Chapter 1

The night before my engagement party, my fiancé’s childhood friend said she had a surprise for me.

She tricked me into going to the hotel's rooftop glass conservatory, locked the door, and turned on all the sprinklers.

It was a stormy December night. Ice-cold water crashed down on my head, and the conservatory walls were all transparent glass.

Downstairs, guests held up their phones, watching me shiver in misery.

She smiled, innocent and malicious.

“Aria Hayes is always so high and mighty, isn’t she? Let everyone see what she looks like begging for mercy when she’s frozen.”

My fiancé, Ethan Vance, stood downstairs, watching me through the rain. His voice was cold.

“Just don’t kill her.”

“Someone from her small-town background needs to learn the hard way that the Vance family isn't easily impressed.”

Later, I smashed the glass and came down from the rooftop.

Wiping the blood from my face, I called my lawyer.

“Notify the board. Withdraw investments, freeze accounts, and halt all project payments for Vance Group first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Also, send tonight’s video to the police.”

“Unlawful imprisonment, intentional assault, invasion of privacy—don’t miss a single charge.”