Chapter 1

My fiancé handed me over to his worst enemy.

He did it just to get his childhood sweetheart back.

"Aurora isn't as tough as you, Olivia. One week won't kill you!" he told me.

Everyone in our circle knew his rival was a monster who found joy in hurting women.

He liked to torment them.

Afterward, just like my fiancé said, I didn't die.

But my memory was stuck at eighteen.

Eighteen-year-old me had never loved Julian Vance.

...

The sun was blinding as I walked out of Blackwood Manor.

A black luxury car pulled up in front of me.

The door opened, and a man got out.

"Ms. Hayes," the driver said. "Mr. Vance sent me to pick you up for Ms. Reed's birthday party. Please get in."

I stood frozen, my mind slow and confused.

I struggled to process his words.

"Ms. Hayes, please hurry," the driver added, sounding impatient.

He held the car door open, looking at me with a hint of contempt.

How pathetic.

A week ago, my fiancé, Julian Vance, had given me to his enemy to save his childhood sweetheart, Aurora Reed.

A week later, still for Aurora, he didn't care that I had barely survived.

He just sent a driver to fetch me.

I managed a weak smile. My voice was raspy. "I won't be going to the party," I said.

"Wish them all the best."

I was exhausted.

For seven days, every minute had been spent in terror. I was terrified I'd close my eyes and never wake up.

I went home and collapsed into bed. I fell into a deep, heavy sleep.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw Julian Vance's furious face.

He looked completely annoyed. "Why didn't you come to Aurora's birthday yesterday?" he demanded.

"Do you know how long she cried because of you!"

"And what did you mean by those things you said? I've told you countless times, Aurora and I are just friends. Stop thinking she's as dirty as you are!"

I just stared at him. For a moment, I barely recognized him.

I thought maybe seeing me, after what I'd been through, would make him feel something.

A little guilt, perhaps. Even just a polite question about how I was.

But his first reaction was to yell at me for upsetting Aurora Reed.

The cuts and bruises on my body throbbed. It felt like tiny worms gnawing at my skin, a constant reminder of how foolish the feelings I'd had for him were.

"Julian," I said quietly. "It was my birthday yesterday too."

Julian froze. A flicker of panic crossed his cold face.

When we first started dating, Julian always celebrated my birthday right at midnight. Even if he was swamped with work, he'd hand-deliver a gift to me.

Besides a gift, there were always ninety-nine bright red roses.

He said he wanted to be with me forever.

Things change. The past is just the past.

He was so worried about Aurora's birthday party being perfect that he snapped at me the second he saw me.

He didn't remember it was my birthday.

He didn't remember that I had just escaped his enemy's house.