Chapter 1

My fiancé thinks I'm the easiest girl in the world to make cry.

He's not wrong.

I cry when my fiancé comes home late.

I cry when he refuses to kiss me.

I cry even harder when he kisses me too much.

Tonight his phone lights up with an emergency call from the office. My lips start to tremble. Tears pool before I can stop them—

And then I remember the post.

The anonymous one. The one I'd stumbled across on the gossip forum a few days ago.

Some user claiming to know a stranger's entire future. Normally, I'd scroll past.

But the details were too specific.

The arranged marriage into old money. The crybaby fiancée who couldn't stop clinging. The fiancé who tolerated her out of obligation.

It was me. Every single line.

I told myself it was nonsense. I kept scrolling.

＞Cry all day. That's all she does. You can see how sick of it the male lead is.

＞He hates clingy vines like her. She only got this arranged marriage because his family owes hers a debt.

＞Relax. He's about to meet the real female lead at the office. They'll fall for each other on sight. The crybaby side character will lose her mind with jealousy, get hit by a truck, and her family goes bankrupt. Happy ending.

I freeze mid-sob.

That comments loop in my head, loud and impossible to ignore.

I scramble off him.

"Hey. Go ahead. The company's more important."

Lucas Langford stares up at me.

His breathing is uneven. His face is smudged with my lipstick.

His wrists are still cuffed—the leather ones I'd cried for half an hour to talk him into wearing.

The first time I handed him that see-through V-neck and those cuffs, his face went so dark it looked homicidal.

I'd cried for those, too.

I told him my best friend's husband wore exactly that to bed every night. "It makes his pecs look insane. Some girls have all the luck."

Lucas's face got even worse.

But he put them on.

Now his voice comes out low and rough. "You sure you want me to go?"

His eyes search mine. Probing.

I nod and I can feel the tears threatening.

"Then unlock me." His tone goes cold.

I scramble for the cuffs. My fingers shake.

I keep thinking about the comments.

About how I'm supposed to die because I prevented his destined marriage.

I can’t get the cuffs off. The more I panic, the closer I am to tears.

He sighs. His voice softens.

"Jen. If you don't want me to go, you can tell me—"

"It's open." The cuff is off. I shove the shirt at him, swallowing the sob.

"I'll be fine. Drive safe."

Lucas pauses.

He doesn't say anything.

Maybe he really does hate me.

When he takes the shirt, his fingers avoid mine.

He's dressed in seconds. The tailored suit transforms him—wide shoulders, narrow waist, silver-rimmed glasses catching the light.

"Don't wait up."

I smile. "Go."

His jaw tightens. He opens the door and leaves without a word.

The slam echoes harder than usual.

Every tear I'd been holding back comes crashing down.

I call my mother. My voice cracks on the first syllable.

"Mom… I want a different fiancé."

"What happened, sweetheart?"

I can't tell her the truth.

Can't tell her Lucas is going to fall in love with someone else. That I'll get hit by a truck. That he'll bankrupt our family afterward.

Not exactly something I can say out loud — Mom, I read it on a gossip forum.

"He doesn't like me," I mumble.

She goes quiet.

"Okay, baby. You don't have to do anything you don't want to. I'll talk to your father. Don't cry, okay?"

"Okay."

I wipe my eyes.

The bed is cold beside me.

The forum's not wrong. My family is new money. Dad won the lottery when I was seven, made some smart investments, and suddenly we were running in the same circles as Kingsfield's old-money families.

Before that, I drooled over cheap sausages from street carts.

The Langfords are old money. One of the oldest in Kingsfield. Their connections run through every old name in the city.

Lucas is the eldest grandson of the main branch. Groomed as heir since birth. Composed. Decisive. Ruthless. He took over the family business while most people his age were still figuring out their majors.

They say my family did the Langfords some favor. A debt of gratitude.

No one ever told me what it was.

I don't even remember meeting Lucas before he showed up at our house a month ago and proposed.

At first I spent thirty seconds wondering if it was a romance scam.

Every doubt I had melted the second I saw his face.

*Sign me the hell up.*

And we have a one-month trial period. If I wasn't happy, I could walk away. No strings.

Back then I thought he was being sweet.

Now I know the truth.

He doesn't like me. He just wanted to help his family pay off a debt.

Three days left until I can leave without breaking the agreement.

I don't want to be a side character in someone else's love story.

So I won't cry anymore.

I'll walk away first.