You're My Fiancé Now

At my twenty-second birthday gala, I issued a challenge: the man who won "The Sanctuary," an architectural model of my own design, would become my fiancé.

My childhood sweetheart, Blake Cunningham, was certain he would be the one.

However, midway through the evening, the model was accidentally knocked over.

At its center, the silver World Tree, a symbol of dreams, shattered into a thousand pieces.

As the fragments scattered across the floor, a crucial branch landed right at the feet of a mysterious young man in sunglasses, Jonas Thorne. He bent down and picked it up.

Blake bellowed, "What do you think you're doing? Get your hands off that!"

I stepped in front of Jonas, shielding him.

I said, "You're my fiancé now."

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1

Blake Cunningham stared at me, his face a mask of disbelief. "What did you just say?"

Under the weight of everyone's stares, I repeated, word by word, with chilling clarity, "I said, I'm marrying Jonas."

Blake's perfectly groomed eyebrows crashed together. "Scarlett Atwood, have you lost your mind? You're going to marry... a blind man?"

Hailey Vance let out a delicate, mocking laugh. "Oh, Scarlett, stop being so dramatic. We all know you're just having a little spat with Blake, but risking your entire future over it? That's taking things too far."

I shot them a frigid glare.

Blake and I had grown up together. For the longest time, his world had revolved around me, until Hailey's arrival threw everything into chaos.

She didn't move in with my family until I was in middle school.

In my previous life, I'd had a massive fight with them when they jokingly urged me to accept Jonas. The two of them had stormed off in a huff.

I knew then that Hailey was just using Blake. She was never serious about him. I had warned him, but he abandoned the business partnership between our families for her. As a result, our company's funding dried up, and the business nearly collapsed.

I still remember the way he stood over me, his eyes dripping with contempt. "Scarlett Atwood, back when you tried to drive a wedge between me and Hailey, did you ever imagine you'd end up like this?"

My face was ashen, my laughter hollow and bitter. It was on that day I realized he was no longer the Blake who had once loved me, who had wanted nothing more than to be my husband.

After our family went bankrupt, my mother, Eleanor Atwood, died from overwhelming grief.

As for me? I was murdered in a staged car accident.

None of us had made it out alive.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at my twenty-second birthday gala. I looked at their smug, sneering faces and silently clenched my fists.

This time, I wouldn't beg anyone. All I had to do was wait for the perfect moment to watch Blake crumble under the weight of the truth.

I took Jonas's hand and led him toward the exit of the banquet hall.

Blake blocked our path, a smirk playing on his lips. "I get it. You're just trying to make me jealous, right? Provoking me with him?"

He gestured toward the wreckage on the table. "Alright, game over. I'll give you a chance to save face. Drink the champagne Hailey poured for you, and I'll pretend I didn't hear that nonsense you just spouted."

His finger pointed to the bottle on the table—Hailey's supposed birthday gift.

In our circle, everyone knew I was severely allergic to alcohol and never drank. And he wanted me to drink it? The whole bottle?

"You're insane." I shoved him away.

His smirk instantly froze.

I tightened my grip on the hand of the man in sunglasses and continued toward the door.

Blake's furious voice echoed behind me. "Scarlett! Go on, then! Marry that blind man if you've got the nerve!"

I didn't flinch. I didn't look back. I just walked out of the banquet hall with Jonas.