Chapter 1

For a moment, my boyfriend, Lucian Farrell, froze in place. Then, he immediately snapped at Evelyn Wiley, "Look at what you've done! Don't bother coming to the company tomorrow if you can't get the ring off."

Tears immediately brimmed in her eyes. But instead of begging Lucian for forgiveness, she turned toward me, Roxanne Schmidt, and began bowing repeatedly in apology. The exaggerated motion immediately drew glances from passersby within the city hall.

"It's all my fault, Ms. Schmidt. Please don't fire me. I really can't lose this job," Evelyn pleaded.

The moment her words fell, she suddenly wrenched at her ring finger. The contorted angle looked painful enough to make anyone watching wince.

A frown crossed Lucian's face as he immediately stepped forward to grab her wrist. "Are you out of your mind? Roxanne only said that in a fit of anger. Why are you taking it so seriously?"

He took out his car keys and dragged Evelyn outside by the arm. "Get in the car. We're going to the hospital right now. No matter what, the ring has to come off today." His tone left no room for argument.

Lucian didn't even spare me a glance throughout the entire exchange.

The looks passersby gave me in the city hall were filled with sympathy. However, I was unexpectedly calm.

After all, the same scene had already played out countless times in the past. I had already gotten used to it.

Everything changed at that one gathering a year ago. Back then, I was just about to announce our engagement when one of the waitresses accidentally knocked over a bottle of champagne.

The waitress, Evelyn, staggered over toward Lucian's direction. Her eyes gleamed with joy at their reunion.

"It's been a while, Lucian. Are you getting engaged?" she asked. The familiarity in her tone made it clear that she was no stranger.

By then, Lucian and I had been together for five years. I knew his social circle like the back of my hand, yet I'd never seen her before.

That was the first time I'd seen him, ever the gentleman, lose his temper in front of me.

"Did you know that the bottle of champagne you just broke cost five figures?" he snapped.

Evelyn's face instantly drained of color. Taken aback, she stood rooted to the spot and took Lucian's anger like a child who knew she was in the wrong.

Out of courtesy, I didn't make an issue of it. I simply asked for a new bottle to be brought over instead.

Later on, Lucian explained the situation to me. He insisted that Evelyn was nothing more than his childhood neighbor. She'd always clung to him since they were young, but they'd completely lost contact after moving away.

A trace of weary resignation crept into his voice at the mention of Evelyn. It almost felt as if her appearance had brought back some nightmares that had long been buried.

But the very next day, I came across Evelyn in the middle of the onboarding process at Stellaria Group.

When I confronted Lucian about it, he rubbed his temples irritably before replying, "I don't have a choice, Roxanne. Evelyn's parents died in a car accident, so she didn't manage to finish university. Now, she can only work as a waitress.

"I owe her parents a favor, and I simply can't watch and do nothing. Surely you understand where I'm coming from, right?" he continued.

I couldn't understand it at all, but looking back at the five years I'd spent with Lucian, I decided to remain silent.

I thought that once we registered our marriage and I brought Lucian to meet Mom and Dad, everything would prove that I'd made the right choice.

But on the day we went to register our marriage, I never expected to find a can tab lying inside the ring box Lucian opened.

It didn't take a genius to figure out who was behind it.