Betrayed Before the Vows

“I will marry you. I don’t want to marry Camelia. All this time I have only taken advantage of her intelligence.”Camelia’s body froze.The hand holding her phone slowly dropped to her side. Her heart pounded so hard it hurt in her chest. She stood rooted in place, unable to immediately believe what she had just heard.Inside the room, the voice was heard again—more relaxed, lighter, without any burden.“Really, William? Are you sure Camelia won’t be angry if you marry me?” Serena’s voice sounded spoiled, filled with light and confident teasing.Camelia pushed the door open a little more.The sight inside the room was like a knife stabbed mercilessly into her heart. On the bed decorated with white sheets and rose petals, William lay there without guilt, while Serena—her own best friend—was so close to him, smiling with a victorious gaze.William smirked. “She’s just a woman whose intelligence I use to manage my company. If she weren’t smart, I would never have made her my girlfriend.”

William returned from the office with an uneasy feeling that had been lingering since the afternoon. Throughout the meeting, his mind had never truly focused. The numbers on the presentation screen seemed blurred, the client’s voice sounded distant, and for some reason, the image of Camelia’s face that morning kept appearing in his thoughts.He tried to convince himself that it was only temporary. Maybe Camelia was really not feeling well. Maybe she was just too tired.But as the night drew closer, the restlessness inside him grew stronger.His car stopped in the apartment parking lot. William stepped out quickly, his suit jacket hanging neatly over his shoulder, but his mind was in chaos. He entered the elevator and stared at his reflection in the mirror. He looked uneasy.The elevator doors opened.He walked toward his unit and entered the door code quickly.Click.The door opened.William stepped inside—and immediately froze.The room felt… empty.Not just quiet.But empty.There w

“Sir, the company is experiencing a production failure!”The panic in William’s assistant’s voice rang clearly through the phone, causing William—who had just reached for the doorknob—to freeze instantly.“What do you mean production failure?” William’s voice tightened. “Wasn’t everything fine?”On the other end, the sound of hurriedly shuffled papers and restless footsteps could be heard.“Previously, Madam was the one who always inspected the factory directly, Sir,” the assistant explained nervously. “Yesterday there was a technical error. The main machine didn’t start due to a calibration mistake. Production came to a complete stop, and today’s target was not achieved.”William fell silent.His face hardened.“Why didn’t anyone double-check it?” he demanded sharply.“They did, Sir. But Madam usually performed the final inspection before full production began. No one replaced her role yesterday.”The sentence felt like a hard slap.Just one day.Only one day after Camelia left, and

The morning sun streaming through the penthouse windows usually brought warmth, but for William, that light now felt like the harsh glare of an interrogation lamp. He woke up with a pounding headache. Years of habit took over his subconscious; he reached for the side of the bed, expecting to find the glass of water and the vitamin tablet Camelia always prepared whenever he came home stressed or exhausted.Instead, his hand only brushed against cold, disheveled sheets.Beside him, Serena was still fast asleep. Her blonde hair was scattered across the pillow, and her makeup, which she hadn't removed the night before, left dark smudges under her eyes. No water. No vitamins. No aroma of steaming coffee wafting from the kitchen.William let out a long sigh, trying to stave off the emptiness beginning to gnaw at his chest. He got up and walked to the kitchen. The sight there made him even more nauseous. The sink was piled high with dirty glasses from the wine bottles they had emptied last n

The azure sky over the Balinese coast that morning was far brighter than the tinted glass of the skyscrapers in the capital. Camelia took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of sea salt and jasmine mingling with the warm tropical air. In her hand, a tablet displayed the stock chart for Thorne Industries, which continued its sharp, agonizing dive.She didn’t smile. She didn’t feel sad either. Those emotions had died in that hotel corridor. What remained now was a cold, calculated clarity.Camelia sipped her black coffee, unsweetened. She sat on the terrace of a private villa she had purchased years ago under the name of her most loyal personal assistant—a middle-aged woman named Maya, whom she regarded more as a mother figure than an employee. For the past five years, Camelia hadn't just been working for William; she had been quietly weaving her own safety net. She was no naive woman who would surrender her entire life into one basket, no matter how sincere her love had once been."Madam