Chapter 1

Three months before our wedding, my adopted sister, Chloe, sent me a text.

"I'm pregnant with Raymond's baby."

My mind went completely blank. I thought it was some sick joke.

Raymond was my fiancé.

A second later, she sent a picture of their marriage certificate.

"We're officially married now. Step aside and let us be happy."

My hands shook as I dialed Raymond's number. The moment he picked up, he snapped at me.

"Why are you making a scene? Chloe and I only slept together once when I was drunk. It wasn't like a real affair."

"Once she gives birth, I'll divorce her."

Right then, my mother burst into my room and slapped me across the face.

"You spiteful girl! Chloe and Raymond are in love, and you're trying to tear them apart?"

"Are you trying to drive your sister to her grave?!"

Without giving me a chance to speak, she dragged my suitcase out and tossed it into the hallway, claiming she was turning my room into a nursery.

I stood outside the door, clutching my burning, swollen cheek. I wiped away my tears.

Then, I opened Instagram and posted a single line:

"Need a groom for my wedding. Any takers?"

Raymond was the first to comment.

[Serena, have you lost your mind? I only married Chloe on paper. Do you really have to blow this out of proportion?]

[You seriously think posting on Instagram will make me jealous? Don't make a scene here, and definitely don't give Chloe a hard time.]

Chloe chimed in right underneath him.

[Serena, Raymond just wants our baby to have a legal father. I won't steal him from you. When you two marry later, my baby can call you mom, too.]

My mother scolded me in the comments, calling me ungrateful.

[You get to have a baby without going through the pain of labor! Chloe is doing you a favor, and you won't even thank her?]

A few of Raymond's buddies piled on, laughing and cheering along.

[Serena and Chloe are sisters! Whoever Raymond marries, you're all still family. Worst case, he stays with Chloe on odd days and Serena on even days!]

Cruel jokes and laughing emojis flooded the screen.

I stared at my phone for a long time. Tears welled up in my eyes until I couldn't hold them back anymore, dripping onto the glass.

They were the ones who betrayed me.

Yet they had the nerve to turn around and blame me.

How pathetic.

People like that didn't deserve a single drop of my tears.

I wiped my eyes and scrolled through the garbage in the comment section. One notification caught my attention.

It was from Ethan.

"Can I be your groom?"

Ethan and I grew up together.

After college, I stayed in the city, while he moved abroad to pursue his master's degree and build his career.

Once Raymond and I started dating, Ethan rarely reached out, saying he didn't want to make my boyfriend uncomfortable.

While I was still processing the comment, my phone lit up with an incoming call from Ethan.

"Serena, I've loved you for a very long time."

"You know I've always disliked your adopted sister. I'll never have anything to do with her. I don't have toxic friends, either. All these years, I've just been focused on work. No crazy exes, no messy baggage."

As he spoke, my phone chimed with a document notification.

I opened it. It was a proposal he had signed to set aside some of his personal assets and company shares in a trust for me, subject to review by our lawyers.

Before I could recover from the shock, his voice turned soft and nervous.

"Serena, I want you to know how serious I am. Will you give me a chance?"

A lump formed in my throat.

I suddenly remembered back in elementary school, when the teacher gave him two pieces of his favorite candy. He loved sweets so much, but he hadn't touched a single one. He kept them both for me.

He had always given me everything he had.

My voice cracked. "Yes."

Love had felt like an illusion I kept trying to hold onto, only to end up battered and bruised.

I thought... I thought I could just be alone.

But my grandmother's dying wish was to see me married, to know I'd have someone in my corner. My father had also made marriage a condition for receiving the estate he left me.

Raymond didn't deserve that place.

If it was Ethan, though, Grandma would rest easy.

Ethan's voice trembled with pure joy. "I'll wrap up my work here and fly back within two weeks to marry you."

"Serena, you'll wait for me, right? You won't change your mind?"

He sounded so vulnerable, almost like the boy who had asked me to be his bride years ago.

"I will," I said, tears stinging my eyes. "Pinky promise, Ethan."