.

His female friend, standing off to the side, looked a little sour, and a moment later she dropped a line in our university class group chat.

"What's there to congratulate about a recommendation spot? Some people can get one lying down."

"And my silly boy actually announces it in front of everyone at the engagement party."

My mother collapsed from the shock. I was dumped in front of the whole room.

Then I was torn apart online, someone posted a photo of my work badge as a female escort, and in the end I died of depression.

When I opened my eyes again, I was staring at that comment. "An escort getting a graduate recommendation, absurd!"

Without hesitation I took a screenshot, tagged Sheila Matthews in the group, and typed, "The place I supposedly worked as an escort, the type of work, my hourly rate, send it all over so everyone can see."

"You have ten minutes. If it's not up, I'm calling the police."

...

The big screen at the engagement party displayed my tag calling out Sheila Matthews.

She probably never imagined I'd fight back. Last time I didn't. This time was different. I wasn't just going to fight back, I was going to grab hold and not let go.

The lively party had erupted a moment ago because of Sheila's line. Now it broke into noise again because of mine.

My boyfriend Caleb's face had gone stiff. I ignored him, grabbed the mic out of the host's hand, and pressed Sheila where she sat below the stage.

"Sheila..."

I'd barely gotten the word out when Sheila shot up from her seat, her whole face impatient.

"Did I say anything? I just saw you got the recommendation and made a little joke with my silly boy, isn't that right, silly boy?"

Sheila thought all this silly-boy cooing sounded so sweet, never realizing that both sets of elders at the engagement party found it grating.

Caleb froze for a beat, then rushed to answer. "That's right, Freya Cox, today is our engagement party, and the day you got your recommendation. It's a double blessing. Don't be upset."

I turned to look at him. He and I had been together since freshman year. He got into grad school last year; I earned my recommendation this year.

Caleb had deliberately picked our engagement day to fall on the day the recommendation was announced, saying he wanted a double blessing.

A perfectly good dish, only someone had spoiled the broth.

The Caleb in front of me now wore this ingratiating look. Last time, after Sheila's little exposé, he'd panicked, and in the end he never once stood by me. All he did the whole time was try to smooth things over.

Last time, it was precisely because of how Caleb treated me that Sheila went on to post my work badge as a female escort, along with photos from the nightclub.

She really did nail the story of me being a high-end female escort into place, once and for all.

My mother had come to my engagement party happy, and then she got word of my recommendation, and she was happy about that too, but Sheila's exposé yanked us from the clouds straight into the dirt.

The party crowd buzzed. The Gilbert family couldn't take the pressure and announced the broken engagement right there.

My mother fainted from the fury of it.

This time Sheila hadn't yet produced her so-called evidence. I was going to beat her to it.

I gave a cold laugh, staring at Caleb's face. "This was supposed to be a double blessing, and now your dear friend has ruined it."

"Caleb, I'm not going through with this engagement."

I pulled the flower off my chest as I spoke, and under everyone's stunned stares I walked down the steps and left with my mother. I thought that if I called off the engagement first this time, I'd stop Sheila from throwing out even more fabricated accusations, that at the very least I could hold on to my recommendation spot, and lessen the harm to my mother.