Chapter 1

The day I was hospitalized after a car accident, the doctor told me to contact family to sign the consent form.

I dialed Tara Lind five times before she finally picked up.

Before I could speak, her icy voice snapped, "I told you I'm in a meeting! Do you have to keep interrupting me?"

The moment she hung up, I looked into the room next door and saw her standing right there.

She was gazing tenderly at the man lying in the hospital bed.

"It's okay. Don't worry, I'm right here with you."

I had never seen Tara look at anyone with such gentle affection.

I snapped a photo of them and sent it straight to her phone.

Me: "In a meeting?"

Tara: "Are you stalking me?"

Me: "Let's break up."

...

1

"Your injury is pretty severe. You'd better have family come sign for minor surgery!"

I had been struck by a reckless driver on my way to work this morning.

Right now, the gash across my arm was bloody and gruesome.

I wasn't one to complain, and I had intended to handle it myself. But the doctor insisted on family, so I had no choice but to call my girlfriend, Tara Lind.

She didn't pick up after several rings. I figured she was busy.

Just as I was about to hang up, the line connected.

"Dustin Palmer, what is wrong with you? I said I'm in a meeting! Would it kill you not to blow up my phone every single day?"

Tara's annoyed voice blasted through the phone. I froze.

Her voice hadn't just come from the receiver.

Holding my phone, I walked around the curtain to the neighboring bed. Sure enough...

Tara was holding another man's hand with gentle care. Her eyes were rimmed with red, filled with visible concern. "Are you okay?"

Seeing her anxious face, the man forced a weak smile. "I'm fine. Don't worry."

"How can you say you're fine? You scraped your skin!"

Tara scolded him playfully, looking at the man in bed.

I looked at him, then looked down at my own arm, letting out a bitter laugh.

My wound was visibly worse than his. All he had was a mild surface scrape.

Then again, who was I to compete with Lucas Holt, Tara's unforgettable first love?

I had always known Lucas was her white moonlight.

Back when Tara and I first got together, she told me straight out. She said, "I loved someone deeply once. He broke my heart, so you better never hurt me, or I'll never forgive you."

So had she forgiven Lucas now?

It wasn't hard to understand.

Between Lucas and me, Tara had always made a single-choice decision.

Lucas had returned from abroad six months ago.

Before he returned, Tara and I had reached the stage of discussing marriage. We were supposed to meet my parents for dinner that day.

Tara was the one who had brought it up first.

Honestly, the Lind family was far wealthier than mine, so I was always cautious about marriage. Even though I had saved up for a house and car, the Linds didn't lack any of that.

Besides, I was just a project manager at her family's company. Compared to the Lind heiress, I was a nobody.

So when Tara found out my parents were visiting and offered to take them out, I was ecstatic.

I had held Tara and kissed her. "Thank you, babe."

Tara smiled. "Well, the future daughter-in-law has to meet the in-laws eventually."

We agreed to meet the next day at noon, but Tara stood us up.

At the private dining club, I apologized to my parents. "Mom, Dad, I'm so sorry. Something urgent came up at Tara's office. She'll be a bit late."

I gripped my phone, masking my mounting panic.

I lied to them. Tara hadn't answered my calls at all, and I had no clue where she was.

Before leaving that morning, I had asked her, "Are you sure you can make lunch with my parents today?"

My question had annoyed her. "Dustin, do you trust me that little? I'm the one who invited them. Why would I bail?"

"Okay, I'll wait for you then."

I had smiled, reassured, and headed over to the club.

By one in the afternoon, my parents and I had been waiting for over an hour.

Tara had personally booked the venue, saying, "We can't be cheap when treating your parents. I need to make a great impression."

Watching the clock tick past one, I realized that if she had wanted to come, she would've been there already.

I didn't even know why she hadn't shown up. When she didn't answer, I had genuinely worried something terrible happened to her.

I had texted her repeatedly: "Did something happen?"

"Are you okay? Where are you?"

When she didn't reply, I was about to call her executive assistant to ask.

Just then, I opened Instagram and saw a brand-new post on my feed.

It was from Lucas Holt.

His caption read: "Thank you for coming running whenever I call, no matter where you are."

If the photo hadn't shown him and Tara smiling together, along with that limited-edition vintage pocket watch, I might have felt happy for them.