Chapter 3 The Surprise

Kieran froze, disbelief flashing across his face.

A second later, he let out a cold laugh. "Wow. Since when did you start playing these stupid mind games?"

He looked at me like I was being ridiculous. "Alivia, you're not eighteen anymore. We're practically married. Aren't you a little old to be threatening me with a breakup every time you get upset?"

He hesitated, then added, "Leah's sensitive. You can say this stuff to me, and I'll pretend I never heard it. But don't drag her into it."

For a moment, I wanted to ask why Leah's feelings always seemed to matter more than mine when I was the one he was supposed to marry.

However, there was no point anymore, so I kept quiet.

Kieran seemed to take my silence as surrender. His voice softened. "I've got something to take care of at work tonight. Get some sleep."

He didn't come home that night.

A few hours later, Leah posted an Instagram Story visible only to me.

In the video, she wore a tiny slip dress and posed for the camera in ways that were far from innocent.

Then, he stepped into the frame.

"Like this..." His hands hovered near her body as he adjusted her pose, his fingers brushing dangerously close to her skin. "Yeah. Right there."

Kieran, the man who supposedly hated taking pictures, kept pressing the shutter, his gaze lingering on Leah the entire time.

The message couldn't have been clearer. She wanted me to see them like this.

My stomach churned.

I set my phone down and took a few slow breaths to calm myself. However, it didn't work. The longer I sat there thinking about what I'd just seen, the angrier I became.

Finally, I picked up my phone and called Kieran.

He declined the call almost immediately.

Seconds later, a text came through. "Leah and I are working on a surprise for you."

A surprise?

I stared at the message, then glanced back at the video of them practically wrapped around each other.

A bitter laugh escaped me. How many times had he lied to me over the years just to be alone with her?

This time, I didn't bother replying. There was nothing left to say.

I set my phone aside, pulled out my suitcase, and started packing.

By tomorrow, I'd be gone.

...

The next morning, I logged in to our joint savings account to transfer Kieran's share of the wedding fund back to him before I left.

But the moment I saw the balance, I was stunned.

There were only three figures left.

I refreshed the page, thinking it was a mistake. We'd spent years building that account to nearly a million, yet now almost every cent was gone.

With my heart pounding, I called the bank and went through the transaction history. It didn't take long to find the answer.

Kieran had used the money to buy an apartment. For a long moment, I could only stare at the screen.

Years ago, I felt like I had no one left in the world after my mother died. Kieran had emptied his savings and given me everything he had.

He said, "Trust me, Alivia. As long as you're with me, you'll never have to go through anything alone again."

I'd believed him. More than that, those words had made me love him even more.

From then on, we saved for our future together. Every little bit went into that account until a few thousand became tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands. It had taken us years to save what was in there.

That money wasn't just our wedding fund. It was supposed to be our home, our future, our life together.

Yet, Kieran had taken almost all of it without even telling me.

I pulled up the apartment details, and the moment I saw the address, my heart sank.

I knew that address. It was the same place Leah had been tagging in her Instagram posts.

Suddenly, everything started falling into place.

I rushed downstairs, hailed a taxi, and headed straight for the apartment, my hands trembling the entire way.

…

By the time I reached the apartment, I went straight to the unit and rang the doorbell.

A few seconds later, Kieran opened the door with a smile. "Just leave the food at—"

He stopped when he saw me, his smile fading.

I met his eyes, surprised by how calm my voice sounded. "So, Kieran..." I said. "Is this the surprise you were talking about?"