Chapter 1

Iris's POV

The crystal chandelier cast its glow on my face. I'd been smiling so long my cheeks were going numb.

The engagement party had started half an hour ago. Adrian Sterling still hadn't shown up.

"Iris, where's Adrian?" One of his relatives sidled up to me, barely hiding the schadenfreude in their eyes. "He didn't bail on you, did he?"

I forced a smile. "He's dealing with something at work. He'll be here any minute."

"Work? Today's your engagement!" They clicked their tongue, then turned to gossip with someone else.

My grip on the champagne flute tightened until my knuckles went white. I'd called Adrian at least a dozen times. Every call went straight to voicemail. I didn't dare let my mind wander—I just kept telling myself he'd promised. He said he'd be here. He promised.

Three years. From the day I met him outside the orphanage, he'd been the only light in my life.

The ballroom doors suddenly burst open.

My head whipped around, heart pounding like it might explode. Adrian was finally here! But the next second, I froze in place.

He was holding a woman's hand.

No—he was holding the hand of a very pregnant woman.

Celeste White. Adrian's dead friend's sister. I'd always been jealous of her, but Adrian told me to cut her some slack since her brother was gone.

But how could I not care? Watching them together felt like a knife twisting in my gut, jealousy eating away at whatever rationality I had left.

She was wearing a loose white dress, and her belly was already showing. Head down, eyes red and swollen, she looked fragile enough to blow away in a breeze. And Adrian—he gripped her hand tight, his face showing an unfamiliar mix of joy and nervous tension, that careful tenderness making my heart ache even more.

The ballroom went dead silent.

Every eye in the room landed on them, then swiveled to me in unison. Those looks—shocked, gossipy, pitying, and some downright excited for the drama.

"What... what's going on?"

"That woman's belly..."

"Oh my God, this is an engagement party!"

The whispers crashed over me like waves. I couldn't make out what they were saying. I just stared at Adrian and Celeste's intertwined hands, my brain buzzing with white noise.

"Adrian..." My voice came out shaking. "What is this..."

Adrian let go of Celeste's hand and strode over to me. His expression was cold—so cold he looked like a stranger.

"Iris, I'm sorry," he said. "The engagement's off."

I went blank.

"What?"

"I said, the engagement is off." He repeated it without an ounce of warmth. "You should go home."

I felt something explode in my head. Go home? He's telling me to go home?

"Why?" I locked eyes with him. "Tell me why."

He said nothing. But Celeste spoke up.

"I'm sorry..." Her voice was soft, tearful. "I'm so sorry, Iris. This is all my fault..."

She clutched her belly, tears streaming down her face. "I didn't want to ruin what you had, but the baby... the baby can't grow up without a father..."

The string in my brain snapped clean through.

"What did you just say?"

"The baby is Adrian's." She was sobbing now, barely able to breathe. "I know this is wrong, but I have no choice... I can't let my child be born fatherless..."

The ballroom exploded.

"Holy shit, she's carrying the Sterling heir?"

"This is insane!"

"What about Iris?"

"What about her? Obviously she's getting dumped!"

Those voices stabbed into me like knives. I looked at Adrian, desperate to see some denial on his face, even just a flicker of doubt.

But he said nothing.

He just looked at me coldly, like I was a complete stranger.

"Adrian..." My voice trembled. "Say something... This isn't true, right?"

He was silent for a few seconds before speaking, each word like ice: "The child is mine."

My legs nearly gave out.

Impossible. How could it be?

Adrian and I had been together for three years. He'd never have intimacy with me. Said he wanted to wait until our wedding night, wanted to give me a perfect wedding. And now he's telling me he got someone else pregnant?

"I don't believe it..." I shook my head, tears spilling uncontrollably. "You promised we'd be together..."

"Enough." Adrian cut me off, irritation clear in his voice. "Iris, stop making a scene."

I jerked my head up to look at him.

Making a scene? He said I was making a scene?

"I told you from the start—I only felt sorry for you." His words came like knives, cutting deeper with each one. "You're an orphan with no money, no family. If it weren't for me, you think you'd have the life you have now? I've been good to you. Don't be ungrateful."

The guests collectively gasped.

My face burned like I'd been slapped.

"I figured I had to get married anyway, and you'd do as well as anyone. You were obedient enough..." he continued, each word trampling my dignity. "But then I found out Celeste was pregnant. My friend made me promise to take care of her before he died. Now she's carrying my child. I have to do right by her." His voice carried a cold, matter-of-fact tone.

"As for you..." He looked me up and down with undisguised disgust. "You were never good enough for me anyway."

Never good enough.

Those words hit like a sledgehammer to my chest.

I heard suppressed laughter around me. The guests stared at me with mockery and pity. Some well-dressed middle-aged woman murmured, "I told you she wasn't in his league..."

I stood there feeling like a clown.

That's when I noticed Adrian's father—Robert Sterling—standing at the back of the crowd. He was looking at Celeste with a strange expression. Guilt, pain, and something complicated I couldn't name.

For a split second, a thought flashed through my mind, but before I could process it, Adrian's voice cut through again:

"Just go. Let's pretend today never happened."

I bit my lip hard, nails digging into my palms.

I wanted to ask him: what were these three years? What about all those promises he made me?

But when the words reached my mouth, they only became one word, "Fine."