Chapter 1

At our engagement party, my fiancée vanished without a trace.

Over a dozen phone calls went straight to voicemail, while our mutual friends stuttered with awkward excuses.

A second later, I saw her best friend's Instagram story.

"True love always finds its way back."

The photo showed Kendra standing beside her ex, Brock, who was holding a familiar designer belt.

The fire of love in my heart died instantly in the freezing cold.

When I decided to cut all ties with her, she clung desperately to the doorframe.

"Garrett, please, just give me one more chance!"

There were no chances left.

Dead embers don't reignite, and I was finally setting sail.

1.

Less than a minute later, Kendra's best friend deleted the post.

An hour ago, she had assured me Kendra was just running late because of an urgent company meeting.

Now that the truth was laid bare, what else was there for me to hope for?

I had seen that exact belt in Kendra's shopping cart.

I had played along, never asking about it, secretly brimming with joy and anticipation.

She had once told me that gifting a man a belt meant she had chosen him for life.

She wanted to tie him down, bind him, and keep him forever!

Back then, Kendra and I were busy planning our engagement.

Almost everything was set in stone.

Until Brock, her ex, reappeared in her life.

The engagement party I had spent a month preparing turned into a complete farce.

A wounded beast roared inside my chest.

My tear ducts felt completely blocked.

The MC on stage realized something was wrong, his face filled with awkwardness.

Everyone in the room knew the bride-to-be had run off.

I was left alone with this total disaster.

My mother pulled me aside, her eyes filled with worry.

"Did something urgent come up at her office?"

She even tried to make an excuse for Kendra's disappearance.

I comforted my mother, then stepped onto the stage and took the microphone from the MC.

Even though I didn't spell it out, the guests had already pieced together the truth.

A look of relief washed over Kendra's parents' faces as they quickly made an excuse and slipped away.

Holding back his fury, my dad choked down a few bites before taking my mom home.

After seeing off the relatives, I dragged my exhausted body back to the apartment.

At eleven o'clock at night, the silence was deafening.

That made Kendra's sudden incoming call all the more jarring.

I hesitated for a second, then declined the call.

I wandered aimlessly through the streets all night, only returning home the next morning.

Kendra was in her pajamas, and her expression shifted the moment she saw me.

"So you actually remember you have a home?"

I didn't answer.

A single night was enough for me to see everything clearly.

"Did you go see Brock during our engagement party last night?"

She hadn't even left a note, as if terrified I would stop her.

Kendra looked at me in disbelief. "Who told you that?"

"Just answer my question."

After a long pause, Kendra finally nodded, though her tone sounded completely justified.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know it would take that long."

She stepped forward to hug me, but backed off when she saw my cold, distant glare.

"Garrett, do you really have to be so petty and narrow-minded?"

"You told me Brock broke your heart, yet you met up with him seven or eight times this past month."

I looked straight into her eyes.

"Do you honestly think I'm just being petty?"

Kendra visibly flushed with embarrassment and anger.

"In my heart, he's just a normal friend!"

I ignored her and walked toward the bedroom.

There was a faint red hickey on the side of her neck.

Noticing my gaze, Kendra hastily pulled up her collar.

"Garrett, he has nothing left now. Last night, he just begged me to help him find an apartment to settle down in Chicago."

It was obvious she intended to keep seeing him long-term.

For a moment, I felt like Kendra was wrapped in a thick shell of lies.

"Kendra, let's end this."