Chapter 1

On our fifth anniversary, I sat alone at "La Lune," the restaurant where we had our first date. The single white rose I' d bought for Sophia Chen sat in a slim vase on the table, its petals still perfect. In my pocket, my fingers nervously brushed against the velvet box. It felt heavy, full of a future I had planned for us.

The clock on the wall ticked past eight, then eight-thirty. I had been waiting for an hour. I sent her a text.

"Hey, are you on your way? Getting worried."

No reply.

I tried calling. It went straight to voicemail. A cold feeling started to creep into my chest. This wasn't like her. She was ambitious and busy, but she never missed important dates.

I scrolled through my phone to pass the time and opened Instagram out of habit. That' s when I saw it. Her company' s marketing director had just posted a story. It was a video, loud and flashy, from the new tech expo downtown. The camera panned across a crowd of people wearing VR headsets, and then it zoomed in.

There was Sophia. She wasn't looking at her phone; she was laughing, her head tilted back as she handed a birthday cake to her new assistant, Leo Davis. The caption read: "Happy birthday to our genius intern Leo! Sophia Chen really knows how to throw a party! She rented out the whole expo hall for a private VR launch experience! #BestBossEver #TechGoals"

My world stopped. The restaurant, the rose, the ring-it all felt stupid. She wasn't stuck in traffic. She wasn't in a meeting that ran late. She had forgotten. She had forgotten our fifth anniversary to celebrate her assistant's birthday.

Anger, hot and sharp, burned through the cold shock. It wasn't just that she forgot. It was the scale of it. She rented an entire expo hall for him. For me, she couldn't even send a text.

I stood up, the chair scraping loudly against the floor. I walked out of the restaurant, leaving the rose on the table. Outside, the city air was cold. I walked to the nearest trash can and, without a second thought, took the velvet box out of my pocket. I opened it one last time, looking at the simple, elegant diamond I' d spent months saving for. Then I snapped it shut and dropped it into the bin. It landed with a soft, unsatisfying thud.

The feeling of loss was immense, but underneath it, something else was hardening: resolve. This wasn't a mistake. It was a choice. She had made hers. Now, I would make mine.

I pulled out my phone and scrolled to a number I hadn't called in six months. My father.

He answered on the first ring. "Ethan. I was surprised to see your name."

"Dad," I said, my voice steady, betraying none of the chaos inside me. "Is the offer still on the table?"

There was a pause on the other end. "The one concerning Olivia Hayes?"

"Yes," I said. "The arranged marriage. I accept."

My father was silent for a moment longer, then his voice came back, firm. "I'll make the call. Are you sure, son? This is a permanent decision."

"I'm sure," I said, my voice cold. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

I hung up before he could ask any more questions. I started walking, not caring where I was going. My mind replayed the last few months. It had all been there, right in front of me.

Sophia had been gushing about Leo for weeks. "He' s a genius, Ethan. He has this incredible vision for the future of VR."

I remembered seeing them together at the office I helped her build. She would lean in close to him, her eyes bright with an admiration she hadn't shown me in years. He was the son of a tech mogul, the rumor went. The heir to Titan Tech, our biggest competitor. I never believed it, but Sophia clearly did.

Her behavior had changed slowly at first. Fewer dinners at home. More late nights at the office. When I asked about it, she' d get defensive.

"We're in a critical growth phase, Ethan. You, of all people, should understand that."

I did understand. I' d quit my stable job to help her launch her startup. I' d poured my savings into it. But this felt different. This felt like I wasn't part of her growth anymore. I was an obstacle to it.

Tonight proved it. She chose the man she thought represented status and power over the man who had loved her for five years. The choice was clear. And so was mine.