Chapter 2

2

I told myself I didn't love him anymore, and I chose to leave.

Yet, when I heard Silas's parting words, my heart still ached so much I could barely breathe.

He wasn't entirely wrong. For years, I had lived off the Sinclair fortune.

It was because of him and his family that I lived in luxury.

Silas and I met in a group home when we were kids.

I was four years older, so I spent those years taking care of him.

He was so dependent on me that when the Sinclairs finally found him, he cried and refused to leave without me.

That was when I learned Silas was the long-lost heir to a massive empire.

Because he wouldn't budge, the Sinclairs had no choice but to take me in as well.

At first, my position in the house was awkward and uncomfortable.

But after the family learned how I had protected Silas in the group home, they treated me better.

With their support, I managed to graduate from a top university.

After graduation, I had planned to move out and start my own life.

But Silas's confession changed everything. He said he loved me and wanted us to be together forever.

The Sinclair family assumed I was just a gold-digger who had seduced their son to stay rich.

From that moment on, their attitude toward me turned cold and suspicious.

After Silas went on a hunger strike and threatened to leave, his parents finally gave in.

However, they made me sign a strict legal agreement to protect their assets.

I was barred from working at Sinclair Enterprises or having any say in company decisions.

Even if something happened to Silas, I would have no right to his inheritance.

I hesitated for a moment, weighing my future against Silas, but then I signed it.

We got our marriage license, but we never had a real wedding.

To the public, I was just the Sinclair's ward, and a public marriage would have been a scandal.

Back then, Silas held my hand and promised me the world.

"Rowan, just wait for me. Once I have full control of the company, I'll tell the world I love you."

"I'll give you a wedding so grand and romantic it'll make up for everything we're missing now."

I had smiled and nodded, believing in the beautiful future he described.

Because of that promise, I stayed by his side faithfully for five years.

I watched him grow from a boy into the powerful CEO everyone feared.

Just as I was celebrating his success, Brielle appeared.

She quickly took over a large part of Silas's heart before I even realized what was happening.

Brielle was manipulative. She knew how to act cute and say exactly what he wanted to hear.

In contrast, I was boring and predictable, always focused on taking care of his needs.

The way he looked at me grew colder every day, shifting from love to pure disgust.

Just when I thought our relationship was over, he told me he wanted to hold a wedding.

He said he wanted to make up for the past, and my love for him flickered back to life.

I foolishly thought Brielle was just a temporary distraction.

That was until I accidentally saw a text on his phone to her: "She's so boring, she smells like an old woman. It's honestly nauseating."

Then came the wedding photos of Silas and Brielle.

Despite being married to him for years, we didn't have a single professional photo together.

In that moment, my heart completely died. I finally accepted that he didn't love me.

I realized our entire relationship had been a mistake from the very beginning.

Luckily, it wasn't too late to walk away and start over.