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.

"Mr. Delgado, today is Assistant Harding's birthday. Ms. Morton arranged a lawn party for him at the estate, and you—well, you're the special gift she's prepared."

"Ms. Morton says if you behave yourself and keep Assistant Harding happy, she'll consider throwing you that engagement banquet after all."

He jerked his chin toward the heavyset passenger beside me.

"Otherwise, we dump you right out that door. This is the highway. You probably won't even finish dialing before the cars behind us turn you into roadkill."

"So sit tight if you want to live. A pretty boy mooching off Ms. Morton's charity, and you actually thought you were the man of the house?"

Only then did I realize I'd been tricked.

I had no idea what Yolanda was playing at.

But no matter what, I wasn't about to gamble with my life. I put my phone away in silence.

The estate was decorated to perfection, even more lavish than the engagement banquet had been.

Yolanda had her arm looped through Nathan's, clinking glasses and exchanging pleasantries with the guests who'd come to celebrate.

Matching jade pendants hung around both their necks.

Anyone who didn't know better would have thought this was their wedding.

When she spotted me, Yolanda walked over, her gaze appraising.

"I hear you were trying to get to the airport. Where exactly were you planning to go?"

My voice was calm. "Home. Is that a problem?"

Something smug flickered in her eyes.

"So you've finally figured it out. Without me, you can't survive in Pearl City. Your only option is crawling back to whatever backwater you came from to till dirt."

"I'm not heartless, though. All you have to do is wear this and play Nathan's little pet for the day. Do that, and I'll let yesterday slide. We'll have the wedding next week."

It was a wooden sign, roughly the size of a laptop screen.

Five words were carved into it in bold, unmistakable letters.

Nathan Harding's Dog.

I stared at her in disbelief.

"You want me to be Nathan Harding's dog?!"

"In your dreams. He could drop dead and still wouldn't deserve it!"

Yolanda's expression went cold in an instant.

"Today is Nathan's birthday, and this is the one gift he wants more than anything. I promised him that whatever he asked for, I'd deliver."

"Besides, you nearly hurt him yesterday. You owe him."

She produced a small resin pendant and held it up like a threat.

"You care so much about sentimental value, don't you?"

"If you don't cooperate, I'll burn this. And then you won't even have a memory left."

The pendant itself was worthless. But sealed inside the resin were strands of my mother's hair.

She had died in an explosion. There was nothing left of her.

Those few strands were all I'd managed to gather, collecting them one by one from around the house.

Having them set in resin made it feel like she was still with me.

The moment I saw Yolanda raise the pendant toward the barbecue grill beside her, I clenched my jaw so hard my teeth ached.

Every word came out ground between them.

"I'll do it."

The crowd erupted in mocking laughter the second I put the sign around my neck. Phones shot up from every direction.

Yolanda smiled, satisfied.

"There we go. Now remember, whatever Nathan asks you to do, you do it. No fuss."

"Don't worry. Keep him happy, and once the party's over, I'll give the pendant back. And everything I promised you—I'll follow through."

I lifted my head, my face completely blank.

"Can I use the restroom?"

Yolanda didn't refuse, but she confiscated my phone.

She even posted two bodyguards at the door, terrified I might try to run.

What she didn't know was that I no longer wanted to leave.

Because leaving would be letting her off too easy.

I shut the stall door and pressed a button on my watch.