At the engagement banquet, during the exchange of tokens, Yolanda Morton did it right in front of everyone.

She took the ancestral jade pendant — the heirloom meant for the groom — and hung it around her assistant Nathan Harding's neck.

The guests exchanged uneasy glances, casting pitying looks in my direction.

Yolanda pinched Nathan's cheek with a doting smile, her tone utterly casual.

"It's not like you could've brought anything of value to the table anyway, so let's just skip this part."

"Nathan's been having nightmares lately. The jade pendant will keep him safe and sound."

"And wipe that look off your face. I already agreed to marry you. What more could you possibly want? Don't be greedy."

Nathan had his arm around her waist, grinning like a lovesick fool.

The Morton family's jade pendants were traditionally crafted as a matching pair — one for husband, one for wife.

The spotlight fell on my bare neck like a slap across the face.

I smiled and burned the share-transfer documents I'd prepared for her, right there on the spot.

"You're right. I shouldn't be greedy."

"So your fiancée? She's all his now."

——

The entire room went silent. The only sound was paper curling in the flames.

Yolanda's brow furrowed, displeasure flashing across her face.

"Clement Delgado, it's just a jade pendant. Do you really have to be this petty?"

"Stop making a scene. Finish the ceremony like a good boy, and I'll pretend that little outburst never happened. Consider yourself forgiven."

Looking at her up there on her high horse, that magnanimous, charitable expression on her face — revulsion churned through me. I shook off her hand.

"Does Ms. Morton not understand plain English?"

"Then let me spell it out. The engagement is off. We're done."

The air pulled taut.

Nathan strolled over with a smile, playing peacemaker.

"Come on, Clement. She's just worried about my health. Don't hold it against her."

He shoved something into my hand.

"Here — to make up for it. I had someone make a matching one just for you."

"Of course, I'm not like you. All I know how to do is mooch off a woman, so I couldn't exactly afford top-grade jade. Had to use a beer bottle instead. Hope you won't mind."

Because today was the engagement, I'd coordinated with Yolanda to wear matching outfits.

The funny part? Nathan's suit was identical to mine.

The day we'd picked out the suits, it had been just Yolanda and me.

Which meant she hadn't just told Nathan about it — she'd gone out of her way to buy him the same one.

Now here they stood, in their matching outfits, wearing the ancestral jade pendants that symbolized husband and wife, looking for all the world like the real couple of honor at this banquet.

And I was the clown.

I grabbed the red cord around Nathan's neck and yanked him toward me, a cold smile cutting across my face.

"A woman who's gone rotten? I've never wanted her. You like picking through trash, she's yours."

"But you had the nerve to pull this stunt to my face. I need to settle that score. How about I use this little 'gift' of yours to carve up that pretty face?"

The edges of the beer-bottle fake were razor-sharp. One wrong move and it would slice skin open.

Every detail, calculated.

Nathan's face went white. His eyes welled up as he turned to Yolanda for rescue.

"Ms. Morton, look at him... I'm so scared..."

Pain shot through my wrist, forcing me to let go.

Yolanda pulled Nathan behind her and shoved me back.

"Nathan didn't say anything wrong. What gives you the right to touch him? I skipped the token exchange to save your dignity!"

"The Morton family's ancestral jade pendant is worth a fortune. And you — a deadbeat, a parasite who can't survive without clinging to me — what could you possibly offer in return? Learn to be grateful!"

"And don't think I don't know what those papers you burned really were. That was a list of things you wanted as a dowry, wasn't it? What's the matter — even you thought it was too shameless to let anyone see?"

Even though I'd already decided to end things, hearing those words still felt like a wad of cotton had been stuffed into my chest.

Suffocating. Unbearable.

Yolanda didn't like me showing my face in public, and she refused to eat food from restaurants. So I'd willingly become the man behind her, content to stay in the shadows.

Four years of genuine devotion, and in her eyes, I was nothing but a parasite leeching off her money.

She had no idea that those papers weren't some gift registry.

They were share-transfer documents worth over a hundred million dollars.

I looked at her quietly.

"Yolanda, you know exactly what that jade pendant represents. It's the symbol of the Morton family patriarch."

"And you gave it to Nathan. What does that make me?"

Yolanda let out a derisive laugh, one brow arching high.

"Nathan's work is outstanding. He's my right hand at the company. He deserves it."

"You're nothing but a deadbeat who lives off a woman's money. The fact that I even agreed to get engaged to you should've been enough. You should've been grateful."

"Clement, I'm telling you to quit while you're ahead. Walk through the ceremony like a good boy. If you want a jade pendant so badly, I'll pick one up for you at an antique auction. But if you keep throwing a tantrum, don't blame me when I cut you loose for good."

She still didn't understand.

It was never about the object. It was about what it meant.

Or maybe, in her mind, my feelings had never mattered at all.

"Is that so? Be my guest."

I said it calmly, then turned to leave.

But at the door, several bodyguards blocked my path. They stood shoulder to shoulder like a wall across the exit.

Yolanda drained the last of the wine in her glass, her tone languid and unhurried.

"Clement, since you insist on breaking up, shouldn't you return what belongs to me?"

"Don't forget. That suit you're wearing? I paid for it."

Her gaze carried a thin edge of cruelty.

"So. Take it off."

I froze.

I'd come straight here in the suit. I hadn't brought a change of clothes.

And Yolanda knew that.

Looking at that familiar face, I suddenly found it laughable. I must have been blind back then to have ever fallen for someone like her.

Someone nearby couldn't bear it and spoke up. "Ms. Morton, there are so many guests watching. Why not let Mr. Delgado keep a little dignity?"

Yolanda crossed one leg over the other, unmoved.

"That's exactly the problem. I gave him too much dignity in the past, and it spoiled him rotten. Made him think he could act however he pleased. It's time he learned to behave."

"Clement, if you don't want to strip, fine. Admit you were wrong. Promise you'll never make trouble for Nathan again. Then we can carry on with the engagement banquet."

Nathan draped his arm around her shoulder and covered his mouth with a laugh.

"Come on, Clement. She's giving you an out. Why fight it?"

"Don't worry, nobody here will judge you for going back on your word. After all, we've all seen plenty of gold diggers like you."

Yolanda pressed a tender kiss to Nathan's fingertips, clearly pleased by the way he'd put me in my place.

The gawking stares of the crowd burned against my skin like open flame.

A thick, choking wave of humiliation rose inside me.

This was exactly what Yolanda wanted.

She wanted me to understand that I was nothing more than a plaything tethered to her. She could grant me dignity, and she could crush it underfoot whenever she pleased.

Just when everyone expected me to cave, I unfastened the suit without a flicker of expression, pulled it off, and tossed it into the trash can beside me.

I walked out of the hotel without looking back, ignoring the shock frozen in Yolanda's eyes.

Outside, it was raining.

I thought about hailing a cab, but my phone was already dead. My ID was still back at the villa, so all I could do was walk through the downpour.

My shorts clung to my skin, soaked through, drawing sidelong glances from passersby.

By the time I neared the villa district, it was already eleven at night. The world around me was silent.

Three punks with bleached-blond hair had been tailing me for a while now. I had no idea when they'd started following.

They whistled at me every few steps, and no matter how fast I walked, I couldn't shake them.

Unease crawled through my gut. I broke into a run toward the villa.

But when I reached the front door, I discovered the keypad lock had been changed.

The three of them stood under a tree a few yards away, leering at me with sickening grins.

They watched me like I was putting on a show for them. Like I was a piece of meat they could swallow whole whenever they pleased.

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I pressed the doorbell over and over, but no one answered.

The second-floor window swung open. Yolanda appeared in a silk camisole.

She hurled my suitcase out the window without a second thought. The light caught the hickeys on her neck, vivid and shameless.

"Clement, I thought you had so much pride. Then take your garbage and get out of my house."

"I've already frozen your cards. That pitiful balance in your bank app probably won't cover half a month's rent."

I didn't have time to care about her contempt. I was panicking.

"Yolanda, there are creeps following me. Can you just let me inside first?"

"Or at least call the police for me. My phone's dead. They're standing right there under that tree. Come out and look if you don't believe me!"

Yolanda froze for a moment, instinctively turning around.

"What? Don't worry, I'll—"

A pair of arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her back.

Nathan appeared behind her, shirtless, flashing me a taunting smile.

"Hey, buddy. This is a gated community. Without a resident's permission, security won't let strangers through the gate."

"You publicly called off the engagement today and humiliated Ms. Morton. You won't even apologize, and now you're making up lies to trick her? That's pathetic."

"Ms. Morton, if you don't teach him a lesson this time, people will walk all over you."

Yolanda's expression shifted. She looked down at me with undisguised disgust.

"Clement, I didn't realize you were this manipulative. You can kneel out there tonight and let the rain wash some sense into that head of yours."

"Tomorrow morning, I want to hear you go on a livestream and beg me to take you back."

"And remember—without me, you're nothing. A man I've used up and thrown away isn't worth a dime."

She shut the window without hesitation.

Behind the curtains, two silhouettes tangled together in shameless abandon.

My heart went cold, inch by inch.

The three bleached-blond thugs stalked toward me, grinning like wolves. One of them dragged his tongue across his lower lip.

"Pretty boy, your girl's busy with her new man. She can't even be bothered with you. Why keep embarrassing yourself? Come play with us instead."

"Don't worry, we don't pay for our fun. Damaged goods like you aren't worth the money anyway." He threw his head back and cackled.

They clamped a hand over my mouth and dragged me toward a dark corner.

I thrashed and fought. Then someone came running out, brandishing a bat.

It wasn't Yolanda.

It was a middle-aged couple who also lived in the community. They'd just gotten back from out of town and had been sitting in their car talking. They'd witnessed the whole thing.

The three thugs bolted the moment they realized they'd been spotted, too fast to catch.

I picked up my suitcase and politely declined the couple's offer to let me stay the night.

The husband insisted on giving me two shirts from his younger days, then drove me to a nearby hotel.

Yolanda really was ruthless. To force me to grovel, she'd confiscated every expensive accessory she'd ever given me.

Not that I cared. Things like that—I'd never been short on them.

I borrowed a charger from the front desk and planned to catch a flight home the next morning.

But on the way to the airport, the rideshare driver suddenly changed direction.

The man who'd gotten in halfway through the ride was staring at me like a predator sizing up its prey.

I reached for my phone to call the police. The driver let out a cold laugh.