My paycheck hit while I was sitting in my rented room eating instant noodles.

Same as every month, I transferred five thousand into the bank account Drew and I shared.

One more deposit. One step closer to our own place—a home, a wedding, a life.

Melinda Pruitt grinned at me from across the table.

"God, Willow Fox, you're so cheap. You never buy yourself anything."

"It's worth it if we can buy a place sooner. A little scrimping won't kill me."

A second later, Melinda shrieked.

"Holy shit, this Young Mr. Simmons is loaded! He rented out all of Disneyland for his fiancée's birthday!"

She shoved her phone in my face. The chopsticks stopped halfway to my mouth, and something in my chest seized.

That silhouette looked a lot like Drew.

"Willow, let's go check it out! I heard they're giving away cash gifts too."

Before I could argue, Melinda was already dragging me out the door.

Drones hung in the sky, their lights spelling out two names: Drew Simmons. Zelda Harding.

It couldn't be. Plenty of people shared the same name. It had to be a coincidence.

Then a kiss flashed across the giant screen, and the air left my lungs.

The man I'd loved for seven years was kissing another woman.

1

I stared at the screen. My fists clenched so tight my nails cut into my palms.

Melinda's grin froze the instant she recognized his face.

"Hold on—Willow, that guy looks just like your boyfriend."

I couldn't speak. I just kept staring at those names, and Melinda followed my gaze.

"No way. That's not actually him, is it?"

"He's a junior clerk. How is he suddenly Harbor City royalty?"

"Willow, what the hell is going on?"

I didn't know either. Just yesterday he'd been worrying about rent and the electric bill.

The screen began cycling through photos of Drew and Zelda together.

Kindergarten. Elementary school. Middle school. A high school abroad. College.

Photos I'd never seen, every single one dripping with money.

The last image lingered: Zelda in a princess gown, cutting a cake beside Drew.

Matching rings on their left hands. I recognized the brand from television. Luxury I couldn't name a price for.

On screen, Drew's eyes were soft, full of tenderness, and they were only on Zelda.

Pain ripped through my chest and all the blood in my body rushed to my head.

I shoved through the crowd like a woman possessed, fighting my way toward the front. I needed to hear the truth from his mouth.

I barely made it a few steps before I saw them descending the staircase together, hand in hand.

A golden couple. The kind everyone envied.

"Wow, a real power match! They look incredible together!"

"That face of hers could stop traffic. No wonder Young Mr. Simmons is throwing money around like this."

Voices swirled around me, every one of them marveling at how perfectly they fit.

I looked down at myself. Jeans washed so many times the color had bled out. A twenty-yuan t-shirt. Worlds apart.

Drew's gaze swept the crowd. The moment it landed on me, something panicked flickered in his eyes, there and gone in a heartbeat.

Then he lifted Zelda's hand, tilting it just enough to let the matching ring catch the light.

"Today is Zelda's birthday, and a day worth celebrating for another reason."

He placed both hands on her stomach.

"Zelda is carrying our child. I'm going to give her the wedding she deserves."

My mind went blank. The noise, the crowd, everything around me seemed to stop.

All I could see was Drew with his arms around Zelda, and I forgot how to breathe.

I don't know how long I stood there before I came back to myself.

I lunged forward, half-crazed, and a wall of bodyguards blocked me.

"Drew Simmons, what about me?"

I screamed it, nearly howling, my voice shredded with fury and the raw pain of betrayal.

But the cheering was too loud, the fireworks shaking every corner of the park, and no one heard me. No one saw the tears sliding down my face.

I don't remember how I got home. All I know is Melinda had to half-carry me back.

The cup of noodles was still on the table. Cold broth. Bloated, shapeless noodles.

I looked at it and started laughing.

My phone buzzed. A familiar profile picture. A message:

"Let's meet tomorrow so I can explain. Get some rest."

I didn't sleep that night.

Drew's hands on Zelda's stomach kept playing behind my eyes, over and over. That wasn't staged.

I dragged myself out of bed and searched for everything I could find on Simmons Technologies.

In a blurry old photo, I finally saw him. Teenage Drew, unmistakable.

The only son of Harbor City's richest family—and he'd spent seven years pretending to be poor right beside me.

I picked up my phone and blocked him.

The next morning, I was jolted awake by pounding on the door.

Drew Simmons burst into the room and pulled me into his arms.

A hug that used to mean nothing—and now it made my stomach turn.

"Willow, I couldn't reach you. You scared me half to death."

"I sent you a hundred messages, called you a hundred times, and you were just gone."

"Willow, don't do this. Don't shut me out."

The whole devoted-boyfriend act—I didn't know whether to laugh or gag.

I pushed him away without letting my face betray anything. Every point of contact between us made me feel sick.

"Willow, just let me explain—"

Crack.

My hand was already across his face, a red mark blooming on his cheek.

"Why did you lie to me, Drew?"

"You're the richest family's only son, and you played poor to trick me. Did you think I was stupid?"

He reached up to wipe my tears, and only then did I realize they were already streaming down my face.

"You got Zelda Harding pregnant. Why did you keep coming back to me?"

"I scrimped and saved every cent so we could get married sooner, and you made me look like a fool!"

I was shaking with rage.

The tenderness in Drew's eyes vanished. What replaced it was cold, flat impatience.

"Willow, when I first saw you, you were busing tables in the cafeteria. You really think I could tell my friends I was into the lunch lady?"

"And if I'd walked up as who I actually am? You and your pride—you would've turned me down on the spot."

"I lowered myself for you, Willow. The least you could do is be grateful."

"You have no idea how hard it was to choke down those disgusting street-stall meals and the spinach noodles you made."

"I ate every bite. Because you liked them."

So everything I'd treasured as romance was just something he'd forced himself to stomach.

"What am I to you, Drew?"

"A toy? Entertainment for you and your friends?"

He grabbed my wrist hard enough that I couldn't pull free.

"Don't say that about yourself. Seven years, Willow—you really can't tell that I meant it?"

Real. Nothing about it was real. All of it was a lie.

"If it's real, then break off your engagement with the Hardings. Marry me."

His hand went rigid. His eyes turned cold.

"Willow, why can't we just leave things the way they are? I'll give you money. Nothing has to change."

So that was it. He just wanted to keep me tucked away where no one could see—his hidden woman on the side. And who knew how many others there were.

I let out a bitter laugh. "And if I refuse? What if I tell Zelda Harding everything?"

Every last trace of pretense left his face.

"Know your place, Willow."

"A girl from some dirt-poor mountain village—how exactly do you see yourself as my wife?"

"Don't make a scene in front of Zelda. It won't look good for anyone."

I had laid every ugly, painful thing about my family bare for him, and now he was throwing it back in my face. He had never once looked at me as an equal. Not from the very start.

I wrenched my arm free with everything I had, so hard he stumbled back a step.

The red marks his grip left on my arm burned, but the cold inside me was worse.

I wiped the tears from my face. The shattered look in my eyes slowly steadied into something still.

"You're right. I come from the mountains. My family is poor. I'm not worthy of the richest man's only son, and I'm certainly not worthy of being Mrs. Simmons."

Each word fell separate and deliberate, quiet but absolutely sure.

"But I'm not cheap enough to be your mistress in the shadows."

His brows knotted tighter, the impatience on his face sharper now.

He stepped toward me again, his voice carrying one last half-hearted attempt at coaxing:

"Willow, stop being stubborn. I can give you money, give you a life a hundred times better than killing yourself at some job. I'll handle things with Zelda. You won't be mistreated."

"She runs the house. You stay outside it. Nobody crosses the line."

I laughed. At myself, for being so blind.

"What I want, you can't afford."

Drew said nothing. He walked to my nightstand and laid a bank card down like he was settling a tab.

"Think it over. There's three million on that card. Once you've come around, I'll give you the PIN."

I was packing when the phone cut through everything—sharp, insistent. Grandma Charity's number.

Dread hit me before I even answered.

"Willow? It's Uncle Ferris."

"Your grandma collapsed. Acute leukemia. The surgery alone is over three million. What are we going to do?"

"I've got eighty thousand saved up, that's my funeral money, it won't last her a week."

Grandma raised me. She was everything I had.

I looked at the bank card on the table. Then I lowered my head.

"Don't panic, Uncle Ferris. I'll figure something out."

I pulled that familiar number out of my blacklist and dialed, swallowing every shred of dignity I had left.

The call cut off almost immediately. I couldn't reach him. But when I turned to the TV, there he was:

*Simmons Group sole heir spotted with fiancée at baby appointment—Harbor City's golden couple.*

So today was Zelda's checkup day. And Drew was right there beside her.

I transferred every cent I'd saved, a little over three hundred thousand, to buy what time I could.

Drew didn't call back until evening.

"Please. Can you save my grandma? I need the money on that card."

I'd never heard my own voice that low. I wasn't asking for anything except her life.

On the other end, Drew let out a cold, satisfied sound. In his mind, I was exactly what he'd expected: crawling back.

"Come to River Isle Estate tonight. Bring yourself."

That voice—someone who owned everything and knew it—made my whole body go numb.

But the hospital bill Uncle Ferris forwarded left no room for hesitation.

I clenched my teeth and forced out a single word: "Fine."

River Isle Estate. The home Drew had prepared for Zelda. Their future marital home.

Every hallway, every room was lined with photographs of the two of them.

"How's your grandma doing?"

Drew's voice came from behind me.

Behind him, their wedding portraits covered the entire living room wall.

In the largest frame, Zelda nestled against his chest, smiling like she'd won the world.

I forced my voice out, rough and scraped raw:

"She's still in the ER. Waiting for the money so they can operate."

Drew walked toward me slowly, stopping close enough to look down at me.

His dark eyes held no warmth at all. Only possession, bare and undisguised.

"Save her? You were about to leave me. Why would I save anyone for you?"

I bit down hard on my lip, tears of humiliation burning at the edges of my eyes.

"Then what do you want?"

He leaned in close to my ear. His breath was warm against my skin, and it turned me cold all the way through.

"Stay. No more talk of leaving. No interfering with me and Zelda. Be my mistress. For the rest of your life."

My whole body shook. My knees nearly gave out. My nails dug into my palms until they broke skin, but I couldn't feel it.

I closed my eyes, summoned every last scrap of strength in my body, and said, word by word: "Okay."

As long as Grandma lived, I could bear it.

He beckoned me over the way you'd call a pet.

He buried his face in my neck and bit down, hard.

"There you go."

He seized my waist and yanked me into him so roughly my arms ached from the force.

"If you'd been this obedient from the start, you could've saved yourself the pain."

"Willow, I love you."

He said all the pretty things that night. All I felt was the humiliation.

A long time later, he was finally satisfied. He lit a cigarette.

"Relax. As long as you behave, I'll cover all of your grandma's treatment costs."

I turned my face away so he wouldn't see the tears sliding down.

The moment I had the money, I transferred it to Uncle Ferris. But I was one step too late.

"Willow, it came on too fast. Your grandma's gone."

My legs went out from under me. My forehead cracked against the corner of the table and I didn't feel a thing.

I still couldn't save her.

Before the grief had even begun to loosen its grip, my phone lit up with a message from an unknown number.

"Let's meet. This is Zelda Harding."