Chapter 1

My mother was in a car accident and needed emergency care, so I took the jar of gold beans Ernest Tanner had given me and went to trade them in for cash.

But when they tested them with a high-temperature gun, the gold beans burst apart into little kernels of popcorn.

Frozen in disbelief, I contacted Ernest again and again.

Please, transfer me five hundred thousand to save my mother!

I'll hand over the project I'm working on to Irene!

Every message sank like a stone. I frantically flagged a cab and rushed to his company.

The moment I got downstairs, the police stopped me.

"Miss Swanson, you're suspected of stealing gold worth one million."

"Come with us."

My eyes went blank. I hadn't even processed it yet.

Irene pulled out one gold-bean purchase certificate after another.

"These gold beans were all bought in my name. You stole them and cashed them out on your own—tell that to the police!"

Tears running down my face, I helplessly dialed Ernest's number.

Thirty-eight calls, every one of them cut off after nine rings.

As my trembling finger pressed the thirty-ninth call, my phone suddenly received the notice of my mother's death.

"Geraldine Swanson, have you made up your mind?"

The call connected, and Ernest's icy voice came through.

I pressed a hand to my slightly rounded belly and stepped into the police car.

"I have."

"Let's break up."

1

After seven days locked up at the police station, Ernest finally came to bail me out.

"The project you were handling already missed the signing deadline, so I handed it straight over to Irene."

"Geraldine Swanson, this is what you get for defying me!"

Ernest's brows knotted as he finished, furious.

I didn't take in a single word.

All I could hear was a ringing in my ears.

My mother's body had been kept at the hospital for seven days.

All I wanted now was to lay her to rest.

"Geraldine Swanson!"

"Did you hear me?!"

"Starting today, you're demoted!"

"Hand every project you have over to Irene, immediately!"

Ernest grabbed my wrist, the anger in his voice impossible to hold back.

Pain shot through my wrist, but I didn't question him, didn't make a scene.

"Ernest, I need to make a trip to the hospital morgue."

"The morgue?"

"Geraldine Swanson, what excuse are you trying to pull this time?!"

"Is your mother really dead?!"

"Irene told me everything—you cashed out that whole jar of gold beans!"

"If you're a gold digger, then just be one. Why make up some car-accident excuse?"

"Aren't you afraid you'll really curse your mother to death?"

When Ernest mentioned the gold beans, a mocking smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Geraldine Swanson, do you know what you've thrown away?"

"My family had already agreed to let us marry. That jar of gold beans was the final test."

"And the result is obvious—you're not worthy at all!"

Every word a jab.

Ernest's eyes were filled with disappointment and rage.

He yanked the ring off my finger.

"This was our token of love. I'd sooner throw it to a beggar than give it back to you!"

I'd worn that ring for seven years; it had long since become part of my body.

Ernest wrenched it off, and the pain felt like a finger snapping.

"Ernest, did you ever really love me...?"

I murmured the question aloud.

I thought back over the ten years I'd spent chasing after him.

From a small town to Metropolis City.

From a fresh young girl to someone worn out in body and soul.

To pursue him, I gave up nearly everything.

His family didn't approve of us being together.

So I set out to prove I was good enough for him.

I fought through one hurdle after another to get into the company.

He said we couldn't make our relationship public.

So I kept it hidden for five years, never daring to let a single word slip.

I poured my heart and soul into clawing my way up at that company.

That was how I earned my position and my big projects.

And now he wanted me to hand it all to Irene, to grovel and please her.

All because Irene could put in a good word for me in front of his parents.

"Geraldine Swanson, what did you say?"

Ernest frowned and leaned down, trying to catch what I was saying.

The next second, Irene's voice suddenly appeared.

"Ernest, I can't keep it from your parents any longer."

"Once they found out Geraldine had been taken to the police station, they absolutely refused to let you two marry..."

Brows drawn in distress, Irene hadn't finished speaking.

I cut her off, my voice hoarse.

"Ernest and I have already broken up."