Chapter 1
On Isabella Bennett’s birthday, she waited all night. But Dominic Hinton never rehired.
His first love Chloe Winslow was marrying the infamous playtiny in their circle Inday.
He couldn’t bare her ruin her life and rush off to stop the wedding
With swellen eyes, she sat alone in the living room all night. By morning, she received a call from an unfamiliar number.
me.]]
Tabella Bennett, marry me.
Hearing that nonchalant tone, Isabella Instanty pictured the man of cynicisin. The very playboy Dominic’s precious Chloe was supposed to marry.
“Lucas Montgomery?“]
Your fance stole my bride.” Incas Ighed with machiel “So I’m here to steal his Fairs fair, right? |
Isabella fell silent for a moment then shook her head slightly. Seems fair enough.
On the other end. Lucas arched an eyebrow and sald confidently.
Perfect 11 arrange andther wedding in fifteen days. Get yourself a dress and 1
Then the line went dead.
I wait for me to marry you.
Trabells stared at the cold dinner spread across the table, tears suddenly welling in her eyes.
She never imagined that after all these years of waiting, she’d finally received a proposal.]
But the proposal wasn’t from Dominic. The groom wasn’t Dominic |
And the man she’d be marrying wasn’t Dominic either.|||
–
Isabella had known Thomini for ten years. And she had fallen hard for him at first sight |
It was at the opening ceremony of their first year of high school. Dominie stood at the podium as the student representative.
Sunlight filtered through the hall’s floor–to–ceiling windows, casting golden hab around his sharply defined profile.
Girls throughout the auditorium whispered excitedly as they snuck photos
nut Isabella just stood in the shadows at the back of the ball.]]
Back then, Dominic was the golden boy of the high school.
Always top of his dass, winning guld medals in competitions, even the way he rolled up his sleeves playing basketball exuded that subde hint of cedar cologne–every gesture screaming old money and privilege
She was different worlds apart from him, just an ordinary scholarship student
And this boy that every girl in school worshipped His eyes only ever followed one person.[]
Chloe Winslow, his childhood sweetheart.
labella had witnessed him organizing Chloe’s notes in the library, seen him drape his jacket over Chloe when she got caught in the rain, watched him search the entire city for a limited–edition CD Cline had casually mentioned.
Later, she heard their families were old friends with an arranged marriage in the works.
Then came the samuner after graduation, news broke that the tinton Group had collapsed overnight.||
The same Mr. Hinton who once drove a Rolls–Royce to parent teacher conferences had jumped from the Hinton tower.[]
The next day, Chloe flew off to France. [
Dominic was left alone to shoulder the immense debt, working tirelessly every day to repay it. His life became a blur of exhaustion and despair.[
That night, bashells found Dominic passed out drunk in an alley behind a her.[]
His expensive shirt was wrinkled and his eyes bloodthol–like an abandoned dog||
She mouched down to help
Bat he grabbed her wrist, the stench of alcohol and blood hitting her fare, ||
Who the fuck are your
“Isabella Bennett,” she whispered. “We go to the same school. You probably don’t remember…]
mut he let her take him home anyway.||
That night, Dominic was like n feral mulmal. He plused her so the narrow bod in her tiny shudio apartment and kissed her until her lips went numb
Later, she knew that just thirty minutes before she found him, Chloe had updated her Instagram-||
A photo showing her kissing her new boyfriend honed the Eiffel Tower:||
The next morning, Dominic offered intake responsibility for her.]]
frentually, he moved into her cramped 200 square foot studio. They held each other for warmth, surviving the toughest days together[]
hot babella know, mafi though she’d researd this fallen prince, his heart was never truly hers
He never forgot Chine
she’d caught him staring at Chloe’s photos in the middle of the night, watched him eat nothing but sandwich for three straight months to save for a plane ticket in Paris, seen him rush out the door on her birthday after receiving a text from Chloe
Yet she remained hopelessly devoted
She stayed up
p with him revising his resume, scompanied his as he dropped off job applications door–to–door, faced off with debt collectors.
During their toughest times, she seedy sold the only gold ring her mother had left her, just to buy him a decent suit for interviews.]
Eventually, he started remembering she liked sugar in her coffee. He would text her to remind her to eat dinner while she worked late and gently drape a coal over her when she fell asleep.
She thought she’d finally thawed his frozen hear
Meanwhile, he rose from the ashes, becoming once again the darling prince of high society.
Jast when everything seemed to be heading in the right direction, Chloe returned from France
And everything went back to square one.
He’d race his car to the airport at midnight to pick her up. []
He’d throw a welcome back party for her like nothing ever happened. ||
And the moment for heard the was getting married? He dropped everything to crash it without hesitation.
Seven years lalella had given him everything, and still couldn’t compete with Chloe’s simple “I’m back.”
Finally, she was exhausted. Her love had run dry||
Isabella stood up and started packing.
One by one, everything went into garbage bags-[]
The trash truck happened to pull up just then. She watched as workers tossed her bags onto the truck–along with seven years of foolish dreams What are you throwing away?”
The front door suddenly swung open, and Duminic’s voice came from behind her
Isabella didn’t turn around, her voice eerily calm. “Just some useless shit.“||
Then she looked up at him. “Just cleaning the house. Got rid of things that didn’t matter anymore.”
Those few simple words made Dominic’s expression change instantly. He shoved her aside and charged into the house.
“Who the hell gave you permission to touch my things?
He ransacked the place, his face growing darker by the second
After tearing
g apart the entire study without finding what he was looking for, he holted outside
As they passed each other, Dominic accidentally knocked Isabella down.
She stumbled, smashing her forehead against the doorframe. Blond immediately streamed down her face
Worried he’d lost something Important, she didn’t even stop to treat her wound before rushing after him.
Then she witnessed the most absurd scene of her life-
Dominic Hinton, the same man with severe germaphobla–was on his knees in a pile of garbage, frantically digging through trash]
Seeing his desperation guilt welled up inside her.
“The trash truck already took everything’s at the dung by now. I swear, it was all mine–1 probably mixed in some of your stuff by accident. I’m… I’m sorry.” Only then did Dominic notice her injury.
He froze and reached toward her face, then pulled back. I was in a hurry. I didn’t mean to
Once they were both in the car, Isabella finally asked. “What did you lose? Was it important?
Dominic gripped the steering wheel tightly. He was quiet for a long time.
was a necklace. I used to send it out for deaning every month,”
Isabella’s breath caught tears welling in her eyes.
That necklace was the taken Dominic and Chloe had exchanged when they got engaged.
No wonder he was so desperate
