Chapter 1

Sienna signaled her bodyguards to pull Lance away and gripped my icy hand.

“Let’s continue.”

“Time to put on the ring.”

She handed me the velvet ring box. Her gaze was calm and unreadable.

Lance, dragged across the floor, was still screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Sienna! I won’t allow you to marry him with our child inside you!”

“You said you felt nothing but gratitude for Zach Quiroz! Why are you insisting on marrying him?!”

Nothing but gratitude.

Those words felt like a rusted saw, cutting back and forth across my heart.

I looked at Sienna and said with a trembling voice, “Don’t you have anything to explain?”

She avoided my gaze, her eyes scanning the whispering friends and family gathered below.

“Let’s finish the proposal first. People are watching.”

She knew perfectly well how many eyes were on us.

I was being humiliated in front of everyone. My reputation was torn to shreds, a crown of shame placed upon me, and she wouldn't even give me a single explanation.

Lance suddenly broke free from the bodyguards, pulling a fruit knife from his pocket and pressing it against his neck.

“Sienna, you can’t say yes! I’ll die right here if you do!”

For the first time, I saw a flicker of emotion in Sienna’s eyes, but her lips stayed steady,

“Die if you must. Just get out of my way.”

I watched the undercurrent of tension between them.

For the first time, I felt like the intruder, a ridiculous, unnecessary clown.

Sienna turned to me and urged, “Zach, hurry up.”

Lance, now completely enraged, lunged at me with the knife, and screamed, “This is all your fault! Sienna belongs to me!”

I instinctively raised my hand to block.

The blade sliced through my palm. Warm blood gushed out instantly, staining my white suit crimson.

Lance froze for a moment, stunned by what he had done, and his legs gave way. He tumbled down a few steps.

“Lance!”

Sienna rushed forward, then spun back to glance at me. There was a delayed flash of worry and panic in her eyes.

I looked down at the knife lodged in my palm.

I smiled.

Slowly, I pulled it out, letting the blood spurt freely.

Clutching the handle tightly, I stepped toward the fallen Lance.

"If he’s so desperate to go to hell, let me help him."

Amid the screams of the guests, I raised the knife and aimed for his chest.

Sienna lunged forward, planting herself firmly in front of him.

My hand came to a stop, barely an inch from her heart.

A sharp slap landed across my face.

She glared at me, fury written all over her face. “Zach, are you out of your mind?! Drop the knife!”

She called for assistants and bodyguards, carefully scooped up the fainted Lance, and rushed toward the hospital.

All the while, she never spared me a glance.

She had completely ignored the fact that I was the one bleeding most.

I remained where I stood as crimson blood dripped onto the luxurious carpet beneath me.