Chapter 3

I couldn't hold back. I swept everything on the desk onto the floor. Betrayal and humiliation flooded through me until I felt almost numb.

Chase and I had grown up together. We'd been best friends who told each other everything.

When we were sixteen, he'd watched Marielle chase after me with everything she had.

I was the top student. Marielle was the "problem kid."

When Chase found out Marielle and I were together, he was dead set against it and went after her every chance he got.

He made a bet with her: she had to make the honor roll before she'd be good enough to date me.

Marielle studied like her life depended on it. Two months later, she actually made it.

When she walked up to me holding her report card, I happily pulled her into my arms.

Marielle hugged me back and shot Chase a defiant look.

His face instantly turned ugly. He couldn't say a word.

Back then, I'd completely missed the disappointment and resentment in his eyes.

After college, Marielle decided to start her own company, but she didn't have enough capital.

She said she wanted to build her own career and be a strong, independent woman, not some man's accessory.

I wanted to make her dream come true. Without telling her, I took out a 500,000 dollars loan and had Chase invest it in her company under his own name.

Chase called me an idiot, but he gave Marielle the money in the end.

From then on, the way Marielle looked at Chase changed.

She always said Chase was her guardian angel. After that, whenever he argued with her, she didn't fight back the way she used to.

To pay off the loan as fast as possible, I volunteered for the overseas assignment in Port Calvane. The conditions there were brutal, but the pay was the best the company offered.

The day I left, I held on to Marielle at the airport so tightly that for a moment I didn't want to go.

But she firmly pried my fingers loose and pushed me toward the gate.

For five years abroad, I thought about Marielle every single day.

She always reassured me, "Weston, your career comes first. Don't throw away a great future for me."

We fought about it more than once.

I'd had a vague sense that she didn't want me to come back.

Sometimes I couldn't help wondering whether she'd found someone else and didn't want to see me.

Every time we fought, I went to Chase to vent.

He'd say, "Weston, don't be stupid. She's never even thought about marrying you!"

I'd thought he was on my side, sticking up for me.

I never realized he was clearing the last obstacle out of his way.

A notification suddenly popped up on my phone. My transfer request had been approved, and my supervisor wanted me to report for duty as soon as possible.

I replied, "Understood," and booked a flight to Wrenmouth.