Chapter 1

Ever since I was little, I fought tooth and nail to be the best. I had to have the very top spot in everything.

Because of that, my father never liked me. He hated that I refused to just hand my things over to my stepsister.

Yet after seven brutal rounds of interviews, when I finally landed the company's only overseas transfer, I froze.

My boyfriend was in the middle of launching his startup and needed my support.

Just as my cursor hovered over the decline button, bold red text flashed across my screen.

[Don't be an idiot. Your boyfriend's already sleeping with your stepsister.]

[To protect her, he's going to tell everyone you were the mistress.]

[Your mom will end up dying of a heart attack in the psych ward because of the vicious rumors.]

[You'll be locked away, stripped of everything you own. Five years from now, pregnant and with nowhere left to turn, you'll jump off the suspension bridge.]

Every single word pierced straight through my heart like a dagger.

The fog in my mind cleared in an instant. Since when did I, someone who fought so hard for everything she had, ever give up her dreams for a man?

My stepsister was the daughter my father's college sweetheart brought back from abroad.

Back then, he abandoned me and my mother without a second thought just to be with them.

My mom suffered a complete mental breakdown and wasted away to skin and bones.

I despised my father, and I despised that mother and daughter just as much.

That was why I drove myself to become untouchable.

I never dreamed the man I chose for myself would stab me in the back.

I clicked on our pinned chat. Ethan had sent a message just two minutes ago.

[Babe, still stuck in meetings. Going to be super late tonight.]

This was the same guy who checked in with me over every little detail, who always answered my calls within three rings. How could he possibly...

Before I could process it, the screen refreshed:

[Don't believe it? Go see where he is right now.]

Heart racing, I opened Instagram and checked my stepsister Daisy's profile.

Her latest post was a selfie uploaded a minute ago, geotagged at a luxury rooftop restaurant downtown.

Without a second thought, I grabbed my coat and bolted out the door.

A cab dropped me off at the entrance. I moved to walk in, but security blocked my path.

"Private event tonight, miss. Invitation only."

While I was arguing with the guard, a voice—familiar yet distant—spoke up behind me.

"Let her through. She's Daisy's sister."

I turned my head. It was my father, whom I hadn't seen in years.

He frowned at me, his tone dripping with heavy disappointment.

"Ten years, and you've finally come to your senses. Guess life knocked that stubborn pride out of you."

"It's your sister's engagement party tonight. As her older sister, you should at least offer your congratulations."

Engagement party?

I shoved past the guard and sprinted straight into the grand ballroom.

Everywhere I looked, there were purple roses. The air smelled of delicate floral perfume.

Handwritten love letters, custom gift boxes, and cards covered in romantic declarations were scattered across every table.

A familiar melody softly began to play over the speakers.

It was a little tune I had casually hummed on the beach years ago.

Ethan had secretly recorded it back then.

He told me that when we got married, that melody would play as I walked down the aisle.

We had kept our relationship completely secret for seven whole years.

Time after time, I had playfully begged him to tell people about us.

He would always ruffle my hair with a warm smile and say, "Just wait a little longer. Once my company takes off, I'll give you the grandest wedding in the world."

I was stupid enough to wait.

And what I waited for was his engagement party to someone else.

Under the spotlight, his eyes soft with adoration, Ethan gazed at Daisy and poured his heart out.

"Happy birthday, my radiant little princess."

"A year ago, on March nineteenth, we went surfing down south and got completely wiped out by the waves, laughing so hard our stomachs hurt."

On that exact day, I had pulled an all-nighter alone at the office.

After revising a project pitch more times than I could count, I finally earned my promotion to department manager.

I excitedly texted him, saying my year-end bonus was doubling and I could save more for our future home.

He simply texted back that he was swamped meeting potential investors and couldn't talk.

"On December sixteenth, we went skiing in the mountains, took a nasty tumble into a deep snowdrift, and even though my whole body ached, I felt like the happiest man alive."

In reality, on that exact day, my blood sugar plummeted and I passed out on the subway platform.

A kind stranger helped me to the hospital.

I sat there all alone, getting registered and hooked up to an IV drip.

I didn't say a single word to him, terrified of burdening him while he worked.

Turns out, he wasn't on a business trip at all.

"So on August third, I proposed to you at the garden terrace."

August third. My birthday.

He had spent my birthday planning an extravagant surprise for another woman.

My heart felt like it was being carved open piece by piece. Even drawing a breath brought a dull, sickening agony.

Why of all people did it have to be Daisy?

When I was fifteen, my father's long-lost flame, Claire, returned from abroad.

After a single meeting, my father was dead set on walking out on my mother and me.

Vases were smashed, mirrors were shattered, and cruel, venomous words were thrown like knives...

Our happy little family was completely obliterated.

My mother could never understand it.

How could the man who brought her fresh flowers every day and swore to love her for eternity turn into a stranger overnight?

Back then, she had defied her entire family to marry him when he didn't have a single dime to his name.

How did she end up with such a humiliating betrayal?

The unrelenting torment completely broke her sanity.

During their most violent fight, she suddenly lunged forward and locked her hands around my throat.

Her eyes bloodshot, glaring at my father, she shrieked like a maniac, "If you dare sign those papers, I'll choke your daughter to death!"

My father didn't flinch. He tossed the divorce decree onto the table and walked out without looking back once.

The instant the front door slammed shut, the suffocating grip on my neck vanished.

My mother slumped weakly against the door, sliding down onto the icy floor, weeping uncontrollably.

Completely broken, she cried and apologized to me over and over again.

"Hannah, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry... I'm a terrible mother."

I always thought I would never experience that brand of absolute despair again.

Yet right before my eyes, soft romantic lighting bathed the two people embracing on stage.

Daisy raised her delicate hand, tenderly cupping Ethan's cheek.

She tilted her head slightly, her soft lips grazing the corner of his mouth.

Watching this play out, I suddenly burst into dry, hollow laughter.

"Then what was I to you?"

Every guest in the room turned to stare directly at me.

I stood frozen in the aisle, trembling from head to toe, my voice catching in my throat as I asked, "Was I your girlfriend of seven years, or just a stepping stone for you to climb to the top?"