Fate Buried in Snow

The moment Felix Callier's fake comment feed vanished, the real comment feed began drifting across my vision.

Every single one of them was tearing me apart.

[Why is the real heiress eavesdropping? Disgusting. Everyone knows Felix and Tiffany are the real childhood sweethearts.]

[If she hadn't shown up out of nowhere three years ago and used some old betrothal agreement to force herself on Felix, he and Tiffany would already be married.]

[Exactly. A hick from the middle of nowhere who can't hold a candle to Tiffany, and she still dreams of stealing him away? Keep dreaming.]

[Why won't the real heiress just drop dead already? One look at that sour face and I lose my appetite.]

Each word cut straight into my chest.

So this was how everyone saw me: the villain who deserved nothing but contempt.

Three years ago, I was found and brought back into the Kamp family.

I thought I'd finally found a family of my own. But my parents thought I was crude and ill-mannered, so they poured every ounce of favoritism into Tiffany, the daughter who'd been raised in my place.

Felix was the only person who ever showed me any real affection.

Years earlier, Grandpa Garrett had insisted on honoring the old childhood betrothal.

My mother didn't dare accept the marriage because she was terrified of doing wrong by Tiffany.

Not wanting to embarrass everyone, I went to Felix myself to call off the engagement.

But that day, Felix gently wiped away the tears at the corner of my eyes.

He looked into my eyes, his voice gentler than I'd ever heard it. "There's no need to call it off, Roxy. I'm willing to marry you."

That moment, I thought I'd caught hold of the only light in my life. I thought he'd finally seen how sincere my feelings were.

To be worthy of him, I studied etiquette until it hurt, fought my way into a top medical school, and worked myself to the bone in the operating room, all so I could stand beside him as an equal.

But it turned out he'd never loved me at all. Whatever kindness he'd shown me was probably just a game to provoke Tiffany.

Just like today. To vent Tiffany's frustration, he'd used his company's newly developed AR visual technology, all so he could watch me run to him like a fool, drowning in guilt, begging for his forgiveness.

I looked down at the engagement ring on my finger, a size that had never once fit right.

Felix had bought it on a whim. It was too big, so for three years I'd carefully wrapped it in red thread just to keep it from sliding off.

Looking at it now, the whole thing felt like a joke.

I took the ring off without a flicker of hesitation and dropped it straight into the trash can. Then I turned and walked away, and I didn't look back.

Back at the hospital, I'd barely stepped into the department when one of the nurses, Haley Mills, came rushing toward me.

"Dr. Kamp! Another patient just came into the ER; it's critical. The director's asking if you can do one more surgery."

I took a deep breath and swallowed down the sharp pain twisting in my chest.

"Okay. I'll be right there."

I turned to head to the locker room to change into my sterile surgical gown.

But the moment I pushed open the door, the exhaustion of back-to-back surgeries and the emotional blow I'd just taken on the rooftop caught up with me all at once.

Everything went black, and the world spun out from under me.

"Dr. Kamp! Dr. Kamp, what's wrong?!"

Somewhere in Haley's screaming, I collapsed straight to the floor and lost consciousness completely.