“You two were never meant for each other.”

“Now that you've come to your senses, pack your things and come home.”

I nodded, swallowing hard against the lump in my throat. “Okay.”

Five years my father told me Rick Graves was wrong for me. Five years I didn't listen.

When I first met him, he was nobody. A broke kid with nothing to his name.

These last couple of years he'd ridden the boom and made some fast money, but even so, not a cent of it was ever spent on me.

He couldn't even buy our wedding apartment without me covering half the down payment.

Whenever I was tight on cash, he'd hold me close and say, “Agatha, the company's still in its growth phase. There are so many places the money needs to go.”

“I promise, everything I earn in the future will be yours.”

“We're a team, right? What's the difference whose wallet it comes from?”

I'd nod and think that made sense.

So I kept handing over money, again and again, like a fool.

Never knowing that in some bar I'd never set foot in,

Rick talked about me the way you'd talk about an idiot.

“Agatha's such an idiot. She believes anything I tell her. Last month I dropped tens of thousands on a Chanel bag for Lois.”

“Meanwhile she's had a Coach bag sitting in her cart for over two weeks and still can't bring herself to buy it.”

The night I found out, I was ice-cold when he walked through the door. I asked him why he'd said those things.

Rick just pulled me into his arms with an explanation ready. “Agatha, I had no choice. That crowd is full of sharks. The clients are just like that.”

“I have to match my words to whoever I'm dealing with—that's how you close deals, how you make money, how we pay for the apartment.”

And once again, I was naive enough to forgive him.

Only now did I finally understand what everyone had been saying all along.

In those people's eyes, that's exactly what I was: stupid, gullible, and still tripping over herself to throw money at a man who never spent a dime on her.

But this time,

the doormat opened her eyes.

First thing the next morning, I packed two full boxes and threw every last thing into the dumpster.

The cleaning lady's eyes went wide.

“Sweetheart, you're throwing all of this away?”

She fished through the boxes, pulling out brand-new thermoses and handbags. “These are perfectly good. What a waste……”

My voice was calm. “I don't want any of it.”

“Take whatever you like.”

These were every gift Rick had given me over five years. Nothing expensive, but there were a lot of them.

Look closely, though, and every single one was cheap. The kind of thing you'd be embarrassed to show anyone.

I turned and walked away. Behind me, the cleaning lady was still shaking her head and muttering.

“Kids these days. No sense of how to hold on to things.”

I'd already booked a flight for three days from now.

Until then, I had to resign from my job and give up my lease.

After finishing the paperwork at the office, I thought about asking a friend to walk around Liberty Square with me, clear my head. But the moment I opened my chat window, I froze.

In this entire city, my only close friend was Lois Sullivan.

I put the phone down and went alone.

Then I heard the cheering up ahead.

In the center of Liberty Square, surrounded by balloons, Rick was down on one knee, gently sliding the ring he'd had custom-made for me onto Lois Sullivan's finger.

The crowd erupted. “Say yes! Say yes!”

I stood where I was, perfectly still, and felt my eyes blur with tears before I even realized it was happening.

Then someone in the crowd spotted me and shouted.

“Isn't that Agatha?”

“Knew it—total doormat. She slammed the door yesterday like she was really done, and here she is again, pathetically showing up on her own.”

“Don't tell me she's trying to get him back?”

Rick heard the murmurs too and turned, surprise flashing across his face.

“Agatha, what are you doing here? Don't tell me you came to cause a scene. I already told you I was proposing to Lois today……”

“Who you propose to has nothing to do with me anymore.”

I glanced down at the diamond ring and let out a cold, scornful laugh.

“I just feel sorry for Lois. Even her proposal ring is one I didn't want.”

Lois frowned slightly. “Agatha, you're mistaken. This ring……”

Rick cut her off with a derisive scoff.

“Agatha, why don't you flip the ring over and look inside. Is your name on it?”

My heart dropped. Only then did I think to turn the band over.

Engraved inside were Lois Sullivan's initials.

The ring had never been made for me. Not from the very beginning.

I turned to leave, but Rick grabbed my wrist.

“Agatha, just behave. Don't make a fuss.”

“I'll keep things the way they were. Set you up in a villa, keep you fed and clothed for the rest of your life. You won't have to worry about a thing.”

“The only thing you can't have is the status of wife.”

“Other than that, whatever you want, I'll give it to you. Five years as my girlfriend—I have to say, you performed very well. Quite memorable.”

His gaze drifted over me, lazy and appraising, like a man sizing up something he owned.

“You and Lois were best friends for years. I'm sure she wouldn't mind.”

I wrenched free of his grip and stumbled back a step, unable to believe what I was hearing.

“In your eyes, that's all I'm worth? Being the other woman?”

Rick laughed, short and cruel.

“Your mother was a mistress. Why can't you be one too?”

I froze where I stood, something sharp twisting into my chest.

After my mother's divorce, she'd been forced into being another man's mistress. It was the most painful secret I'd ever carried.

I had never told a single soul.

Only when things between Rick and me were at their best, when marriage felt close enough to touch, did I finally lay it all bare.

I never imagined he'd turn it into a blade and drive it straight back into me.

“My mother is my mother. I'm me. It's not the same……”

Beside him, Lois's laughter grew sharper.

“How is it any different?”

“A whore trying to put up a chastity arch. You knew full well Rick didn't want to marry you, and you still clung to him like a leech.”

“Agatha, doesn't that make you even cheaper than your mother?”

Her eyes roamed over me with that same lazy contempt, then stopped at my chest.

“What's that?”

Before I could react, she snatched the necklace from around my neck and ripped it free.

“Give it back.”

Panic flooded through me instantly.

But Rick stepped in front of me, blocking my way.

“She just wants a look. What's the rush? It's not going to kill you.”

I looked at Rick, nearly begging.

“Please, make her give it back. It's the only thing you ever gave me……”

If even that was taken from me, then those five years I'd thrown away were nothing but a complete and total joke.

Rick stared at me for a moment, something almost amused flickering behind his eyes.

“You really do treasure that thing.”

“It's the key to a safe.”

He'd held me in his arms back then and told me the safe was filled with everything he'd prepared as my wedding fund.

My mother had become a mistress and stopped caring about me entirely.

To be with Rick, I'd nearly severed ties with my father.

Because he felt for me, Rick had promised to fill a safe with my wedding fund for the day I married him.

He'd even had the key made into a pendant and hung it around my neck himself.

He'd said, “Agatha, this is the confidence I'm giving you. Your backing and your safety net.”

“No matter what happens down the road, you'll have this. A way out, if you ever need one.”

Those words moved me for five years.

So even after I'd lost everything else, I held on to that key—my last keepsake.

Lois noticed how anxious I was and got a sudden gleam in her eye. “A safe? I had no idea there was a safe.”

“If you don't take me to see it, I'm not saying yes to your proposal……”

She pouted, pretending to sulk, and Rick laughed indulgently and pulled her in by the waist.

“It's nothing valuable. Not worth the trip.”

I felt a flash of gratitude, thinking he still wanted to spare me that much.

But Lois wouldn't let it go.

Rick finally sighed and ruffled her hair.

“Fine, princess. If you insist, we'll go look.”

“I just don't want it dirtying your eyes.”

He drove Lois to the wedding apartment without another word.

I was shoved into the car too, and the handful of friends who'd been watching tagged along for the show.

When the safe opened, I couldn't move.

The laughter around me was loud enough to bring down the ceiling.

“What the hell? We thought it'd be something worth keeping, and it's a few packs of ratty sanitary pads!”

“Rick, you're unreal. Sanitary pads for a wedding fund?”

“And she ate it up! Five years on her knees for this—ultimate simp of the century!”

I turned to Rick, disbelief cracking through every part of me.

He smirked, cold and amused. “Not my fault. Some people can't wait to throw themselves at you for free. I said one thing and she swallowed it whole.”

“Wore the key around her neck for five years like it was precious.”

The blow of it sent me staggering backward until I hit a sharp edge, shattering the glass behind me.

Shards drove into my palm.

Gasps broke out around the room.

“Jesus, that went deep!”

“She's bleeding everywhere. How many stitches is that gonna take?”

“Should we call an ambulance?”

Rick's expression shifted. “Agatha, you……”

I stared at the blood covering my hand, and all I could manage was a broken, bitter laugh.

“Don't come near me!”

“You just destroyed the last memory I thought was real, Rick. We're done. For good.”

For a reason he couldn't name, Rick felt a flash of panic and unease.

It passed. The sneer came back.

“Let me guess, Agatha. You're breaking up with me again?”

“How many times have you said that in five years? And how many times did you actually leave?”

Even Lois froze. Watching the blood run, something like guilt flickered across her face.

“Agatha, you understand now, right?”

“The person Rick loves is me. I didn't steal him from you—you just couldn't keep him. So please, stop blaming me.”

“If you could just put all of that behind you, we'd still be the closest of friends……”

“Let me take you to the hospital.”

She reached for me, but I backed away, step after step, until I was out of her reach.

“Get away from me. Both of you. I never want to see either of your faces again.”

I turned and ran downstairs. The second I stepped outside, two bodyguards were already there, standing at attention.

“Miss Henson. Chairman Henson sent us with the helicopter.”

The moment they saw my hand, their expressions hardened. “Get the private doctor. Now. Dress Miss Henson's wound.”

“Miss Henson, we'll land directly at the best hospital in Southhaven.”

……

After I left, the restlessness gnawing at Rick only got worse. He threw every last one of the onlookers out.

But Lois was still shaken. She tugged at his arm, voice careful.

“Rick, don't you think we went too far just now?”

“She only just found out about us. And today was supposed to be your wedding—you're the one who stood her up.”

“I was angry, that's all. I said those awful things on purpose to get under her skin……”

Lois glanced down at the blood covering the floor and bit her lip.

“She was hurt that badly, and she just ran out like that. What if something happens to her?”

Rick said nothing. His expression wasn't good.

Lois pressed on. “Maybe you should check the hospital? I just don't know which one she'd go to.”

Rick let out a cold scoff.

“Northbridge First Hospital. Obviously.”

He could find her with his eyes closed.

But when he arrived at Northbridge First Hospital, the staff told him otherwise.

“Agatha Henson? She hasn't been here today……”