Chapter 1
At twenty-three, I borrowed a million dollars to start my own business.
By thirty-one, my company was worth over three billion dollars.
During those eight years, I proposed to Julia Stone four times.
She always said, "Let's wait. The timing isn't right."
I thought she was waiting for me to be good enough for her.
Until that day.
Her best friend posted a photo of a sunset in Paradise Isles.
Julia was leaning on a man's shoulder, her smile lighting up her whole face.
The caption read: "She finally found the right person."
The timing was never the issue.
It was that I wasn't the one.
On the day my company went public, Julia blocked my car in a white dress.
Her eyes were rimmed with red, and her lips quivered.
I rolled down the window and smiled at her.
I asked, "Ms. Stone, could you please step aside?
"The future Mrs. Hawthorne is waiting for me at City Hall."
*****
The September breeze drifted through the half-open window, rustling the stack of contracts on the desk.
Charles Hawthorne sat motionless in his office, staring at his phone.
A social media post filled the screen.
It was from Emily.
In the photo, Julia wore a white spaghetti-strap dress, her head resting on a man's shoulder.
Behind them, the Paradise Isles sunset painted the sea in gold and crimson.
She smiled, her eyes crinkling happily, as her fingers playfully tugged at the man's collar.
The caption read: "She finally found the one. Eight years in the making, totally worth it."
Eight years.
Charles stared at the words, his fingers tightening into a fist.
Eight years ago, back when he was living on instant noodles in a rented apartment, Julia had told him, "I don't care if you have money or not."
Six years ago, when he first proposed, Julia had simply smiled and shaken her head. "Why rush? We're still young."
Four years ago, after his company landed its Series A funding, he asked again. She said, "Let's wait until the business is more established."
Two years ago, when his net worth cleared a hundred million dollars, he pushed the ring toward her for the fourth time.
She lowered her head, her voice barely a whisper. "Just a little longer. The timing isn't right."
And he had believed her.
Every single time, he fell for it.
Charles locked his phone, unlocked it, and locked it again.
He repeated the motion three times.
When Jack pushed the door open, he saw Charles still sitting motionless in his chair, his face as pale as a sheet.
"Charles, the team from Summit Capital is here. You—" Jack started, but cut himself off.
He froze the moment Charles looked up.
There was no anger, no sadness in Charles's eyes.
Just a quiet stillness.
Like something had been ripped right out of him.
"Jack," Charles said.
"Yeah?" Jack replied.
"Find out everything you can about this guy," Charles said, handing over his phone with the photo still on the screen. "I want to know everything about the man in this picture."
Jack took the phone, his eyes widening.
He recognized the woman in the photo.
Julia.
The woman Charles had spent eight years waiting for.
"Charles..." Jack hesitated.
"Three days," Charles said, standing up to button his suit jacket and straighten his tie. "Let's go meet the team from Summit Capital."
His voice was steady, his steps unwavering, as if nothing had happened at all.
Jack followed behind, his hand trembling slightly as he gripped the phone.
He'd been with Charles for nine years.
Ever since the early days, back when they were borrowing from loan sharks just to get the business off the ground.
He'd never seen Charles look like this.
It wasn't anger.
It was the look of someone ripping something out of his heart, roots and all.
It was quiet.
It was absolute.
In the conference room, the vice president of Summit Capital was flipping through the financial reports.
Charles walked in with a perfectly composed smile, shook hands, exchanged pleasantries, and took his seat.
He kept it together the entire time, never showing a single crack.
No one could tell that just five minutes ago, his world had shattered.
Halfway through the meeting, his phone buzzed.
It was a text from Julia.
Julia: [Honey, what do you want for dinner tonight? I'll pick up groceries after work.]
She added a heart emoji.
Charles stared at the screen for three seconds.
Then he placed his phone face down on the table.
"Mr. Hawthorne?" the Summit Capital VP asked, giving him a puzzled look.
"It's nothing," Charles said, looking up with the same composed smile. "Let's keep going."
That night, Charles didn't go home.
He stayed at the office all night.
There was a file lying open in front of him.
It wasn't a contract, and it wasn't a financial report.
It was a printout of screenshots of every text thread he'd ever shared with Julia over the past eight years.
He went through them, one by one.
Every time he said, "Let's get married," she always had a different excuse.
"Just wait a little longer."
"No rush."
"You've been so busy lately."
"Let's wait until things settle down."
Back then, he thought she was just being considerate.
But now, every single one of those words felt like a dull knife.
It wasn't a quick stab.
It was like being cut over and over, slowly, slice after slice.
For eight years.
At three in the morning, a text from Jack popped up.
Jack: [Found him. Andrew Chenfield, the younger son of Chenfield Realty. Julia's first photo with him dates back three years.]
Three years ago.
He crushed his cigarette into the ashtray.
That was the third time he had asked her to marry him.
That was the year she said, "Let's wait until you're more settled."
That was also when she suddenly started traveling for work all the time.
Charles sank back into his chair and closed his eyes.
Outside, the city was ablaze with lights, the traffic streaming endlessly.
When he was twenty-three and scraping together money to start his company, Julia was right there by his side.
When he was stuck in a cramped apartment, she was right there with him, sharing that rented space.
When he was eating instant noodles for dinner, she ate them right alongside him.
He had always felt that, in this life, she was the one he owed the most.
That was why he pushed himself so hard.
That was why he made sure she always had the best of everything.
So when she said, "Just wait a little longer," he waited.
He thought that was love.
But now, he finally understood.
She wasn't waiting for him.
She was just waiting for a better option.
And he was nothing more than the safety net.
Charles opened his eyes.
Whatever warmth had lingered in his gaze was gone, replaced by an icy coldness.