Chapter 1

“Daniel Hayes, you’re seriously not coming tomorrow? It’s Logan’s engagement party. This is a seven-star hotel. You might never get another chance to step inside one.”

Our old class president’s exaggerated voice came through the phone.

I frowned. Logan Pierce—the same bully who had made my life hell in high school and led everyone else in shutting me out.

“Work’s been busy lately. I can’t make it.”

I kept my voice as even as possible.

“What could you possibly be busy with? Too broke to show your face? Just admit you’re embarrassed. Quit pretending you’re some important businessman!”

His laughter grated on my ears. Meanwhile, I finished signing a three-hundred-million-dollar contract and motioned for my secretary to leave.

I took a deep breath and said nothing.

After hanging up, I saw the class president’s Snapchat story:

Thanks to Logan, I finally get to see a hotel this fancy before I die. Can’t wait to meet his fiancée—the city’s top female CEO.

The attached photo showed a lavish hotel that looked strangely familiar.

More importantly, the location tag read: The Grand Meridian.

Wait. That was the hotel I’d bought for my wife.

While I was still puzzling over it, my phone chimed again.

Logan had posted a digital invitation in our class group chat.

The name and photo left no room for doubt.

Well, well. Logan Pierce’s fiancée was my wife, Sophie Bennett?

............

After everyone showered the invitation with praise, Logan sent another message:

“Looking forward to seeing everyone at my new hotel tomorrow for the engagement party. Please don’t let the difference in our social standing stop you from coming. I may have made it big, but I haven’t forgotten my old classmates.”

Below that message, everyone started tagging me:

“He means you. Why so quiet? You’re not seriously afraid to come, are you? Logan doesn’t even mind that you’re broke.”

“If I were Daniel, I’d be too embarrassed to come, too. Logan’s doing amazing, and his fiancée is the famous CEO of Sterling Group. Daniel could never measure up.”

“He’s just a delivery guy. How did he ever have the nerve to make that bet with Logan?”

I folded my tri-fold phone shut. I couldn’t be bothered to answer those social climbers.

They thought I delivered takeout? All because my only Snapchat post said, “Late again”?

With a photo of a takeout container?

I’d just forgotten to switch to my private account before complaining.

A bet? Right. There had been one.

Back then, Logan had cornered me at the school entrance with a group of his friends. He’d grabbed me and said:

“Ten years from now, you won’t even be worthy of licking my shoes. Want to bet? A screwup like me is still going to have a better life than a bookworm like you.”

By the next day, everyone was mocking me for being stupid enough to bet against Logan.

His parents had struck it rich in the stock market and started a small company. With a little money behind him, he’d acted like he owned the school.

Well, if Logan wanted me there so badly, I’d grant his wish.

That evening, Sophie called me. I used to love her sweet, breathy voice. Now it made my stomach turn.

“Honey, you’re really not coming to the hotel opening tomorrow?”

I paused before answering flatly:

“No. I have a contract meeting.”

“Aww, that’s such a shame. I really wanted you there…”

She didn’t sound particularly disappointed. If anything, I thought I heard relief in her voice.

The Grand Meridian had been my gift to Sophie.

So had the company she used to sell herself as the city’s leading female CEO.

I’d met Sophie when she was an intern at my company.

Business had been booming, but my love life had fallen apart. Sophie had appeared just in time to fill that hole.

She always found reasons to be around me, checking whether I’d eaten or gotten enough rest. Her stubborn determination had drawn me in, too.

When her internship ended, I told her how I felt.