Chapter 1

I stood outside the ballroom, staring through the crack in the door at the starry-night theme inside.

A huge crystal-covered ceiling hung above a sea of flowers in shades of blue and purple. Even the decorations on the welcome table were based on my own drawings.

I had spent three straight nights working on that concept.

When I showed it to Clark Zimmer, he looked at it with open disgust. "Yvonne, this is way too tacky. A lot of our business partners will be there, and it'll make our company look bad. Redo it."

So that wasn't the real problem.

He simply didn't want to use it for me.

A young woman's sweet voice from inside the ballroom brought me back to the present. "Clark, what if Yvonne refuses to transfer the project to you? After all, she did spend two years building it."

Clark got to his feet and fixed Anya Quinn's veil. His voice was full of contempt.

"Don't worry. She's desperate to marry me. She spent six months preparing this engagement party.

"She loves me so much, and her dying grandmother is waiting to see her get married. With that hanging over her, she won't dare walk away."

Those words cut straight through me.

Clark and I had been together for seven years.

During that time, I had shared his life. We had lived on cheap takeout and squeezed into a run-down apartment with leaking pipes. I had stayed up late beside him, helping him write code and revise his work.

I had brought up marriage before, but every time, he had given me the same excuse.

"Yvonne, I want to build my career first. Once I can give you the life you deserve, we'll get married."

Then six months ago, my grandmother, Martha Abbott, was diagnosed with a serious illness. She and I had always depended on each other.

She didn't ask for much. All she wanted was to see me in a wedding dress before she died.

I put my pride aside for Grandma and proposed to Clark myself.

I thought every sacrifice I made was for the sake of our love.

I never imagined that everything I had done out of love and loyalty would become the very weaknesses he used to control me.

That was the last time I would ever give in.

That evening, I sat in my car and watched Clark leave the hotel with his arm around Anya. Something compelled me to start the car and follow them.

The farther we went, the more familiar the road looked.

It was the road back to our rented apartment.

Then his car stopped at Bellmont Heights, the upscale residential complex across from our rental.

I couldn't breathe.

Clark had talked about that complex many times. "Yvonne, once we get through this rough patch, I'll buy us a place here. It'll be our home after we get married. I'll never make you struggle with me again."

Because of that promise, I spent the next few years covering our rent and utility bills while he kept claiming his company was short on cash. I even took on as many side jobs as I could just to make ends meet.

Every dollar I earned went into our joint account. I did it so we could save enough for the down payment on a place there as soon as possible.

I stared up at the warm yellow light glowing from the third floor of Bellmont Heights.

Two figures stood behind the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, their silhouettes wrapped in an embrace.

The summer breeze brushed against me, but I felt colder than ever.

So Clark already had a home.

I just had never been the woman he built it with.