Chapter 1

[Curious whether Kyle will choose you or me? If you really want the answer, come to the Dynasty Hotel.]

The message from Madeline burned in my hand. At first, anger surged through me, only to be smothered by shame.

I was nothing more than the canary Kyle kept hidden away in a suburban villa, while she was the Gill family’s officially acknowledged future daughter-in-law.

She taunted me because she already knew the answer.

As for me…

I knew it too. Still, I wanted to hear him say it with his own mouth.

That way, at least, we would have an ending.

I arrived at the Dynasty Hotel, only to be stopped at the door.

The door attendant said apologetically, “I am sorry, miss. Mr. Kyle has booked the hotel for the night. No one can enter without an invitation.”

My eyes swept past him, over the glittering gowns and sparkling lights inside, until they landed squarely on the pair at the heart of the dance floor, locked in a blazing, breathless embrace.

It was Kyle and Madeline.

My face stung as though someone had slapped me. I watched the crowd cheer as they struck their final pose, then kissed passionately under the spotlight. My stomach churned at the sight.

At that moment, whatever feelings I had left for Kyle were gone.

The man whispering so intimately with another woman under the crystal chandelier was, in this moment, a complete stranger to the boy who once stood in front of me at the orphanage, shielding me with everything he had.

More than twenty years together, and in the end, it was nothing but a cruel joke.

I turned around to leave. Before I could, someone called my name.

I turned back to see Madeline approaching with her circle of friends.

Wearing that same gentle, gracious mask, she looked at me and said, “Nadine, why not come in since you’re here?”

The door attendant grew flustered. “It’s not that I wouldn’t let this young lady in, it’s that… she doesn’t have an invitation.”

Madeline pretended to be surprised. “What? Kyle, really… He invited all our friends to witness the proposal, and you, of all people, are so close to him. How could you not make the guest list?”

She looked like a sweet little dove, like she knew nothing about my relationship with Kyle.

She did not say anything, but her lackeys certainly would not let me off.

One of them sneered, “Obviously, Mr. Kyle just didn’t want her to ruin the night.”

Another chimed in, “Exactly. Everyone knows she is nothing but an orphan paying back a favor, and still, she dares to dream of forcing her way into our circle, trying to become the esteemed young madam of the Gill family.”

“Thank heavens Mr. Kyle still has his wits. Otherwise, she might have gotten her wish.”

Laughter rippled through the crowd as Kyle appeared.

He wore a tailored suit, his hair perfectly combed, and his bearing noble and refined.

In just half a month, his aura had grown more imposing and more unfamiliar to me.

The crowd instinctively parted for him. Madeline slipped her arm through his.

There was a massive pink diamond sparkling on her ring finger. The ring was only half a heart, and the missing piece gleamed on Kyle’s finger.

The modest ring I had saved two months’ wages to buy was long gone, plucked from his finger.

As fate would have it, I had already removed mine too.

Kyle’s eyes locked on me, dark with irritation, as though my very presence spoiled his evening.

He said, “Nadine, you should not be here. You are becoming more and more… insensible.”

His words jolted a memory. The first year he brought me into Gill’s villa, it was Old Master Gill’s eightieth birthday. His mother had scowled the moment she saw me.

She snapped in front of all the guests, “Nadine, you don’t belong here.”

However, Kyle had pulled me into his arms and declared firmly, “She is my fiancée. If you refuse to accept her, then you refuse to accept me. Mother, is that what you want? To lose me a second time?”

Madam Gill’s face went pale.

From then on, no one in the city dared to look down on me.

Yet, in just three short years, Kyle himself shattered that dignity.

I thought I would feel rage and hatred. Instead, I felt nothing. My heart was as calm as the dead sea.

I offered him a polite smile, and from the depths of my heart, I said, “Congratulations. Happy engagement.”

Then, I turned and walked away, unaware of the sudden fury darkening his eyes as he watched from behind.