Chapter 1

I financially supported the person I’d secretly been in love with for years.

But her heart belonged to someone else—a man who had been dead for years.

When she was happy, she went to his grave. When she was sad, she went to his grave. No matter how big or small the occasion, if I couldn’t find her, I knew she was at the cemetery.

I tolerated it all because she said yes to my proposal.

But on the day of our engagement party, she ran.

I found her again at the cemetery, crying her heart out in front of his grave.

“I’m sorry, Alex,” she sobbed. “He forced me to say yes. Whether you’re alive or dead, I’ll always love you and only you.”

I stood there, empty and defeated. My hand loosened, and the engagement ring slipped from my grasp, disappearing into the grass.

When she returned to the villa that evening, her things were already packed and waiting by the door.

The butler greeted her coldly, his expression devoid of sympathy.

“Mr. Hayes said you should leave by tonight.”

The engagement party began, but one of the main characters was conspicuously absent.

A bodyguard hurried over to my side and leaned in to whisper, “Sir, Miss White is at the Bayside Cemetery again.”

Five years ago, the White family went bankrupt, and I stepped in to clean up the mess.

The once-untouchable socialite, Sophia White, became my kept lover.

She hated me for it.

She hated me for ruining her pride. Hated me for tarnishing her purity. Hated me for tearing her apart from the man she called her “one true love,” even though he had been gone for years.

In the years we’d been together, I’d lost count of how many times I had found her at that cemetery.

And there she was again, drunk and sprawled over Alex’s tombstone.

“I’m sorry, Alex… I’m so sorry. I don’t want to get married…”

“But what can I do? My parents begged me, forced me. They made me say yes to him. I’m sorry, Alex. I love you. I’ve only ever loved you. I’ve never felt anything for him. Please don’t hate me.”

I walked up behind her, my footsteps quiet on the damp grass.

“Not even a little?” I asked softly, my voice almost drowned out by the wind.

Sophia froze. Slowly, she turned to face me, her tear-streaked face twisting with anger.

“This is all your fault!” she yelled.

“It’s your fault I betrayed him!”

She threw herself at me, pounding her fists against my chest in a weak, drunken rage.

I grunted, grabbing her wrists tightly as my vision blurred with emotion.

“Tell me you don’t mean it,” I demanded, my voice hoarse. “Five years together—day and night. Not once? Not even for a moment?”

She looked up at me, her eyes sharp and defiant, her voice unwavering.

“I hate you. Every time you touch me, I feel disgusted.”

“I’ve never loved you—not even for a second.”