Chapter 1

On the night of our engagement party, my fiancée was passionately kissing her childhood sweetheart under the maple tree we had planted together.

I looked down at my paralyzed legs in the wheelchair, quietly slipped off the engagement ring, and wished them a lifetime of happiness.

Yet she thought I was just making an unreasonable scene.

"I only stopped to pick up Zachary and was a few hours late. What are you throwing a tantrum for?"

"Who was the one begging on their knees for this engagement party in the first place? You should be grateful I even showed up. Ansel, what more could you possibly want?"

Zachary stepped up behind her, putting on a show of remorse. "Ansel, it is my fault. Do not blame Rosalind. My car had trouble on the way..."

Before he could finish, Rosalind cut him off. "Why even bother explaining? Give him a few days, and he will come crawling back, begging for forgiveness in tears."

But Rosalind was dead wrong.

This time, I was never looking back.

1

I watched the clock tick away in the empty banquet hall before deciding to press the control on my electric wheelchair to leave.

Just as I turned around, the double doors swung open.

Rosalind made her grand entrance in a striking red mermaid gown.

"Where is everyone? They left already? That was fast."

She glanced around the deserted room, and her gaze finally landed on my legs. She frowned.

"Have you been sitting here looking pathetic like this all night?"

I pulled a blanket from behind my wheelchair and draped it over my knees.

It was as if covering my useless legs could hide my disability and shield me from the disgust in her eyes.

"I canceled the party," I said quietly, my chest aching so badly I could barely breathe.

Back when we were madly in love, Rosalind would roll up my pant legs and kiss my scarred knees over and over.

Now, even glancing at me felt like a waste of her precious time.

"Why cancel it? I was only a few hours late, not a no-show," Rosalind snapped self-righteously.

Clearly, she had not taken a single word I said seriously.

"Besides, I went to pick up Zachary. How could he miss such an important moment in our lives?"

Zachary Ford was the boy next door she grew up with.

They had lost touch when he went abroad years ago.

Two years ago, Zachary returned home with cutting-edge artificial heart technology.

Rosalind, who was deeply invested in medical research, reconnected with him immediately.

He led the research, and she poured in millions of dollars.

They were practically joined at the hip ever since.

She was even willing to leave me waiting for hours at our own engagement party just to welcome him.

I understood she had a demanding job, but spending every weeknight and weekend wrapped around another man crossed every line.

"If he is that important to you, why did you even need me at this engagement party?" I asked coldly.

Rosalind grew visibly irritated by my confrontation and waved her hand with sheer disgust. "What are you trying to say? Are you blaming me?"

She swung her designer handbag and hurled it right at my face.

I did not bother dodging.

It did not hurt much physically.

Compared to my bleeding, shattered heart, I almost felt like laughing at her mercy.

Without a word, I picked up her bag, brushed off the dust, and placed it gently on the floor.

Then, I turned my wheelchair around to leave.

"Rose, you should really explain things to Ansel..." Zachary chimed in after staying silent all this time.

"Explain what? Look at him! A grown man acting like a spoiled teenager throwing a fit!" Rosalind sneered.

"Let him go. He has no job, no savings, no car, and no house. He relies entirely on me to survive. Does he really think he can make it without me?"

"Even this engagement party was something he begged me for."

I let out a bitter, silent chuckle.

Yes, I had asked for this engagement. I had begged for a title.

Rosalind assumed that because I had no visible income, I was completely dependent on her charity.

That was why she trampled over my dignity without hesitation, convinced I would never have the guts to walk away.

I dug my fingernails deep into the armrests of my wheelchair.

For the first time in ten years, Rosalind felt like a complete stranger to me.

Seeing that I had no intention of stopping, she yelled at my back. "Ansel Hayes! I work myself to the bone outside every day to provide for this household! I do not come home just to look at your miserable face!"

"It is bad enough that you sit at home doing nothing all day, but can you not even show a little understanding?"

"I am exhausted, yet I still made time to attend this engagement party. And what do you do? You throw a tantrum and walk out! What the hell is your problem?"

In the past, whenever she threw such a temper, I would rush to appease her immediately.

I used to be terrified of her silent treatment.

Now, all I felt was a bone-chilling numbness.

I had loved Rosalind for ten whole years.

From her youthful innocence to her sharp corporate maturity, I had loved every single version of her.

Now, I was simply out of love.