CHAPTER 1

LELLA

My toes curled into the sand as ​I stood twenty paces away, watching Conrad Volkonsky smiling at another woman. It pains me seeing him so happy with her and realizing he was never that happy with me.

My gaze shifted to the whole setup at the beach.

It was perfect.

The sun was painted in a pale tint of orange, illuminating the hundreds of red rose petals he had meticulously arranged into a heart on the shore. The kind of cinematic moment he always told me was ‘too cliché’ when I used to suggest it.

Then suddenly, ​my chest tightened when he dropped to one knee.

I once spent two years memorizing the lines of his face, waiting for this exact expression. The vulnerability, the hope, the absolute certainty, but he never looked at me that way. To him, I was always the "safe" choice, the placeholder, the woman who was convenient until the woman he actually wanted walked into the room.

​Conrad held out the ring and mouthed something.

My hands curled into fists because I knew the words.

‘Will you marry me?’

Those four words were slapped in my face. How I wished every night that he would say it, but unfortunately, not to me.

The woman suddenly gazed in my direction, meeting my eyes and finally saw the smirk that never reached her lips but danced mockingly in her eyes.

It was a victory look.

She knew she had won the prize I had spent a lifetime auditioning for.

​I felt the sting behind my eyes, the sudden urge to let the waves carry me out to sea, but I remained calm. I have to. I had learned the hard way that you cannot force a man to choose you, and I would not give her the satisfaction of seeing me shatter.

​"Yes!" she exclaimed excitedly.

​As he swept her into his arms, spinning her around the center of that floral heart, I felt a heavy weight on my own ring finger. I looked down at the emerald-cut diamond around my finger.

​It was a mark of ownership.

Conrad didn't choose me, but his uncle did.

A man with twice his power had seen me standing in the shadows of his nephew’s neglect and decided I was exactly what he wanted.

Yes. I am getting married to my ex’s uncle, Viktor Volkonsky.

******

(Two Months Earlier)

I slammed the cab door shut as soon as I arrived at the Conrads’ mansion on the Upper East Side in Manhattan. This was exclusively owned by the Vokonsky family, a Russian tycoon who was well known all over the world.

I excitedly ran to the gate while carrying the paper bag with a velvet box. I bought his favorite expensive watch, a gift for our second anniversary and his birthday today. I have saved enough for two years of overtime, skipped vacations, and disciplined saving.

I had it all pictured. The look of pure shock on his face, the way he’d lift me off the ground, that deep Russian accent whispering how much he loved me.

My smile widened as my heart fluttered while thinking about it.

​The gate creaked softly as I slipped inside. The guard let me in, and as soon as I entered, I heard the bass sound and the bright, echoing splashes of water near the gate. He was at the pool with the guys.

Perfect. I’d sneak up, drop the gift in his lap, and steal the show.

​I crept along the side of the stone path until I reached the tall hedges surrounding the pool deck. I paused with a giddy smile, stretching my face, waiting for the right moment to jump out.

​"Seriously, Conrad?" I heard one of his friends laugh, followed by the clink of glass. "Two years? You’re a dedicated actor, man."

​"It’s a role, like any other."

Conrad’s laugh made my soul turn cold. My heart skipped a beat, but not in a good way.

"Are you really going to throw away that ‘pretty boring girlfriend' of yours?”

Conrad groaned. “Add the stupid, bro. She's a stupid, boring, pretty girl who fell for nothing.”

​The smile died on my face as my hand clenched the paper bag.

​"So, what's the plan?" another guy asked. "Polina is coming back after three years in Italy. Are you going to end things with that pretty stupid, or put a ring on her today?"

​Tears welled up in my eyes when I heard Conrad let out a mocking bark of laughter.

"On Lella? No. I told you that the diamond ring I bought yesterday was for Polina. I knew she was coming back and I’ll propose to her next month on her birthday."

“What about Lella? A mistress?”

My trembling hands clenched into fists.

“Nah, I'll dump her when I get tired of her. She's stupid enough not to know she was played on. I actually liked her kneeling in front of me, crying and begging. It's good to see her so f*cking weak. What a commoner.”

Oh God!

“But seriously? Why did you date a poor girl like her, Conrad?"

Conrad scoffed. “Saving her from that drunk man made me lucky. She should be glad that she's f*cking pretty and hot. She's useless if she's not. Offering her a job was the only way to control her by her neck and made her pretty face and dumb ass useful. So it's just fair to own her after all the good things I did for her.”

I bit my lower lip when they laughed. Tears start to fall on my face as the rain starts pouring down from the gloomy sky.

“Then, let me have her next. I bet she's good in bed–”

I did not finish his friend's awful words and ran back to the gate with my legs trembling in fury. The guard was about to give me an umbrella, but I shoved him. I stumbled on the pavement as my chest tightened.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't digest those words in my head and heart. I felt like I was watching a movie of my own life, trapped behind a screen I couldn't break. The man I had spent 730 days building a future with didn't exist. He was a cruel imitation of the person I loved.

I thought Conrad was the one. I thought he was genuine. I thought he really love me. I even turned my back against my family, letting go of my dream and my freedom because I thought he really love me. I even accepted the slap of my father for choosing him over the man I was supposed to marry years ago.

I'm really stupid. I'm so stupid for not noticing it before. I'm so stupid not to notice he only wants me in his bed and nothing more.

My world tilted as I fell on the concrete ground and looked down at the box in my hand. The expensive ribbon was getting ruined by the rain. The downpour began to drench my hair and soak through my dress while a silent sob escaped from my mouth.

He doesn't love me.

The thought didn't just hurt me. It erased me. I feel the world fell apart. And there's only one person who can be there for me.

I pulled out my phone, which was already wet inside my bag but still working, and dialed Joaquin. It only rang once before I heard his voice on the other end.

“Q-Quin…” I sobbed, and this time, it became louder than the downpour.

There was a long pause before I heard him sigh. “It took you two years to figure it out,” he said softly.

“I'm so sorry. I was so stupid to believe it was real.”

“Just come back to us,” he pleaded.

I want to. I really want to return to Spain this time. But I still need things to be done before I leave.

“I will... But not now.”

“Don’t be stubborn. Dad promised he won't reprimand you for running away from home and choosing that bastard over us and he won't arrange your marriage with this Russian friend's son again.”

Hearing the word ‘Russian’ made my blood boil in rage.

“I'll be home soon.”

I ended the call and hugged myself, burying my face in my arm. However, I slowly lifted my face as I realized it's no use crying here just because of that asshole. My tears don't deserve him. He’s nothing but dirt in my life from now on.

I slowly got up and walked to the garbage can to throw the gift, but I stopped when my phone rang. I coldly stared at his name on the screen and let it ring for a few seconds before it ended and received a text from him afterwards.

‘Babe, where are you? I told you not to be late.’ —Conrad.