The night before our wedding, Ferdinand Gilbert—the man I'd loved for six years—slid a document across the table toward me.

"Mabel's carrying my child. She'll be moving into this house. You'll relocate to the other villa."

I held my tears back by sheer force of will.

"When did this happen?"

"The night of your birthday party. I'd had too much to drink and stepped out for some air. Found Mabel outside. Someone had slipped something into her drink."

"Her eyes were glazed, half-lidded. She threw herself at me like a little wildcat. I couldn't resist."

Ferdinand's tone was flat. Casual.

"The moment I laid eyes on her, I understood what it meant to find your soulmate."

"Marrying you was always about our families pushing for it. You're presentable enough. I figured we could make it work."

He lifted his gaze to meet mine. There wasn't a shred of guilt in his eyes.

"Of course, if you still want to go through with the wedding, the title of Mrs. Gilbert is yours. She won't fight you for it."

"If you don't, I'll give you both villas and the commercial property downtown. Consider it my apology."

……

He laid it all out like a business negotiation. Calm. Measured. As if he were closing a deal.

I couldn't breathe, let alone speak.

Mabel James was an intern at my company.

She'd insisted on attending my birthday gala, all wide-eyed sincerity, saying she wanted to learn from the experience.

Instead, she'd thrown herself at one of my business partners.

He'd been furious. On his way out, scrubbing lipstick off his collar, he'd pulled me aside.

"That little intern of yours isn't exactly trustworthy. Might want to be more careful about who you hire."

Mabel had overheard.

She'd turned around and dropped to her knees in front of me, sobbing.

"It was that Mr. Zhang. He tried to force himself on me. When I refused, he made up lies to cover his tracks."

She wailed loud enough to draw a crowd of onlookers.

I'd had a splitting headache. I told her to go home.

She'd run off crying.

Straight into a private room next door, where a group of men dragged her inside and drugged her.

That was when Ferdinand found her.

He watched me now, eyes rimmed red, saying nothing.

His patience thinned. He leaned forward, voice low and clipped.

"Have you decided?"

"Are we doing this or not? If you can accept the arrangement, pack your things tonight and move out."

His voice held all the warmth of a memo.

Six years together. A union between two of the most prominent families in the city. A perfect match on paper.

Everyone assumed Ferdinand and I were meant to be.

Our families' businesses were a powerhouse alliance.

I'd believed that walking down the aisle with him was inevitable. A foregone conclusion.

I never imagined anything could derail it.

"Georgette Pruitt?"

Ferdinand frowned and stepped toward me, reaching out to wipe my tears.

I pulled away. Cold. Deliberate.

"Ferdinand, I only want to ask you one thing."

I stared at him. My eyes burned, webbed with red.

"In six years together, did you ever actually love me?"

"I did."

No hesitation.

He settled back onto the sofa, crossing his long legs with practiced ease.

"Before I met Mabel, you were the only one I loved."

"But after I met her, I realized something. No one goes through life loving just one person."

His thumb traced the lock screen of his phone, the gesture impossibly gentle.

On it was a photo of Mabel James. Playful. Adorable. A professional headshot with a coy tilt of her chin.

Ferdinand's face, always so cold, always so guarded, softened into something I had never once seen directed at me.

"I love you. But I love her more."

"And now that she's pregnant..."

"Enough!"

Something inside me snapped. I lunged sideways and shoved the vase off the table.

It shattered against the floor. Hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of antique porcelain, reduced to fragments. Ferdinand's expression darkened, a muscle twitching in his jaw as he looked up at me.

In the end, he exhaled a single, weary sigh.

"Go ahead and smash whatever you want. If it makes you feel better."

"When you're done, sign the agreement."

Ferdinand turned to leave.

I grabbed the nearest thing I could reach and hurled it at him. The ashtray shattered on the floor right in front of his feet.

"Ferdinand! What did you promise me?"

Normally, I prided myself on being unshakable. The sky could fall and my expression wouldn't change.

But now, over a man, I'd completely lost control.

My eyes were red-rimmed, my voice raw as I demanded answers.

"You swore to me. You swore that after that night, you were done with Mabel."

"Then why is she pregnant?"

"Why are you trying to force me to sign this agreement for a woman who should mean nothing to you?"

Ferdinand's brow furrowed.

"Georgette, are you done throwing your tantrum?"

"I told you, I was going to cut things off with her for good. But then the accident happened."

"She's pregnant."

That was all he said.

That night, they hadn't used any protection.

But he didn't know.

That night, I'd been searching everywhere for him. I'd called him all night long.

There had been reports of a man in a car accident on Silverbridge Avenue. The description of the victim—his clothes, his car, every detail—matched Ferdinand.

I'd been out of my mind with panic. I drove straight to the scene, only to be blocked by the barricade and unable to get through.

I called Ferdinand one hundred and nine times. Every single one went unanswered.

His phone sat on a couch somewhere, ringing over and over.

While the two of them burned through the night together.

It wasn't until dawn, when I was sitting outside the police station with dark circles carved under my eyes, that I finally received Ferdinand's reply. Casual. Offhand.

"Fell asleep last night. Sorry."

And at almost the same moment his text came through, so did a video from Mabel James, the intern.

"So sorry, Ms. Pruitt."

"Someone slipped something into my drink last night, and I slept till noon. My back's still killing me..."

"My boyfriend told me to take the day off."

And there, in the background of her video, clear as day, was Ferdinand's face.

That was the moment it hit me. Like lightning splitting me open from the inside.

I went straight to the office and slapped Mabel across the face. Twice.

"'Wanting to meet more people and learn new things'? Seducing my fiancé was the real reason you wanted to attend that gala, wasn't it?"

Mabel staggered from the blows, clutching her cheek, tears streaming down in a portrait of wounded innocence.

"Ms. Pruitt, how can you accuse me like this?"

"Someone drugged me that night. I was a victim too... Mr. Gilbert just saw how much I was suffering and happened to help me, that's all."

"Ms. Pruitt, you're a woman too. Don't you have any empathy at all?"

She sobbed and wailed that she couldn't bear to stay at the company anymore. That to defend her innocence and dignity, she'd rather throw herself off the building.

And Ferdinand walked in on the scene at exactly that moment.

His expression went cold. He pulled Mabel behind him, shielding her, then turned on me with a voice like a blade.

"Georgette, what have you become?"

"You're the CEO of this company. You're bullying a young intern in front of the entire staff. Can you live with yourself?"

"I told you—that night, I was the one who chose to help Mabel."

Three simple sentences.

They confirmed every rumor that had been swirling.

And they turned me into the laughingstock of the entire company.

In that moment, I was utterly shattered. And yet I laughed.

"Ferdinand Gilbert. You really are something."

That same day, in a fury, I canceled every partnership between the Pruitt family and the Gilberts.

When I got home, my father was already waiting. He tore into me the second I walked through the door.

"Georgette Pruitt, look at what you've done!"

"You're not a child anymore. How could you let your emotions cloud your judgment like this?"

"I used to brag about you, said you were more and more like me in my younger days, that one day you'd make a worthy heir to the Pruitt name. Then you pull a stunt like this? Do you have any idea how that makes me look?"

My father had me sent to the family chapel to kneel in penance. Family disciplinary rites.

The outcome was exactly what you'd expect.

The partnership between the Pruitt family and the Gilberts was restored.

My anger meant nothing. Less than nothing.

And now Ferdinand was certain that marrying him was still my best option.

That was why he was so confident I'd cave.

He watched me for a long time, his gaze flat and unhurried. Then a faint sigh slipped from his lips.

"Georgette, don't be difficult. Think it over, then sign the agreement."

"Can't we just go back to the way things were?"

His phone rang. He froze for a second, then answered without hesitation.

"Mabel, don't be scared. I'll come stay with you tonight..."

His footsteps carried him away, light and eager.

The sound faded until there was nothing left.

I lifted my eyes slowly and caught my own reflection in the glass across the room. Gaunt. Hollow. A bitter laugh escaped me.

Mabel James. A mere intern.

She'd turned a perfectly good birthday dinner into a disaster.

And now my marriage. My entire life.

She'd sent it all spiraling out of control.

After Ferdinand left, he didn't come back. Not for an entire week.

I heard that within three days, he'd spent thirty million dollars buying Mabel a brand-new mansion, keeping her tucked away in luxury like a hidden treasure.

"Ms. Pruitt, Mr. Gilbert actually came to our office and warned us directly. He said you'd better not fire Mabel James, or he'd personally intervene. Should we still go ahead with the termination we discussed yesterday?"

My assistant looked at me, uneasy.

I closed my eyes. "Leave me."

The document in my hand crumpled into a useless ball. I tossed it into the trash.

I just couldn't accept that six years of love had been wasted. That someone had stolen what was mine right out from under me.

I'd been exceptional my whole life. In every arena, I'd never lost to anyone.

So how had I lost to some nobody intern?

If I called off the engagement, it would inevitably deal a serious blow to both families' business interests.

I wasn't ready to give up that easily.

The agreement Ferdinand had sent over remained unsigned.

I sent him a message. Let's find a time to sit down and talk.

He replied quickly.

I happen to have business at your office around noon today. We can meet there.

As noon approached, I was waiting for Ferdinand when a commotion erupted outside my office.

"What's going on?"

My assistant rushed in, flustered.

"It's that intern, Mabel James. She's claiming she got food poisoning from seafood, and she's demanding that you take responsibility, Ms. Pruitt."

"But the company lunch we ordered didn't even have seafood..."

I frowned and started toward the door, but Ferdinand was already pushing his way in.

He saw Mabel slumped against a coworker's shoulder, sobbing.

"It was Ms. Pruitt. She knew I was allergic to seafood and she still forced me to eat that company lunch..."

Ferdinand's expression darkened until it looked like a storm about to break.

"Georgette, what the hell is going on?"

I looked at the lunch container on the table. I'd never seen it before. My brow furrowed.

"This has nothing to do with me."

Before I could finish, Mabel threw herself into Ferdinand's arms, crying.

"Ms. Pruitt must have found out about that night between us. She's trying to destroy me! I feel so sick, I can barely breathe..."