Chapter 1

I had been with Heath for seven years.

I finally got his marriage proposal, and with tears of pure joy, I said yes.

Just one week before our wedding, I found a hidden folder on Heath's laptop.

Every single file inside was a detailed blueprint of a future Heath planned with another woman.

Among them were pictures and milestones of their newborn baby.

That woman was not me.

It was my half-sister.

Quietly, I booked a one-way flight out of the country for the morning of our wedding.

On the big day, the bride disappeared, and Heath lost his damn mind searching the world for me.

1

"Tara, is that startup opportunity you mentioned still open?"

"I've changed my mind. I want to build this company with you."

Tara was my college roommate. We had been inseparable back then, promising to chase our dreams together.

Later, I gave it all up for Heath, leaving Tara to move to Chicago on her own.

Tara had always resented the fact that I threw away my ambition for a man.

Hearing that I finally came to my senses, her voice spiked with pure excitement over the phone.

"Are you for real?"

"That's amazing! You were always top of our class. With you on board, we're going to crush it!"

"A woman needs her own career! Sacrificing your dreams for a guy is never worth it, babe!"

I forced a soft laugh and replied, "You're right, Tara."

It took me far too long to realize how right she had always been.

"Wait, if I remember correctly, aren't you marrying Heath next week? If you're joining me, you'd have to pack up and leave in a few days. Won't that clash with your wedding?"

My lips twisted into a bitter smile as I brushed it off. "There won't be a wedding."

As my best friend, Tara clearly caught the slight tremor in my voice and started to ask what happened.

Before she could pry, I made a quick excuse and hung up.

I stared at the hundreds of videos, photos, and documents flashing on the laptop screen.

My hands shook violently as I copied all the files onto a flash drive, then slammed the laptop shut.

Heath and I had been together for seven full years. Because I loved him so deeply and couldn't bear long distance, I was always the one making compromises.

I moved to his hometown, helping him build his business from the ground up.

Heath had a weak stomach and couldn't hold his liquor, so I downed glass after glass of hard alcohol for him at networking dinners, securing client after client.

In all these years, I rarely touched his personal belongings.

Heath always said that even in an intimate relationship, people needed their own private boundaries.

Tonight was an exception only because the wedding planner called asking for the master file of our ceremony schedule.

Heath had drafted that plan a long time ago, wrapping one arm around me while he typed out every romantic detail with the other.

So in all these seven years, this was the very first time I had ever opened his laptop.

I couldn't find where he saved the wedding itinerary, and since he wasn't answering his phone, I had to search through the drive myself.

Instead of the wedding plan, my eyes caught a locked folder labeled "baby."

At first, my heart softened, thinking it was a sweet archive of our years together.

With a flutter of anticipation, I clicked it open, only to find that the leading lady in every photo was someone else.

I guess I had been blinded by wishful thinking, completely forgetting that Heath had always addressed me by my full name.

He had never once called me by an affectionate pet name like that.

The hundreds of files were entirely about Sienna, along with their newborn baby.

Sienna was my half-sister.

Heath and I were childhood sweethearts, yet I was effortlessly replaced the moment she walked into his life.

Every single file was obsessively detailed, chronicling every milestone of Sienna and the baby. The final document was even a five-year blueprint for their life as a family of three.

In an instant, memories of the past seven years flooded my mind.

Heath was never like other boyfriends.

In all our time together, we didn't have a single couple's photo.