Chapter 1

1

The night before we were supposed to sign our marriage license, Gavin Quinton's intern posted a photo on her Instagram story.

It was a shot of their hands intertwined, captioned: 【Finally found the one I'm spending forever with~】

I left a simple comment wishing them a happy life. Seconds later, the post was scrubbed from her profile.

A few minutes later, Gavin called me. I could hear his little intern sobbing in the background as he barked at me for being petty.

He told me to stop acting like a psycho or he'd leave me. Then, both of them changed their profile pictures to that same photo of them holding hands.

If this were the old me, I would have stormed into his office. I would have demanded he fire her and screamed until I got an explanation.

We would have had a massive, messy scene, and he would have ended up loathing me even more.

But this time, I just felt a strange, hollow exhaustion. I was done.

......

I first noticed the weird vibe between Gavin and his intern on my birthday.

To celebrate my birthday and our anniversary, his friends had booked a private room at a high-end steakhouse downtown.

Gavin had spent an entire year chasing me before I finally said yes.

On the night he asked me out, he held a massive bouquet of lilies and asked if I'd be his girl.

I really liked him back then. The patience and tenderness he showed during that year made me fall for him hard.

I genuinely wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. He used to treat me like I was made of glass, his eyes always fixed on me.

Back then, if we went a single day without seeing each other, he'd call me just to hear my voice.

I loved how clingy he was. It made me feel like I was truly, deeply loved.

When I arrived at the restaurant, Gavin wasn't there yet.

I knew his company was going through a busy season, so I didn't mind that he was running late.

"Hey, Lana! Long time no see," one of his friends said as I sat down. "I saw Gavin's posts about your trip to Aspen. How was it?"

My heart skipped a beat. Aspen?

When did we ever go to Aspen? I certainly wasn't there.

Lately, I'd been drowning in work opening my new boutique flower shop.

Since it was a new business, I had to handle every little detail myself.

I used to ask Gavin for his opinion on things.

But he was always so busy that I eventually stopped bothering him.

"When did you see those posts?" I asked, keeping my voice steady.

His friend didn't seem to notice my tension.

"Just last week. Gavin and I grabbed drinks, and I asked about you. He said you were feeling burnt out, so you stayed in for a bit."

I looked down at my lap and let out a cold, silent laugh.

Last week, Gavin told me he was out of state on a grueling business trip.

He claimed he'd be too slammed to even text me.

Meanwhile, I had been home alone, working sixteen-hour days to get the shop ready for the grand opening.

"Yeah, I was pretty exhausted," I lied, forcing a smile.

I didn't want to humiliate him in front of his friends. I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of a scene.

I would deal with this privately.

Before I could dig for more info, the restaurant doors swung open.

I watched Gavin walk in, accompanied by a young woman I'd never seen before.