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……”