My back ached and my knees throbbed, but I never let it show on my face.

Aiden Cross's expression shifted slightly as he read whatever was on the tablet.

Then his hand came up, a flicker of disgust crossing his eyes.

“Give me the tablet, and go sit in the corner, away from me. My fiancée doesn't like the smell of another woman's perfume on me.”

I said nothing. I only handed him the tablet in silence.

Aiden pulled Tracey Henson into his arms and waited, turning each page once she'd finished it.

When she let out a delighted little gasp, he pressed an indulgent kiss to her temple.

Then he turned and fixed his gaze on me, his eyes dark.

“I'll give you this—you're not entirely useless.” He paused, his tone shifting. “So go on, teach her. When your own husband sleeps with another woman, how do you manage to be as forgiving and generous as you?”

“My fiancée's been spoiled by me, after all. Normally I keep at least three feet between myself and any other woman, let alone holding one in each arm.”

Tracey flushed and gave his chest a soft little punch.

I lowered my eyes, my voice dry.

“The way I see it, your fiancée doesn't need to learn any of this. A good man like you would never let the woman he loves suffer.”

After a long moment, Aiden suddenly laughed and turned to my supervisor.

“Your staff are really something. She thinks she can play her little games with me.”

At that, my supervisor yanked me over by the arm.

“Mr. Cross, I'm so sorry. She's new and doesn't know any better. I'll have her apologize to you right now.”

Aiden lifted his eyes lazily and looked straight at me.

“No need for apologies. I just want her to serve as my fiancée's private pre-wedding counselor for two months. Otherwise, I have plenty of ways to make sure you never earn a single cent in this place.”

For my supervisor's sake, I agreed to be Tracey's private pre-wedding counselor.

When I showed up the next day, Aiden didn't look the least bit surprised.

He helped a fully dressed-up Tracey into the car, his arm around her.

I hesitated, then climbed into the back seat.

The black luxury sedan was decorated with plush trinkets everywhere.

Even the floor mats were a limited-edition Disney collaboration.

Aiden steered one-handed, an indulgent curve to his lips.

“Young girls love this stuff. She bought a whole pile of it and had nowhere to put it, so it ended up in the car.”

Once, we'd lived in a cramped little rental.

Aiden knew I loved cute things, so the moment he earned any money, the first thing he'd do was buy me all kinds of stuffed toys.

He'd stuffed every corner of our home full of them.

We were poor back then, but at least it was warm.

Now he'd become the industry's rising star, and all his money and love went to someone else.

It was only when we got out of the car that I realized where we were going today: an auction.

Inside the private box.

Aiden lounged against the sofa and handed the paddle to Tracey.

“Buy whatever you like. I'll cover it.”

The first lot was nothing remarkable—just an ordinary silver necklace.

But my breath caught.

It was the gift Aiden had once designed and crafted for me with his own hands.

In those early days of his startup, when he barely dared to sleep, he'd still carve out time every day to prepare little surprises for me.

His fingers would split open at night, and the next day he'd go right back to writing code.

It wasn't until I saw the bloodstains on the keyboard that I understood just how hard he was driving himself.

Back then, his tears had fallen into the curve of my neck. “It's all because I'm useless. I swear I'll give you a good life one day.”

That silver necklace had been with me through my entire youth—and then I'd lost it in that accident.

The auctioneer called the price. “Starting bid, seventy thousand.”

Tracey raised her paddle, deliberating a few times before she spoke. “One hundred thousand.”

Aiden ruffled her hair, doting. “Keep raising the bid like that and people will think I've gone bankrupt.”

He closed his hand around Tracey's wrist and lifted the paddle again.

“Ten million.”

Everyone in the room knew the piece belonged to Aiden.

So the price climbed, higher and higher.

“Thirty million.”

“Fifty million.”

“Seventy million.”

After enough rounds, Aiden lost his patience and simply named a number that buried them all.

The whole room fell silent in an instant.

In the end, Aiden took the silver necklace for ninety million dollars.

The director carried the lot to the private box himself.

He had just lifted his hands to draw out the silver necklace when Aiden cut him off.

Aiden turned to look at me, something playful in his eyes.

“You go get it. Put it on Tracey.”

I pulled on a pair of gloves and, in silence, fastened the silver clasp at the back of Tracey's neck.

Aiden watched, the corner of his mouth curving into something sickly.

“Our Tracey always did have an eye for these things. The necklace suits you.”

After the auction ended, fat drops of rain slammed against the car windows.

Aiden floored the gas, and the car tore down the road.

“The Delgados aren't short on pocket change. So why do you still look like some broke little nobody?”

I sat in the back seat, my face flat. “Because I don't want to taint what Dylan Delgado and I have with money.”

The next second, Aiden braked hard at the side of the road. “Get out.”

A thunderstorm. On the overpass.

In the rearview mirror, I met the raw violence in Aiden's eyes.

“Get out. Don't make me say it a third time.”

I stepped out quietly. No explanation. There was no point in one.

In the end I couldn't remember how long I'd walked in the rain.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in a hospital room.

Then Aiden's call came through, and I answered, weak.

“It's working hours right now. Where are you?”

“Out all night, and now your employer has to chase you down after the workday's already started. Looks to me like you don't want this job anymore.”

I was about to pull the IV needle from my hand when the doctor stopped me.

“What are you doing?! Stop treating your own body like it's nothing. Whatever it is, can't it wait until the drip's finished?”

I hung up fast, but Aiden had still caught the doctor's voice.

A second later, a message popped up on my phone.

“You have half an hour to appear in front of me, or I'll have you blacklisted across the whole industry.”

After the nurse pulled the needle, I rushed straight to Aiden's place without stopping for a breath and let myself in with the passcode he'd given me.

——It was Tracey's birthday.

I was standing in the entryway when I heard the sounds drifting out of the bedroom.

Tracey's voice came in broken pieces, begging. “Someone's come in.”

Aiden soothed her gently, his voice rough. “What's there to be afraid of.”

I sat rigid and upright on the living room couch, nausea churning up through my stomach.

By the time the two of them came downstairs, two hours had passed, and the marks of what they'd been doing were all over them.

When she saw me sitting on the couch, Tracey jumped.

“Angela, why are you still here?”

Aiden steadied her just in time, a hint of something improper in his smile.

“So cute. Like a startled little hamster.”

The girl's ears flushed scarlet in an instant.

When he turned back to me, Aiden had slipped back into his usual carelessness.

“You scared my fiancée. Apologize. Now.”

When I said nothing, a thread of threat crept into his tone.

“Isn't your job to keep my fiancée happy? Or is it that you don't want this job anymore?”

At that, I finally spoke, numbly going along with it.

“I'm sorry. Showing up so suddenly and frightening you was my fault.”

“To make it up to you, may I borrow your kitchen and make you a dessert?”

Tracey nodded.

I'd made the cake by hand every year before, so this time my hands moved fast.

Tracey took a bite, her eyes lighting up. “Aiden, this cake is so good. How have I never tasted anything like it out there?”

The girl rose onto her toes and lifted the spoon she'd just used to feed Aiden a bite.

I lowered my eyes, refusing to watch their sweetness any longer.

Aiden never liked things too sweet.

I'd grown so used to it that I'd swapped out the sugar for fresh-squeezed juice.

It made the cake bright and clean on the tongue, never cloying.

I'd failed at that recipe more times than I could count.

The burns on my hands had long since become routine.

Back then, his eyes would go red as he pressed a soft kiss to each wound and swore he'd never wrong me.

And now all I could do was watch Aiden finish off the cake Tracey had left behind and pronounce it, flatly, “Inedible.”

Night fell before I knew it, and Tracey said she wanted to see fireworks.

Aiden had a whole batch delivered and set up in the back garden at once.

When it came time to light them, he held out the lighter to me.

“I hear you've got PTSD around explosions now. I haven't seen it for myself yet, so let's start with a little desensitization tonight.”

Aiden dragged me toward the fireworks, sparks drifting past the fuse again and again.

My hand was shaking as I took the lighter.

But hotter than the flame was the look in Aiden's eyes.

Brimming with a madness that wanted us both to burn.

“Beg me, and I'll let you off.”

Aiden gripped my hand hard enough to crush the bones, his voice coaxing, sweet.

“Weren't you always the timid one? You know how this goes. The moment you bow your head, I'll go soft. I always do.”

At this point, there was no going back to what we'd been.

I clenched my teeth, and on sheer nerve, I lit the fuse.

The fuse burned down, and still I stood frozen where I was.

The second the fireworks went off—

it was Aiden who risked himself, yanking me by the collar and hauling me to safety.

I watched the man turn and walk away, his back resolute and desolate all at once.

The scrapes on my legs stung, but I lifted my head and watched the rest of the fireworks alone, all the way through.

Happiness was always fleeting.

It was time for me to look ahead, too.

In the small hours, I got a call from the hospital.

“Hello, is this Ms. Knight?”

“The patient is in critical condition. There isn't much time. You should come quickly to see her one last time.”

I was ready to leave for the hospital in my pajamas, only to find the front door bolted from the inside and stuck fast.

I turned around to find Aiden standing on the stairs, looking down at me.

“Where are you going this late?”

My eyes burned, wet, my voice cracking. “I have to get to the hospital to see Grandma Knight one last time.”

I didn't expect Aiden to scoff. “You'd make up garbage like that just to go see Dylan Delgado.”

He shoved the trending headlines in my face.

It turned out that on the night of the thunderstorm, Dylan had dropped his new flame in front of everyone, and the paparazzi had caught him driving me to the hospital.

The whole internet was guessing whether the playboy was finally turning over a new leaf, ready to settle down and come home to his family.

Aiden pulled the phone back, the contempt on his face deepening.

“Besides, I was just on a video call with Grandma. Her color was rosy, her spirits couldn't have been better.”

He paused, and a strange smile surfaced in his eyes.

“Grandma even asked how the two of us have been lately. Told me to take good care of you.”

My voice trembled. “What did you tell her?”

Aiden's lips curved abruptly, the smile cruel. “The truth, of course——”

“every last word of it.”

My head snapped up, my eyes ready to split.

But to see Grandma one last time.