Chapter 1

Eight years after I left the country, I'm offered a fortune to come back.

After a research symposium, I run into my ex-boyfriend, Ethan Grimsley. He proposes to me and asks me to give him another chance.

My former colleagues from the research institute immediately start cheering, all of them waiting for me to burst into tears and say yes.

After all, they remember how crazy I used to be about Ethan. Back then, there was nothing I wouldn't have done for him.

Apparently, they've forgotten what happened eight years ago. At a project showcase, I proposed to Ethan in front of everyone, only for him to turn me down without a hint of emotion.

And that wasn't all. To help Michelle Lindberg, someone he knew from grad school, win the bonus, he accused me of stealing her research in front of over 100 cameras.

I did everything I could to clear my name, but the evidence he fabricated was so convincing that every attempt to defend myself only made me look guiltier.

Then he stood by while Michelle paid to spread the scandal all over social media, turning the entire internet against me.

All those years of hard work became the biggest stain on my career, and the man I'd loved for years turned our relationship into a joke.

After that, I had no choice but to flee the country.

Now I'm back, and Ethan is down on one knee in front of me, holding out a ring with an easy smile.

"That's all in the past. I'm not angry anymore. Now that you're back, let's get married."

What he doesn't know is that I already have a husband.

Chapter 1

"Come on, Sara. You can't stay mad at Ethan forever. The second he heard you were back, he dropped everything at the lab and came straight here. He clearly still loves you."

"Ethan even kept your old lab locked up all these years. He had it cleaned regularly and never let anyone else set foot inside. Look how devoted he is to you. He's willing to put the past behind him and take you back. You shouldn't let a man like him slip away."

I glanced around at my former colleagues. They were all talking over one another, urging me to get back together with Ethan Grimsley. It was obvious they were more interested in watching the drama unfold.

Then I looked at Ethan, who was standing in front of me, asking to get back together.

None of this made any sense.

Had everyone somehow developed collective amnesia and forgotten how Ethan had falsely accused me eight years ago?

What baffled me even more was Ethan himself. He had actually asked me to marry him. I'd always assumed he would marry Michelle Lindberg, someone he knew from grad school, not long after I left.

Apparently, they had never gotten together.

But that had nothing to do with me anymore. I had a new family now. Even if I didn't, Ethan had disappointed me far too deeply for me to ever go back to him.

I gave him a cool glance, taking in the hope written all over his face, then offered him a polite but distant smile.

"Mr. Grimsley, I'm flattered you still remember what we had, but marriage is out of the question. It's been so many years. I'd almost forgotten about you."

The room erupted.

Ethan stared at me in shock. After a long moment, he finally said hoarsely, "No way."

Everyone around him looked just as stunned. After whispering among themselves, they all came to the same conclusion that I was only turning Ethan down because I was still mad at him.

Just then, Michelle finally showed up. She gave Ethan a reassuring pat on the back before turning to me with a smile.

"Sara, I know you're still upset about what happened back then, but work is work, and your relationship with Ethan is separate. You shouldn't mix the two."

I almost laughed.

Ethan had said the same thing to me eight years ago.

Back then, after graduate school, he and I applied for jobs at the same R&D company. I came out on top in the interviews, while he missed the cutoff by a single point.

He was crushed, and I hated seeing him like that. So I told the company that if they wouldn't hire Ethan, I wouldn't take the job either.

They didn't want to lose me to a competitor, and Ethan had only fallen short by one point. After some consideration, they made an exception and hired us both.

I joined the R&D department, while Ethan was assigned to compliance, where he was responsible for monitoring the labs for any violations. That technically put him in a position of authority over me.

Chapter 2

At first, Ethan was happy with the arrangement. But it wasn't long before he started worrying.

"You're my girlfriend. If you break the rules, am I supposed to look the other way or write you up? If I let it slide, I'm not doing my job. But if I report you and you end up getting docked pay or chewed out, I'd feel awful. I don't want work getting between us."

I thought he was overthinking it and told him I'd make sure I followed the rules so he'd never have to make that choice. But Ethan still wasn't convinced.

In the end, we made one rule between us. Work was work, and our relationship was separate. No matter what happened, we wouldn't let the two interfere with each other.

For a while, we stuck to it. Then one day over dinner, Ethan handed me Michelle's résumé.

He raised an eyebrow. "Your department still has one opening left for a new grad this year, right? Well, I happen to have the perfect candidate for you. No need to thank me. I'm just saving you the trouble of finding someone."

Puzzled, I looked over Michelle's academic record. She had failed five of her seven courses. I turned her down on the spot.

But Ethan kept pushing. "She just doesn't do well in school. That doesn't mean she isn't smart. Just take her on and give her a chance."

I told him it would be irresponsible to take on someone who clearly wasn't qualified.

His face fell. "But she's helped me so many times. Remember when you worked late and left me waiting in the rain for hours? She was the one who brought me an umbrella. You're my girlfriend. Shouldn't you be grateful to her for looking out for me?"

I could tell Ethan was already getting upset, but after a moment's hesitation, I still stood my ground.

"I'll take her out to dinner sometime and thank her for helping you, but I'm not going to bend the rules for her. Work is work, and our relationship is separate. Weren't we the ones who agreed not to mix the two?"

Ethan immediately lost his temper. He slammed his fork onto the table and shot to his feet.

"Rules aren't everything, Sara. Why do you have to be so rigid? Taking on one person who doesn't quite meet the requirements isn't going to bring the whole company down.

"Why can't you just give her a chance? I'm asking you one last time. Are you going to take her on or not?"

My heart hammered when I saw the fury on his face, and my whole body tensed. But I still couldn't bring myself to give in.

"We can't take her on—"

I barely got the words out before Ethan grabbed the tablecloth and yanked it off the table.

Plates and bowls went flying, sending food and soup everywhere before crashing to the floor. A shard of porcelain sliced across my cheek, and something warm trickled down my face.

Ethan acted as if he hadn't even noticed. He turned and stormed off.

That was the first time I had ever seen him lose his temper like that.

I barely remembered cleaning up the mess afterward. I was so shaken that I started second-guessing myself, wondering if maybe I had been the one in the wrong.

Just as I was about to call Ethan and try to smooth things over, he came home as if nothing had happened.

The moment he saw me, he softened his voice. "I'm sorry, Sara. I've been under a lot of pressure at work lately, and you were being so unreasonable earlier that I lost my temper. I didn't scare you, did I?"

His apology finally put me at ease. I thought he had let the whole thing go.

But not long afterward, Michelle joined my department. She dressed modestly and had a sweet, innocent face that made her look completely harmless.

Even so, something about her rubbed me the wrong way from the moment I saw her.

I asked one of my coworkers in the lab who had hired her.

She gave me a confused look. "Wasn't it you? I saw your boyfriend, Ethan, take her résumé to HR himself. He said he was submitting it on your behalf and told them she was an outstanding candidate they absolutely had to hire."

Chapter 3

I stood there stunned, unable to believe Ethan had actually gone behind my back like that. But it was already too late. No matter how angry I was, I couldn't change what had happened.

Michelle's hiring paperwork had already gone through, and she was officially part of the lab.

When I got home that night, I was so angry I couldn't bring myself to say a word.

Ethan could tell something was wrong and spoke to me in a gentle, soothing voice. "Michelle really needs this opportunity. Her family's struggling. Her mom's been bedridden for years, and she even had to borrow money just to afford grad school.

"She's been supporting herself the whole time, so she's had to miss a lot of classes. That's why she failed so many courses."

Then he showed me photos of Michelle's sick mother and the modest place she lived in.

In the end, I felt sorry for her. So I let it go.

From then on, I made time every day to help Michelle with her experiments. Whenever she ran into a problem, I showed her the best approach and did everything I could to boost her success rate so she could pass probation and earn a permanent position.

I thought that after everything I was doing for her, even if she wasn't grateful, she would at least work hard enough not to let me down.

I never imagined that helping her would be the beginning of a nightmare.

Before long, word spread throughout the company that I had made an exception to hire Michelle, and people started complaining.

I didn't think much of it. As long as Michelle proved herself with solid results, I figured the criticism would die down on its own.

But after she passed probation, she started making mistake after mistake. Somehow, her performance was even worse than before.

Ethan worked in compliance, so he knew exactly what she was doing wrong. Yet every time, he looked the other way and gave her a perfect score anyway.

Watching him blatantly rig her evaluations right in front of everyone was more than I could take. I decided to confront him about it.

Ethan kept his head down, writing his final report as if none of this mattered to him. "Michelle just started here. Of course she's going to make mistakes. I can't be too hard on someone who's new."

I wasn't convinced. "You never gave me or anyone else that kind of leeway when we were new."

If anything, Ethan had always been hardest on me. There were times when I hadn't even technically broken a rule, but he still docked points from my evaluation and fined me without hesitation.

Afterward, he would explain that he was only being so strict because he wanted me to improve. He also said he couldn't afford to show me any favoritism, or everyone else he had penalized would start complaining.

I wasn't happy about it, but I understood where he was coming from, so I accepted it.

But this time, I couldn't.

Ethan was starting to look impatient. "So you think it's unfair? Fine. I'll cut you some slack next time too. I just got promoted, and I'm still wrapping up the handover. I've still got several reports to finish, so you should get going. This isn't worth wasting any more time on."

With that, he got to his feet and jokingly ushered me out of his office.

I was frustrated. I knew he was only brushing me off because he knew he was in the wrong.

Everyone in the company knew R&D had the heaviest workload. But when I was going through my own promotion and handover, I had still made time for everything Ethan asked of me, whether it was work-related or personal.

Even during the most critical stages of an experiment, I had gone along with every one of his inspections, no matter how excessive they seemed.

But with his office door shut in my face, I had no choice but to head back to the lab.

I had barely reached the entrance when I heard someone ask, "Michelle, why does Ethan treat you so well? Isn't he Sara's boyfriend?"

Michelle scoffed. "Sara? What's so great about her? She walks around acting like she's such a big deal, like she's better than everyone else. Ethan's been sick of her for a long time. He already wants to dump her."

One of my coworkers, clearly enjoying the drama, chimed in, "Why? I think Sara's great at what she does. She hasn't even been with the company a year, and she's already been promoted twice."

Chapter 4

Michelle grew more animated as she went on. "Isn't it obvious? She has connections. Her advisor is friends with the company owner, and that's how she got her foot in the door in the first place.

"And you all keep saying she's so talented. I don't see what's so special about her. She just happened to come in first on the hiring assessment, and ever since then, everyone's acted like she can do no wrong.

"It's not like she has a great personality either. Ethan's been sick of her for a long time. He's always telling me—"

I couldn't take it anymore. I kicked the lab door open.

Everyone inside jumped and immediately scattered.

Michelle clearly hadn't expected me to come back. For a moment, she looked like she'd been caught red-handed.

I swallowed my anger and walked straight up to her. "Go on. Why'd you stop?"

She seemed to realize there was no point trying to talk her way out of it. She simply scoffed, sounding smug. "Why should I keep talking just because you tell me to? I'm not going to. What are you going to do, fire me?"

I curled my fingers into fists.

Michelle looked even more pleased with herself. "What? You want to hit me now? Sara, maybe no one's told you, but if you so much as lay a finger on me, Ethan might just break up with you."

The smugness in her voice finally pushed me over the edge. I raised my hand, but before I could bring it down, someone caught my wrist in a crushing grip.

I spun around. Ethan was standing right behind me. He had just told me he was too busy to talk, yet here he was.

"Sara, what do you think you're doing? You know company policy forbids fighting. Are you trying to lose your job?"

For a moment, relief washed over me. I quickly told him everything Michelle had just said to provoke me.

Ethan and I had been together for years. As unreasonable as he could be sometimes, he had always trusted me. He'd even trusted me with the PIN to his bank card. So I thought he would believe me.

Instead, the moment I finished, he turned to Michelle. "Is that true, Michelle?"

His voice was gentle, nothing like the way he had spoken to me.

Michelle quickly shook her head, sounding hurt. "Of course not. Sara's your girlfriend, and she's my supervisor. How could I ever treat her like that?"

After she finished, Ethan gave me a hard, questioning look, as if waiting to hear what excuse I'd come up with next.

Something inside me shattered.

Lately, Ethan had been breaking the very rules he once insisted we follow, all for Michelle. He had completely disregarded the boundaries we had agreed to keep between work and our relationship.

I was angry, but I kept telling myself he only treated Michelle differently because he felt sorry for her. Deep down, I still believed I was the one he loved.

But now, I found myself wondering if I really meant anything to him at all.

Still, I tried one last time and pointed to the coworkers nearby. "If you don't believe me, ask them. They all saw what happened."

Before any of them could answer, Ethan scoffed. "What's the point? You're their supervisor. Of course they're not going to say anything that makes you look bad."

A chill settled over me.

For days, people had been spreading rumors about me, accusing me of abusing my position for personal gain. Even I had heard them.

So had Ethan really not heard any of it, or did he just not care? Or was he deliberately using that as an excuse to cover for Michelle?

Either way, it didn't matter anymore.

As I watched Ethan go over to check on Michelle, I let out a bitter laugh. "If you don't even trust me anymore, then let's break up."

I didn't wait for anyone to react. The moment I said it, I turned and walked away.

Ethan came after me almost immediately. He called my name several times, but I ignored him.

Then he caught up to me and wrapped his arms around me from behind, his voice trembling. "Sara, all I did was say a few things, and now you want to break up with me? How can you say something so hurtful?"

Still furious, I immediately pulled free of his arms. "You don't love me anymore. What's the point of staying together?"

Chapter 5

Ethan's eyes reddened as tears welled in them.

"I've already explained it to you. I just felt sorry for Michelle and wanted to help her. Why do you have to assume there's something more going on? Sara, you say I don't trust you, but what about you?

"Do you trust me? You're doubting me too. I never thought eight years together could be so easy for you to throw away."

His voice caught, and the tears finally spilled down his cheeks.

I had only said I wanted to break up in the heat of the moment. Seeing Ethan in tears at the thought of losing me, I softened almost immediately.

Worse, part of me started to think he had a point. Maybe I really had been reading too much into everything.

I apologized quietly. Flustered and unsure what else to do, I reached up and wiped away his tears.

When Ethan saw me soften, he pulled out his phone and showed me that he'd already booked a wedding planner.

Still sniffling, he said, "I heard your project won an award three months ago, and the showcase is coming up in a few days. I was planning for you to propose to me there, at one of the biggest moments of your career, and finally introduce me to everyone as your fiancé.

"The only reason I've been spending so much time with Michelle lately is that I've been asking her what kind of wedding gift I should get you. But since you want to break up with me, I guess I should just cancel everything."

He made a show of reaching for the "Cancel" button.

Guilt hit me all at once. Without thinking, I grabbed his hand before he could go through with it, then backed out of the cancellation screen and apologized over and over.

Ethan finally smiled through his tears. "Fine. I won't cancel it. But Sara, you have to promise me one thing. You can never threaten to break up with me again."

After that day, I truly believed Ethan and I were finally going to get married. I also thought he would start keeping his distance from Michelle.

So I ignored the strange looks people gave me and tried not to let the growing rumors about Ethan and Michelle get to me.

But some things still made me angry.

One day, Michelle posted a photo of just the two of them on social media. People flooded the comments with congratulations, and she didn't correct a single one of them.

I was furious and ready to confront her, but before I could, she deleted the post herself.

So I went to Ethan instead.

He only smiled. "Why bother getting upset over something like that? Once everyone knows the truth, they'll stop talking."

I tried to take his words to heart and put the whole thing out of my mind.

After that, I threw myself into preparing my speech for the showcase and figuring out how I was going to propose to him. Between all that and work, I barely had a moment to spare.

The day I planned to propose, I noticed something was off about Ethan, but I assumed he was just nervous.

I was nervous too. In fact, I was so nervous that I nearly forgot the whole point of the showcase was to present the results of our project. I barely even noticed that there were far more reporters and photographers than usual.

Once I took the stage, I forced myself to stay calm and made it through the presentation.

Then came the moment I had been waiting for.

I tightened my grip on the ring box and walked straight toward Ethan in the front row as everyone watched in confusion. I dropped to one knee in front of him and held out the ring.

My heart pounded with nerves and excitement as I delivered the little speech I had prepared.

Finally, I asked, "Ethan, will you marry me?"

The room erupted in cheers, with people calling for him to say yes.

But when I looked at Ethan, I was startled by how calm he seemed.

After a few seconds of silence, he answered loud and clear, "No, I won't!"

My mind went blank. For a moment, I thought I had misheard him.

Before I could react, Ethan stood, took Michelle by the hand, and led her onto the stage.

"There's something everyone needs to know. Sara stole Michelle's research and passed it off as her own. Michelle deserves the credit for these results, which means the 500,000-dollar bonus should go to her too."

Chapter 6

Every camera in the room swung toward the three of us.

Ethan and Michelle stood together, while I faced them alone. I was still clutching the bouquet I had brought for my proposal, and suddenly, I felt like a complete fool.

Michelle looked at me with wounded eyes. "Sara, I really didn't want to say anything, but this project is my baby. I can't just stand here and watch someone else take it away from me."

Then, where the cameras couldn't catch it, a smug look flashed across her face.

I turned to Ethan. He stood beside her, looking furious, and my first thought was that Michelle had fooled him too.

As angry as I was, I forced myself to stay calm and turned to face the crowd. "I didn't steal anything. I can prove it."

I always saved my early drafts with timestamps. As long as I could prove that my drafts predated the final project, her accusation would fall apart.

But Michelle seemed to know exactly what I was going to do.

She pulled out her phone and brought up a set of concept sketches. "Sara, my drafts are dated even earlier than yours."

Shocked murmurs rippled through the crowd.

The moment I saw Michelle's concept sketches, my mind went blank.

I had only ever shared those ideas with Ethan. I turned to him, but he immediately looked away, too guilty to meet my eyes.

That was all the confirmation I needed. All that talk about marriage had just been a ruse. He had planned all of this just to help Michelle.

The man standing in front of me suddenly felt like a stranger.

Then Ethan spoke, and for a moment, everything around me seemed to slow. "I can prove it. For a while now, Sara has been using her position as Michelle's supervisor to make things difficult for her."

This time, the entire room erupted.

I barely remembered how I made it out of there that day with everyone whispering about me and pointing fingers.

An investigation was launched almost immediately. Then, on the very first day, the story blew up online and quickly became one of the top trending topics.

People dug up the fact that Ethan was both my boyfriend and my supervisor, which only made his accusations seem more credible.

They also found out that I had consistently given Michelle poor evaluations, while Ethan had given her top marks every time.

Before long, people claiming to be Michelle's friends started speaking up for her online, saying she had always been a model student with excellent grades and a spotless reputation.

To the public, it only seemed to confirm that I had been deliberately holding her back.

Some of my coworkers had never liked me to begin with. They comforted me to my face, then hid behind burner accounts and trashed me online.

They claimed they worked with me and that I had been targeting Michelle out of jealousy because she and Ethan had gotten too close.

I could tell Michelle and Ethan were behind all of it, but I had no way to fight back.

Before the investigation was even finished, the backlash online became so intense that the company owner called me in for a meeting.

He framed it as taking some time off, but I knew exactly what it was. They were suspending me.

That was when I finally gave up. I handed in my resignation, fled the country, and didn't come back for eight years.

"Come on, Sara. Don't stay mad at Ethan. He was wrong, but disappearing without a word wasn't exactly fair either. Besides, he's clearly serious about making things right this time."

Michelle's voice pulled me back to the present.

I came back to my senses to find Ethan, usually so cold and aloof, down on one knee in front of me, smiling as he held out a ring.

"Sara, it's all in the past now. Let's start over. Marry me—"

Before he could finish, two young voices called out at once, "Mommy, why are there so many people here?"

A boy and a girl, clearly twins, came hurrying toward me hand in hand, practically skipping with excitement.