Chapter 1

Five years after breaking up with Julian Sterling, I ran into him at his engagement party—to his adopted sister.

He was the golden boy of the night, while I was just the hired pastry chef for the lavish reception.

"Elena, looks like life hasn't been so kind to you since you walked away from me."

I cut him off smoothly. "Try it, Mr. Sterling. The Black Forest cake. The cherry brandy is measured to perfection—not too sweet, and not too bitter."

Julian looked at me with lingering obsession. "I’ve been looking for you for five years. Just hear me out..."

I held up my badly scarred right hand and offered a cold smile. "The day my grandfather died while you chose to comfort her—the day your bride-to-be destroyed my future—my life stopped being any of your business, ex-boyfriend."

Five years after breaking up with Julian Sterling, we met again at his engagement party to his adopted sister.

He was the radiant star of the night. I was merely the hired pastry chef catering this elite affair.

Across the buzzing ballroom, Julian’s gaze locked onto me. A flicker of shock cracked his polished, handsome face.

Beside him stood his bride-to-be, Chloe, draped in an ethereal white designer gown. Following his line of sight, her sweet smile froze instantly.

She instinctively clutched his arm tighter, her eyes flashing with territorial spite.

I looked right back, completely unfazed. The piping bag in my hand didn’t waver for a fraction of a second.

A delicate sugar rose blossomed under my fingers, identical to the lace embroidery trimming Chloe’s hemline.

During a break in the reception, Julian brushed off his guests and strode over to my dessert station.

Those dark eyes that once made me melt were now swirling with a storm of complex emotions.

"Elena, looks like life hasn't been so kind to you since you walked away from me."

His eyes dropped to the staff badge pinned to my chest, his brow furrowing deep.

I said nothing. I calmly plated a fresh slice of Black Forest cake, moving with the quiet grace of an artist at work.

"Don't you have anything to say to me?"

Seeing my silence, a thread of impatience bled into his voice. "Five years. Don’t you feel even a little—"

"Mr. Sterling," I cut in with a polite, professional smile, sliding the plate toward him. "Try it. The cherry brandy is measured to perfection—not too sweet, and not too bitter."

My icy distance drained every drop of color from his face.

After all, the old Elena had loved him down to the dust. Back then, if he glanced at another girl, I would drown in jealousy. He had never seen me speak to him with such chilling composure.

"Elena?" Chloe walked over, clinging softly to Julian’s side.

Her wide, doe-like eyes instantly rimmed with tears, like a frightened little bunny.

"What are you doing here? Julian has spent five years looking everywhere for you. We’ve been so worried."

She stepped forward, reaching out to grab my hand with an innocent, guileless expression, as if no blood or betrayal had ever stained our past.

I recoiled sharply, hiding my scarred, burned right hand behind my back.

That involuntary flinch made both their faces turn deathly pale.

"Worried?"

I finally let out a low chuckle, though none of the warmth reached my eyes. "If you were truly so worried, Chloe, how could you comfortably walk down the aisle with the man I loved for eight years?"

"I..." Choked on her own words, Chloe’s tears spilled over as she looked helplessly up at Julian.

Julian instinctively shielded her behind him, donning his familiar, protective armor. "Elena, don't take it out on Chloe. Her health is fragile. What happened back then was just an accident."

Always the same excuse.

"An accident?"

I looked up, my eyes like ice-dipped daggers piercing straight into him. "Julian, when you knocked over boiling hot sugar syrup for the sake of her so-called 'fragile health,' shattering my chance at the World Pastry Cup and destroying my only shot at a career, you called that an accident, too."

"You two crushed my entire life under your heels. Tonight, I'm just here doing my job, adding a little sweetness to your grand celebration. What, does my honest work offend you?"

I didn't wait to watch their faces darken. Turning to my assistant, I said, "Take over from here. My shift is done."

"Elena!" Julian snarled from behind me, barely suppressing his fury.

I paused, but I didn't turn around.

"You have a short memory, Mr. Sterling," I murmured softly. My voice was light as a breeze, yet sharp enough for both of them to hear every syllable.

"Five years ago in the emergency room, you said it yourself. You told me you never loved me. You told me to get lost and never show my face in front of you two again."

"And me? The moment you destroyed my hand, I stopped loving you."

I walked straight through the staff exit, locking their glamorous world—along with the chaotic wreckage of my youth—firmly behind heavy doors.

Back in my tiny studio apartment, I held my scarred hand under the freezing tap.

The stinging ache crawled up my knuckles, through my arm, and gripped my chest.

Five years. I thought I had built an impenetrable wall around my heart.

How laughable that seeing him again could still rip open the scar, leaving it raw and bleeding.