Introduction

The crystal chandeliers sparkled, reflecting the perfect white dress I wore.

My hand was tucked into Mark's arm; this was our engagement party.

Then, his voice, smooth and charming just seconds before, twisted into a lie.

"Sarah is not well," he announced to the silenced room, my mentee Chloe by his side.

My world shattered.

He branded me "unstable," a "liar," destroying my reputation, my life, right there on the ballroom floor.

For five years, I struggled, the whispers haunting me.

Five years later, at a high-profile gala, they found me.

Mark Olsen, now a celebrated visionary, and Chloe, draped in diamonds.

They dragged me, still in my plain catering uniform, back to the public eye.

He called me a "deranged stalker," ridiculed my every claim, then put his foot down – on my hand – to silence me forever.

The agony was blinding, the humiliation absolute.

How could they be so cruel?

Was this truly my fate, to be forever labeled, discarded, and broken?

Then, just as the darkness swallowed me, a voice colder than ice cut through the stunned silence.

"Get your foot off my wife."