Chapter 1: The Day My World Fell Apart

Amelia’s Pov

If heartbreak had a sound, it would be the silence that filled the boardroom this morning.

I stood at the end of the glass table, palms sweating, waiting for my turn to present the Aurora Campaign; the project I had bled for. Months of sleepless nights, coffee-stained sketches, and color palettes still swimming behind my eyelids.

But when the big screen flickered to life, I forgot how to breathe.

Vanessa Hayes’s name appeared under my designs.

She clicked through each slide confidently, describing ideas that were mine word for word. My logo, My tagline, My story.

And sitting beside her, smiling as if betrayal were an art form, was Ethan Ward; my fiancé, my partner, my greatest mistake.

“Brilliant, Vanessa,” he said, his hand resting on hers. “Exactly what our client envisioned.”

Applause filled the room, echoing inside my chest like gunfire.

I waited for Ethan to meet my eyes, to wink, to explain, to show something. But all he offered was a cold, polite smile that made me feel invisible.

When the applause died, I spoke. My voice shook but didn’t break. “That’s my design.”

A hush fell and Heads turned. Ethan’s smile froze.

“I said,” I repeated, louder this time, “that’s my work. The Aurora Campaign. I created it. Those are my files, my…”

“Amelia,” Ethan cut in smoothly, his tone sharp enough to slice me open. “Let’s not cause a scene.”

A few chuckles rippled through the room.

He looked at me like I was a child throwing a tantrum. “You’ve been under stress lately,” he said softly, almost tenderly. “It’s easy to get confused.”

Confused?

My stomach twisted. “Don’t you dare. You know exactly what you did.”

Vanessa blinked innocently, lips curving into a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Amelia, maybe you sent me your draft by mistake? I found those files in the shared folder last month. I assumed you meant for us to collaborate.”

Collaborate.

I wanted to scream.

The clients exchanged uncomfortable looks. My boss cleared his throat. “Let’s settle this privately, Miss Quinn. You’re disrupting an important presentation.”

Important. Right. Because money mattered more than truth.

I turned back to Ethan, desperate for even a flicker of remorse. But his eyes had already hardened.

“Let’s talk outside,” he murmured.

I followed him into the hallway, the applause for Vanessa ringing in my ears.

He shut the door behind us, lowering his voice. “You’re making me look bad.”

“You stole from me!”

He sighed as though bored. “I gave your idea a better chance. Vanessa can sell it; you can’t. You’re good, Amelia, but you’ll never be her.”

Vanessa.The woman he had loved before me. The one who’d left him and returned like a storm that wiped me out in seconds.

“So that’s it?” I whispered. “All those promises; you were just waiting for her to come back?”

His expression softened briefly, then vanished. “Don’t make this harder than it already is. You were… a stand-in.”

The word hit harder than any slap.

A stand-in.

The elevator doors opened behind me, but I didn’t step in. I couldn’t move.

When I finally walked away, I didn’t look back.

They fired me by sunset.

Corporate email. One paragraph. “Unprofessional conduct and breach of confidentiality.”

By morning, social media was flooded with praise for Vanessa Hayes, “the creative genius behind the Aurora Campaign.”

And Ethan? He stood beside her in every photo, hand on her waist, smiling like he hadn’t just destroyed me.

I threw my phone across the room. It shattered against the wall, just like the life I’d built.

Days blurred together. Curtains closed. The phone went off and my coffee went cold.

The city outside kept moving, but I was stuck in that boardroom, hearing the applause again and again.

When the doorbell rang one afternoon, I almost didn’t answer.

It was my father.

He didn’t ask if I was okay. He just looked around my tiny apartment, disgust twisting his face. “You’ve become a disgrace, Amelia. Do you have any idea how your scandal affects our family name?”

I laughed bitterly. “My scandal? Dad, they…”

“Enough.” His voice cut through the air. “You’re going to fix this. You’re going to marry Alexander Sterling.”

I stared. “What?”

He didn’t blink. “The Sterling family is willing to invest in our company. Their condition is a marriage alliance. You’ll do it.”

I stepped back, shaking my head. “I just lost my career, my relationship, everything and you want to sell me like property?”

He slammed his glass on the table. “This is not up for debate. You’ll save what’s left of our reputation.”

My mother stood behind him, silent as always. “It’s a good match, darling. You’ll be secure.”

Secure, Like a well-kept prisoner.

“I don’t even know him,” I whispered.

“You don’t have to,” Father said. “You just have to marry him.”

Two weeks later, I was standing in front of a minister, wearing a gown that didn’t feel like mine.

The wedding was elegant, cold, and utterly hollow.

Alexander Sterling didn’t speak a word as we exchanged vows. He was tall, sharp-featured, and distant. When he said “I do,” it sounded like a contract being signed.

Rumors said he was old, emotionless, even impotent. They were wrong about the first two, maybe not the third, I didn’t care to find out.

When the ceremony ended, he simply nodded to the guests, turned to me, and said, “Welcome to the Sterling family.”

No kiss. No warmth. Just formality.

The mansion was larger than any building I’d ever seen, yet every hallway felt empty.

Staff members bowed as I passed but never met my eyes.

My room was beautiful but lifeless, decorated like a showroom.

When I caught my reflection in the mirror, I barely recognized myself. The woman staring back wore diamonds but looked dead inside.

That night, I lay awake listening to the distant sound of rain.

Somewhere out there, Ethan and Vanessa were celebrating their success.

And here I was; Mrs. Sterling, a stranger in silk sheets.

But the pain burning in my chest wasn’t just heartbreak anymore. It was something deeper. Stronger.

I whispered into the darkness, “You think I’m finished. You think you’ve won. But you’ll see.”

Because I wasn’t going to stay broken.

If they’d turned me into a substitute once, I’d make sure I became irreplaceable next.

They thought they’d buried me.

They didn’t know I was a seed.