The golden heir of the elite social circle spent a billion dollars tracking me down—his childhood sweetheart—and married me the moment he found me.

On our wedding anniversary, after one last moment of intimacy, Seth Vance's breath grazed my earlobe, his voice cool as winter air.

"Let's make this the last time. I'm tired of you."

"If you agree, we'll coexist as polite strangers. No interference in each other's lives. Sign the agreement, and you'll still be my wife."

I begged him with tears burning in my eyes. I asked him to tell me what I'd done wrong. I told him I'd change.

A few days later, he made a grand entrance at a gala with Zoe Winfield on his arm.

Someone in the crowd jeered. "Where's that little country bumpkin? Don't tell me she's off busing tables somewhere, embarrassing Mr. Vance again."

"That whole act he put on years ago sure did the trick. Got the little hick to fall head over heels for him."

Zoe Winfield curled her hand around Seth's arm and smiled, the picture of elegance.

"A woman that clueless and common? If it weren't for Grandpa Vance, she'd never have gotten within a mile of Seth."

"Some people just love exploiting someone's gratitude. They'll never belong in polite company."

So that was it. He'd molded me into his idea of a perfect wife—all to fulfill an engagement his elders had arranged when he was a child.

I stumbled back a few steps, staring at the scene in front of me, unable to believe what I was seeing.

In that moment, I finally let go.

The respect I would never earn? I didn't want it anymore.

……

The air went silent for a few seconds, then the noise swelled again, laughter and chatter filling the room as if nothing had happened.

No one seemed to care about this little interruption.

The serving tray in my hands nearly slipped.

Was that how he saw me too? That I was an embarrassment to him?

My desperate gaze found Seth standing on the raised platform. I searched his face, praying for the answer I needed.

After a long pause, he responded with a lazy, careless drawl.

"It was all just an act. Only a fool would've taken it seriously."

Hearing his voice—flat, stripped of every last shred of emotion—detonate beside my ears, the pain in my chest nearly buckled my knees.

The instant I recognized who was heckling the loudest, a roar filled my skull.

Three years ago, just before our wedding, one of Seth's friends had hurled vicious accusations at me.

"You're a gambler's daughter. Don't tell me you paid off daddy's debts with your own body?"

"Zoe Winfield is the one he actually loves. You're delusional."

Back then, Seth had knocked him to the ground with a single punch, beaten him until his face was purple and swollen, then ran over his leg with a car, crippling him.

Seth's voice had been ice-cold when he warned him.

"Say one more word. The Vance family has more than enough ways to make you disappear."

But now that same man stood right beside Seth, whole and unharmed, without a trace of injury.

Only now did I understand: promises that burned so hot meant nothing once the love ran cold.

In the distance, the crowd was still laughing and gossiping, but I couldn't hear a word of it anymore.

So the whole rescue, the whole knight-in-shining-armor act—it had all been a show they'd staged to toy with me.

And I'd believed every second of it like a fool.

I'd even been planning to make things right with Seth.

The reason I hadn't spoken to him these past few days wasn't anger. I'd been preparing for an interview at a multinational firm. I wanted to surprise him. I wanted to become someone worthy of standing beside him.

No wonder every apologetic message I'd sent over the past few days had vanished into silence.

While I stood there, lost in a daze, a server grabbed my arm and hauled me roughly to Seth's side.

Before I could even process what was happening, the red wine on my tray splashed across Zoe Winfield's designer gown.

Zoe had been raised in the lap of luxury. Refinement radiated from every pore. Standing next to Seth, she didn't pale in comparison for a second. They were a perfect match.

And me? I was just a waitress working this extravagant gala.

Zoe let out a derisive laugh, her gaze raking over me with undisguised contempt. She'd clearly recognized me as Mrs. Vance.

She shifted her position, subtly blocking Seth's line of sight, the scorn in her voice barely concealed.

"A waitress deliberately wandering over here to get Seth's attention? Do you have a death wish?"

"You could work here your entire life and still never afford the dress Seth personally picked out for me. It's worth millions."

"You'd better start figuring out how you're going to pay for the one you just ruined."

In that moment, the gulf between Seth and me came into sharp, brutal focus.

The dress he'd casually bought for Zoe was worth more than I could save in several lifetimes.

Most of the guests at this gala were the kind of people who worshipped power and trampled the weak. Plenty of them were more than happy to fawn over Zoe, the pampered heiress.

After all, she might very well become the next Mrs. Vance.

The insults piled on, one after another.

I lowered my eyes and bowed my head in humiliation.

The day Seth told me he was tired of me, he'd immediately cut off my living expenses.

Life had only gotten harder since then, and no one dared to help me.

I shouldn't have been at a gala like this in the first place. But Seth's birthday was in a few days, and I wanted to use the money I'd earned myself to buy him a gift.

I'd hoped to use the occasion to sit down and talk with him properly.

Even if it was all a misunderstanding, it needed to be cleared up.

I just never imagined that I was the joke all along.

Zoe pressed a kiss to Seth's cheek and pouted playfully.

"You don't still have feelings for that country bumpkin, do you? This waitress kind of looks like her. Is that why you're going easy on her?"

A flash of irritation crossed Seth's eyes. He scoffed.

"Didn't you say it yourself? That hick was just exploiting my gratitude. That's the only reason she saved me back then. She came crawling to me, begging for a truce, all so I'd cover her grandfather's medical bills."

"A scheming piece of trash like her, too low-class to even show in public. You really think she could make me stop caring about you?"

"I just didn't want you dirtying your hands."

"Someone drag her out and slap her ten times. Then throw her out of the gala."

So that was what he'd always thought of me. That I was nothing but a manipulator, exploiting his gratitude for my own gain.

The words I wanted to say caught in my throat like shards of glass.

My heart felt like it had been stabbed a thousand times. Tears pooled in my eyes, threatening to fall but refusing to.

Once again, every hope I'd placed in Seth crumbled to nothing. All I could do was clench my fists, powerless.

Before I could even react, Zoe poured an entire glass of red wine over my head. It ran down my face, soaking me from head to toe. As she leaned in close, her voice was a venomous whisper in my ear.

"So what if you're Mrs. Vance? The one standing beside him is still me."

I instinctively tried to fight back, but the bodyguards moved fast. They pinned me to the ground and struck me across the face, ten times, without mercy.

My cheeks swelled almost instantly. The pain blurred my vision, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't steady myself on my feet.

Through the haze, I watched Zoe loop her arm through Seth's, triumphant and glowing, as they went to toast the other guests.

I was thrown out of the gala like garbage. I struggled to my feet.

The manager hurled a handful of crumpled bills at my face, his voice cold and flat.

"You're fired. Don't bother coming back."

I clutched the bills in my fist and tried to wipe the sticky wine from my clothes. I hadn't gotten far before a group of thugs blocked my path.

They spat vulgar insults, rough hands already yanking at my blouse.

"The lady told us this one's a tramp. Said everything she does is to seduce men."

"Now that I'm seeing her up close, she wasn't wrong."

Instinctively, I thought of Seth.

Just one more time. I'd trust him one last time.

Clinging to that thought, I called him.

The call hadn't even connected before one of the thugs ripped the phone from my hand and smashed it against the pavement.

It wasn't until the ringtone on the other end died on its own that he finally deigned to send a text.

"Don't bother me unless it's important."

"Annoying."

The light in my eyes dimmed, word by word.

Seeing that, the thugs' gazes turned darker, their movements bolder. One of them tore open my blouse.

"Looks like whoever you called for help doesn't plan on saving you, sweetheart."

"I heard she used to go for a dollar a night. Now she's playing the virtuous maiden?"

When the coins hit my body again, the memories came flooding back, impossible to stop.

When Seth had spent a fortune tracking me down, I'd still been on my knees begging for a waitressing job.

After my birth parents took me home, the family love I'd craved shattered like a soap bubble at the first touch.

My father was a gambler. When he drank, he took a belt to me until my skin split open and bled.

My mother had cancer. She died not long after.

So I was passed around, sold from one person to the next. I never finished high school. I survived on odd jobs.

I was working at a diner when my father tracked me down. Said he'd turned over a new leaf. Instead, he drugged me and hung a degrading sign around my neck advertising me for a dollar a night.

Coins pelted my skin. A vagrant dragged me onto a filthy mattress by force.

And in that moment, when I had no one and nothing left, Seth appeared.

He pulled me into his arms, shielding me completely, and his voice cut through the air like a blade.

"She is my one and only fiancée. Anyone who touches her answers to the entire Vance family."

After that, he taught me taekwondo.

He said that once I could defend myself, I'd never have to be afraid again. Even when he wasn't by my side, I could protect myself.

I replayed every move Seth had taught me, pacing my energy, and put every last one of them on the ground.

They scrambled away like rats.

Memory and reality blurred together, and the truth settled over me like cold water. Seth wasn't here anymore.

I laughed bitterly and bent down to pick up the coins scattered across the pavement from the fight.

The man who used to ache at the slightest hint of my suffering, who would have taken every bruise onto his own body if he could—where had he gone?

Two people who had loved each other that deeply. How had it come to this?

Only in that moment did it finally hit me. Cinderella was never meant to become a princess.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in a hospital bed. Someone had cleaned and dressed the cuts on my face.

Seth spooned oatmeal to my lips, and the concern in his eyes was impossible to hide.

Something in my chest softened without warning. But before the feeling could take root, Zoe called, and just like that, he left.

My repaired phone sat on the nightstand. The screen lit up again. It was a message from the international firm I'd interviewed with.

"Congratulations. After careful review, you have been selected for the position. We sincerely invite you to join our team."

I typed back that I accepted the offer but needed a little time to handle some personal matters.

They agreed without hesitation.

Back at the house, I started packing, exhaustion weighing down every movement.

When I finished, I realized everything I owned fit into a single suitcase.

As expected, Seth didn't come home that night. For once, I slept soundly.

My phone lit up again. A notification that the birthday gift I'd ordered in advance had been delivered to the villa.

There was no reason to give it anymore.

I hesitated for a moment, then went to the front door to collect the package anyway.

I didn't expect what I found when I opened it. Zoe and Seth stood on the doorstep together, and I caught the tail end of their conversation—they were discussing wedding details.