Chapter 1

My partner contracted an unusual illness, and his survival seemed unlikely.

To secure the treatment, I had an intimate encounter with the head of the research facility.

Clay Danhauser pulled through. He proposed to me on bended knee, his eyes brimming with tears.

However, shortly after, I discovered him trying on wedding attire—with my former college housemate.

When I mustered the courage to address this, he responded with contempt. "The idea of you being intimate with another man disgusts me! I should marry someone pure and untainted—not someone who's been shared like a cheap, soiled plaything!"

His cruel words left me no alternative but to remove the ring, hurl it at him, and depart—directly into a marriage arranged by my family.

On the day of my nuptials, attired in my bridal dress, I encountered Clay—dressed as the groom.

He snarled, "You brazen harlot! Do you think you can disrupt my wedding and create chaos? You must have a death wish!"

I attempted to clarify repeatedly, but he refused to listen. Instead, he ripped my gown and began striking me.

When my groom Clifton Danhauser appeared, Clay's demeanor swiftly altered.

"Uncle," he said with a false grin, "this deranged woman claims she's marrying you. I couldn't stand by and allow her to tarnish your reputation, so I put her in her place."

Soon after, Melissa Gilmour, my former college housemate, announced her impending marriage.

I approved her social media post, and she promptly sent me a message.

[Hey, come to The Wedding Atelier. I have a surprise for you!]

The surprise? A strike across my face.

Her groom was my former fiancé Clay.

"Oh, Lorraine, you're such a fool!" Melissa exclaimed, chuckling. "The Danhausers are incredibly wealthy! Did you honestly believe they'd want someone like you?"

"I told Clay I was the one who obtained the cure. And guess what—he bought it! Now he can't even look at you without feeling repulsed. You actually thought he'd marry you, didn't you?"

Clay wrapped his arm around her. His words were as harsh as they were unfeeling. "You're nothing but a tramp! You're not worthy of me."

I watched his mouth move, but I could barely hear beyond the buzzing in my ears.

My legs were giving way, but before everything went black, his voice pierced through the fog. "I don't care if you lose consciousness. Get out of here! You're spoiling my day!"

I managed to form a bitter smile on my lips.

This was the man I had cherished for six long years! The one who had stood with me on a snow-covered peak and vowed we'd grow old together. Now, suddenly, he was a monster, crushing me with every vicious word he could conjure.

Everyone was aware of how deeply I cared for him.

I was the daughter of an affluent, influential family, but I had severed ties with my parents just to be with him.

People often say you shouldn't encounter someone too ideal when you're young. But he fulfilled every expectation I had for my first love.

Intelligent, attractive, romantic, kind, considerate...

I believed we would be happy indefinitely.

Then, during a work trip to South Africa, he contracted a rare virus. The hospital issued three critical condition alerts in a single night.

I learned about a research facility in the city that had developed an experimental medication. It wasn't available for purchase yet, and there was no way to obtain it.

So I located the director at an exclusive club. Pushed past his security. Offered my body in exchange for that life-saving drug.

My Clay recovered.

The day they transferred him to a regular ward, he proposed to me, weeping.

But that same evening... a video appeared online—showing me entangled with another man. It spread rapidly.

Terrified of losing my fiancé, I lied. Told him the woman in the video wasn't me.

He said he believed me.

But after that, he became more distant. Aloof.

I knew he was drifting away, but it still shattered me when I saw him and Melissa flirting.

When I fainted, they left me lying there. It was the bridal shop staff who showed compassion and called for an ambulance to transport me to the hospital.