"Honey, every moment tonight is precious. We only get one night a week. I want..."

I closed my eyes and let her kiss me.

The hunger she showed—was it all an act?

By the time I woke the next morning, she was already gone. That was just who she was: disciplined to a fault, always at the office before eight.

She'd left the investment proposal on the coffee table, along with a handwritten note:

"Honey, head out today. Muyuan's headquarters is in Southport, not too far from home..."

"You can come back every Tuesday. That's me being selfish. Hehe..."

The sweetness between us made everything from the day before feel impossibly unreal.

I refused to accept it. I grabbed our marriage certificate and went back to the courthouse.

When I walked out, the last shred of hope I'd been clinging to finally died.

The clerk told me to my face: our certificate was forged. Daniela Pruitt was already legally married. Her spouse's name was Geoffrey Harding.

I rounded a corner, and something inside me snapped. I tore the certificate to shreds like a man possessed, scattering the pieces into the air like confetti at a funeral.

I watched the fragments drift past my head, and the memories came flooding back.

Daniela and I had met six years ago, in the dead of winter. By my count, that was the same year Geoffrey had just left the country for his studies abroad.

Back then, I was a team lead in advertising at a small firm. She'd joined my team fresh out of college.

By the end of that year, the company decided to gut our entire department.

At the farewell dinner, emboldened by too many drinks, I announced I was going to start my own business and asked if anyone wanted to come with me.

Most of them laughed, clapped me on the back, and turned me down with one excuse or another.

But Daniela was different. She looked me dead in the eye and said she believed in me. Said she wanted to stay and build something together.

And so we did. Two people against the world. Somewhere along the way, what started as solidarity became something deeper.

With that bond between us, we poured everything into the company. It grew. It stabilized. We built the life we'd once only dreamed about.

As for Geoffrey, Daniela hadn't hidden him from me at first. She'd been upfront about it—told me she had a first love named Geoffrey Harding, and that when they graduated college, he chose studying abroad over staying with her.

One night, after too much wine, she told me she hated him. Hated him for abandoning her without a second thought.

Only now did I finally understand: the moment Geoffrey came back to the States, every ounce of that hatred had turned right back into love.

She'd planned ahead for it. When she married me, she'd made sure the certificate was fake.

To Daniela, I was the man who built her career. Geoffrey had always been the man she kept hidden in her heart.

All the elaborate deception she was maintaining now probably came down to gratitude. She felt she owed me something and couldn't bring herself to break me.

Thinking back on everything we'd been through, I still couldn't let go.

I've always been the type to feel too deeply. She'd lied to me, but I refused to believe there had never been a single genuine spark between us.

I didn't go to Muyuan Investments to discuss the project. Instead, I tracked down the Pruitt Group's subsidiary—Roseling Corp.

In the conference room at Roseling Corp, Geoffrey and I sat across from each other.

When I laid everything out in the open, he didn't flinch. He freely admitted he'd known about me all along. He'd known exactly who I was the moment he saw me at the courthouse yesterday.

After all, he was the one legally married to Daniela. So naturally, he carried himself through the entire conversation like a man looking down from a throne.

"Otto Delgado, right? Daniela's actually mentioned you to me. Told me all about your little... arrangement."

"I understand where she's coming from, and at the same time, I'm grateful to you. You're the one who helped Daniela get to where she is today."

"But gratitude doesn't mean I'm willing to step aside. Six years ago, I already made the wrong choice once. This time, I'm not letting go."

She'd mentioned me to him. She'd told him I existed, and he'd simply accepted it.

But what about me? From start to finish, I'd been the fool. Daniela had never once come clean.

A bitter ache crept through my chest, but I still reached into my briefcase and pulled out a share transfer agreement.

"This is a transfer of equity for the company. All you have to do is sign, and Roseling Corp is no longer a Pruitt Group subsidiary. From this day forward, it's yours."

"I only have one condition. Leave her. Give her back to me."

"You still don't see the truth about the three of us." Geoffrey's voice cut like a blade. "The one she truly loves is me. She just can't bring herself to hurt you, her old benefactor."

Every word landed like a knife. Then his expression hardened.

"Otto, what Daniela and I have isn't going to be shaken by outside forces."

"Even if I'm left with nothing, I will be with her."

And just like that, two men stood locked in a stalemate over one woman.

After a long silence, the tension in Geoffrey's face suddenly broke into a smile.

"How about this. We let Daniela choose between us herself. Whoever she doesn't pick walks away for good. No more fighting. Deal?"

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

Geoffrey leaned close to my ear and laid out his plan.

That evening, Daniela received an anonymous video.

In the footage, Geoffrey and I were both bound to wooden chairs. The camera panned to reveal a man in a mask.

"Ms. Pruitt, CEO of the Pruitt Group. These two should be the most important people in your world. If you don't want anything to happen to them, bring everything you have to the rooftop of the abandoned building on Old Mill Street."

"Come alone. If you call the police, I guarantee they'll be the first to die."

Two hours later, Daniela arrived at the rooftop. Alone.

Her gaze went to Geoffrey first, her eyes soft with worry. Then she turned to me, her look heavy with something harder to read.

Finally, she faced the masked man and pulled a black card from her pocket.

"Everything you asked for. Now let them go."

The kidnapper verified the funds, a note of approval creeping into his voice. "You're a woman of your word, Ms. Pruitt. But today I'd like to play a little game."

"You can only take one of them with you. The other goes over the edge. Your choice."

Daniela's composure shattered. "I'm taking both of them!"

The kidnapper said nothing. He seized the chairs Geoffrey and I were tied to and dragged them toward the ledge.

"If you don't choose, they both go over!"

Panic consumed her. Real, raw panic unlike anything I'd ever seen. Her teeth clenched so hard they ground audibly.

"Wait!"

"So you're saying only one of them walks out of here alive. Is that it?"

The kidnapper didn't answer. He just nodded.

In the final moment, Daniela raised her hand and pointed at Geoffrey.

"I... I choose him."

Geoffrey glanced at me, a veiled look of triumph spreading across his face.

I sat there like a fish ripped from water, mouth gaping, frozen, watching it all unfold in silence.

I stared at Daniela, and the question tore out of me. Why. Why him.

And Daniela, perhaps out of guilt, couldn't even bring herself to look at me.

After untying Geoffrey, the two of them left together.

One of the hired men pulled off his mask, then loosened the ropes binding me. He gave me a taunting grin.

"You lost, Mr. Delgado."

"Per your agreement with Mr. Harding, you're not to appear in front of Ms. Pruitt ever again."

I nodded, a hollow smile breaking across my face. "Don't worry. I'm a man of my word."

...

I sat alone on that rooftop for a long time.

Finally, I dialed a number.

"It's over between us. From now on... she doesn't need me to protect her anymore."

"I want to treat this like a dream. Destroy every trace of what we built together. Starting with Pruitt Group, the part you control."

It was time for me to go. Daniela had chosen Geoffrey. I'd made a bet, and I'd lost.

She'd given up on me. So let her give up everything I'd ever given her, too.