Chapter 1

The day before our wedding, my fiancé got into a car crash.

When I rushed to the hospital, he was holding another woman in his arms, looking at me with pure coldness.

"Who are you?"

After the doctor diagnosed him with amnesia, I had no choice but to cancel the wedding.

Yet on his birthday, I overheard a conversation between him and his best friend.

"Liam, how much longer are you going to drag this out before you actually marry Mia?"

Liam Vance's voice sounded devoted to another, yet completely detached from me.

"I'll think about it after Chloe's birthday."

Little did he know, the moment I slapped our certified marriage certificate right in front of him, he would completely lose his mind.

The VIP lounge door was left ajar. The voices drifting out made me stop dead in my tracks.

"Liam, aren't you afraid Mia will dump your ass once she finds out the truth?"

Liam sounded totally indifferent.

"She won't. She spent four years chasing me like a lovesick puppy just to put a ring on it."

"Her parents are dead. I'm literally the only family she has left in this world."

"All it takes is a little sweet-talking, and she'll come running back. Right now, Chloe needs me more."

The guys around him started hyping him up.

"Man, you really got her wrapped around your finger. But what if Chloe actually takes you back?"

"Isn't it obvious? Liam will drop that naive fool Mia in a heartbeat."

Liam's deep, icy voice echoed through the crack in the door.

"If that happens, I'll explain things to her properly."

Hearing that, my heart sank straight into my stomach. My grip slipped, and the gift box in my hands crashed to the floor.

The door swung open. The guy who opened it panicked the moment his eyes landed on me.

"M-Mia? How long have you been standing there?"

"Just got here."

My voice was flat, neither loud nor soft. The guy instantly let out a sigh of relief.

I bent down, picked up the box, and stepped into the lounge. Chloe Evans was leaning against Liam's chest, her face flushed red from the drinks.

She was his ultimate, unforgettable first love. The one who got away.

A flicker of guilt flashed across Liam's face, but he quickly composed himself.

"Mia? What are you doing here?"

"Didn't I tell you we'd discuss the wedding after my memory comes back?"

*Discuss?* So, all along, I was just a backup plan. A disposable option.

I walked over and placed the gift on the table in front of him.

"This is the thing you wanted most."

With that, I turned and walked out as fast as my legs could carry me.

He didn't have amnesia. He just didn't want to marry me.

He was just waiting for Chloe to change her mind.

...

Right after graduating from college, I became Liam's executive assistant.

Back in school, his face was plastered all over the honor boards. He had been my campus idol for four entire years.

When I heard from colleagues that the girl he deeply loved had moved abroad, my quiet crush sparked back to life.

After countless late-night dinners where I helped him handle clients and drank on his behalf, Liam personally drove me home one night.

Inside the dimly lit, intimate space of his car, he turned to look at me, dead serious.

"Mia, why don't we give us a shot?"

During the year my parents died in a tragic car accident, he took care of me meticulously. He held me close and whispered tenderly in my ear.

"Mia, from now on, I'm your only family."

From that day on, I stuck to his side like glue, accompanying him to every business and social event.

Until the day Chloe returned to the States.

That was the day the spark in his eyes shifted.

My spiraling thoughts were suddenly cut short by my ringing phone.

"Mia, Liam's completely wasted. Come pick him up and take him home."

The thought of all these people knowing the ugly truth, actively helping Liam play me for a fool, made my blood boil.

I snapped coldly into the receiver:

"Take an Uber and drop him off yourselves. I'm busy tonight."

Before the guy could utter another word, I hung up.

After sitting alone at a dive bar for hours, I still ended up heading back to the penthouse we shared.

The second the front door opened, Liam stood there, wrapped only in a bath towel.

And lying in the master bed was a woman.

I didn't ask a single question. I simply turned on my heel and headed for the guest room.

Liam rushed over and grabbed my wrist.

"Chloe got blackout drunk. I was worried she'd get into trouble, so I brought her back."

"Mia, even if you're my fiancée, Chloe is family to me."

*Family?* Turns out he had plenty of family in this world after all.