Chapter 1

I stopped mid-step and slowly turned around.

Several familiar faces came into view.

They were my former college classmates.

And at the center of them stood the woman they were all crowding around.

She wore a tailored suit, elegant and severe, her features cool and composed. There was a chill to her now, the kind that settles on people who have spent years at the top. Five years had passed, but I recognized her instantly.

Serena Hart.

The lobby went silent for a beat.

Then everyone started talking at once.

"Wait, is that really Adrian Cole? What's with the outfit?"

"That Rolls-Royce key in his hand has to be fake. No way he can afford one."

"Imagine pretending to be rich in front of your ex, then finding out the law firm belongs to her. That's brutal."

Laughter spread through the lobby.

I was used to it.

Back in college, they had always gathered around Serena and laughed at me the same way.

Almost everyone on campus knew I was in love with Serena Hart, the brilliant beauty from the law school.

I brought her breakfast every morning.

Waited outside her classes.

Stayed in the library with her until after midnight.

She never rejected me outright.

But she never encouraged me either.

Then one day, I showed up to her debate tournament with a fever of 102 degrees because I couldn't bear to miss it.

Afterward, she looked at me half-dead in the hallway and said in her usual calm voice:

"We can try."

That was how we started dating.

Serena stayed cold even after we became a couple.

But when another guy handed her a love letter, she would take my hand and say, "I'm taken."

Once, I told her she'd look beautiful in a short plaid skirt.

Without saying a word, she bought a closet full of them and wore a different one for me every day.

If another girl handed me water after basketball practice, Serena would throw it away and tell me I was only allowed to drink what she gave me.

Back then, I thought that meant she loved me.

Then, shortly before graduation, Jason Reed enrolled at our university.

He was the boy who had grown up next door to Serena.

Her family's precious little brother in everything but blood.

They were too close.

Whenever the three of us were together, I felt like the outsider.

I complained more than once.

Serena would only frown.

"Adrian, this is exhausting."

Even then, I didn't give up.

I kept telling myself that if I endured a little longer, things would eventually work out.

So I endured until the night before our wedding.

My mother was killed instantly by a Porsche driven by a drunk driver.

The person behind the wheel was Jason.

When I reached the police station, I found him clutching Serena's sleeve, eyes red.

"Serena, I didn't mean to...

"I only drank because I knew you were about to get married. I couldn't take it."

Serena stood beside him and spoke softly.

"Don't be afraid. I'm here."

In that instant, every drop of blood in my body went cold.

That same night, I canceled the wedding.

And ended my relationship with Serena.

She did not try to stop me.

After a long silence, she only said:

"Jason is like my brother. I can't abandon him."

When the case went to court, Serena personally defended him.

The Reed family had influence everywhere, and Serena used her eloquence to twist the case in his favor.

A drunk-driving death became a lesser traffic offense.

Jason received probation.

After sentencing, he threw his arms around Serena.

"Thank God you're here."

I sat across the room and watched the man who killed my mother cling to the woman I had once planned to marry.

My father and I refused to accept it.

We appealed.

But before we ever got a ruling, my father died after months of illness and relentless legal stress.

And because I had challenged the Reed family, I was blacklisted.

Then abducted.

Drugged against my will.

By the time I finally escaped the country, I had been reduced to something barely human.

The memory made my stomach turn.

I didn't want to stay another second.

I turned back to the receptionist, a young woman named Paige.

"Cancel my appointment. I'll use another firm."

Serena looked me over from head to toe.

The bespoke suit.

The luxury watch.

The car key.

Her expression was the same cool disdain I remembered.

"You don't have to do this."

Her tone was superior, almost bored.

"It looks pathetic."

I stared at her for two seconds.

Then I almost laughed.

The Adrian Cole who had spent years lowering himself for her had been pathetic.

I turned away without answering.

The people behind me burst into laughter.

"He obviously came here for Serena and now he won't admit it."

"Didn't he act all proud when he called off the wedding?"

"Now she's a partner at the firm and engaged to a rich guy. He probably regrets everything."

Their voices finally ignited my temper.

They could call the car key fake. I didn't care.

But I could not tolerate them thinking I still had feelings for Serena.

Not after everything.

Not when I had someone else now.

If my wife hadn't been trapped in the middle of a major acquisition today, she would have come with me herself.

I turned around.

My eyes swept over every one of them.

"Say one more word and I'll shut your mouths for you."

Serena glanced at me and actually smiled.

"Adrian, you're twenty-eight, not eighteen.

"You followed me to my workplace, but you're too embarrassed to admit it. What's the point?"

The anger reached my throat.

I stopped pretending to be calm.

I looked directly into her eyes.

"My wife is about to transfer every asset in her name to me.

"I came to this firm for legal advice about that transfer.

"As for chasing you, Serena, you're an ex I'm embarrassed I ever had.

"Giving yourself this much credit isn't a good look."

The lobby erupted.