Chapter 1

On our fourth anniversary, my girlfriend told me she had to work late at the office.

Instead, I accidentally ran into her downtown—shopping with another guy.

She wrapped her arms around him, ordered a million-dollar private fireworks display over the skyline just to make him smile, handed him a limited-edition Rolex, and even gave him the keys to a brand-new Maybach just as a daily runaround car.

Her eyes were filled with nothing but tenderness as she whispered to him,

"Hunter, from now on, whatever you want, it's yours. Okay?"

"Just say the word, and I'll find a way to pluck the stars from the sky for you."

I looked down at the ten-dollar clearance belt she had handed me before leaving this morning.

Then I looked at the ridiculous plastic watch on my wrist, something bought from the dollar store. A bitter sting washed over my throat.

Over the past four years, I gave her everything I had.

When she cried and told me she had drowned herself in massive debt, I didn't hesitate for a single second. I emptied my entire savings account to cover her losses.

I even took the entire loan under my own name.

To pay off that crushing mountain of debt, I turned myself into an emotionless, tireless machine.

Only now did I realize that she had been playing me for a fool from the very beginning.

She didn't blink an eye when throwing millions at another man.

Yet when it came to me, she pinched every single penny.

Since she fell out of love with me long ago, it was time for me to disappear from her world completely.

Battered and exhausted, I returned to our rundown studio apartment.

Seeing the sweet, handmade decorations around the room made my eyes burn even more.

This was supposed to be our home—a cozy little sanctuary built by me and Chloe Sterling.

Even though every piece of furniture here was cheap, I used to cherish it all.

Because I loved her. I wanted to build a stable life for us in this city, to finally give her a place of our own.

I sacrificed my health and sanity for that dream.

When Chloe broke down in tears, confessing she was buried under overwhelming debt, I immediately emptied every cent of my savings and signed off on the loan papers myself.

To clear that debt, I took on four jobs a day, grinding myself down into dust.

For four whole years, I never took a single day off.

Every morning before dawn, I carried heavy crates of milk, dragging my worn-out body through gloomy stairwells on my delivery route.

After dropping off the last bottle, I barely had time to swallow two bites of bread before rushing to my professor's laboratory. I spent hours running data, cleaning equipment, and finishing project reports.

During my lunch break, I ran straight to a noisy, dusty construction site.

I hauled heavy bags of concrete up rickety scaffolding, trip after trip. My shoulders bled raw, sweat and blood soaking through my shirt, but I never dared to stop.

At night, with my body aching down to the bone, I worked in the cramped kitchen of a late-night diner, flipping burgers, washing greasy dishes, and wiping tables.

The smoke stung my eyes. My hands were covered in painful grease burns.

Still, I gritted my teeth and pushed through. I had only one thought: every extra dollar brought me closer to clearing that debt.

Once the debt was gone, Chloe and I could finally buy our own place, living safely and peacefully together.

Only today did I learn that she was never broke to begin with.

I picked up a cheap little plush doll sitting by the pillow. A wave of sick irony washed over me.

She could blow millions on skyline fireworks for the boy in her arms. She could casually toss him the keys to an exotic Maybach without batting an eye.

I couldn't sleep. I just sat on the edge of the mattress in the dark, waiting for Chloe to come back.

Three hours later, the sound of a key turning in the lock broke the silence.

"Logan? Why are you still awake? Don't you have early morning deliveries tomorrow? You'll collapse if you keep doing this!"

Chloe's voice sounded soft and caring as she stepped inside. Under the dim hall light, she looked like an innocent angel in the night.

Seeing her back in that cheap, faded puffer jacket, my vision blurred.

It felt surreal—as if the glamorous woman wrapped in a designer white coat, holding another man earlier tonight, was just a nightmare.