Tears welled in my eyes, but I held them back. I asked, "What do you want then?"

Frederick hesitated. He looked as if he didn't know how to put it into words.

"Frederick, you promised me," Florence said as she looked at him with pitiful puppy eyes.

He let out a sigh and turned to me. "Florrie had always wanted to enter the International Gemstone Design Competition, but she never had a strong enough piece. The collection you've been working on is good. I told her that she could use it."

"No. Absolutely not!" That collection was my heart and soul. I had poured five years of inspiration and countless sleepless nights into those designs. They were important to me!

Frederick had asked me to show it to him, saying that they looked good. That was the only reason I let him see them. Who gave him the right to give them away?

However, Frederick didn't care about my feelings. "It doesn't matter if you agree or not. I'm submitting the designs under Florrie's name."

I was livid. "If you do that, I'll report her for plagiarism!"

"The originals are with me. You deleted the photo backups, didn't you? What proof do you have? Listen, Lizzy. You wronged her. Think of this as a way to make up for it," he calmly said.

His words hit me like a bucket of ice water had been poured all over me. My body went cold.

All this time, I thought that Florence may have manipulated him. Even at his worst, all I ever felt was disappointment.

But at that moment, I loathed him. He had asked me for the originals. He even told me to delete the backups, and I did. I never would have imagined that he had been planning this all along.

However, what he didn't know was that I had signed every single one of those design sheets with invisible ink. My name was on every single page.

Was he trying to build Florence up as some design prodigy using my work? Dream on.

The day the awards were announced would also be the day her theft came to light.

I bit back the fury and bitterness and said coldly, "It seems like you've already made up your mind, Mr. Kirby. Why even bother asking me? But remember, this is it. We're done. I don't owe you anything anymore."

I had never addressed him that way. All this time, I had always called him Freddy.

His brows furrowed, and he looked like he wanted to respond.

However, Florence whined that she wasn't feeling well, and all his attention snapped right back to her. He and Lennon both rushed to comfort her like two idiots competing to see who could coddle her more.

There was a time when I would have felt crushed seeing that. But now, it just made me sick. An emotionally unfaithful boyfriend, and a childhood friend who nearly got me killed over a two-faced snake. Both of them made me sick to the core!

I pushed past the discomfort and walked out of the room.

The second I stepped out, I couldn't hold it in anymore. I doubled over, clutched my chest, and threw up so hard that it felt like I was being torn apart.

How could I have even considered staying here for people like them?

That night, my mom sent over the wedding schedule and asked, "How does it look, sweetie?"

"It looks fine." I didn't care how the wedding went as long as it helped my family and got me out of Hemdeen.

I stayed in the hospital for a week while Frederick and Lennon were just next door, doting on Florence the entire time. We were barely a few feet away, yet they never came to check on me once.

However, I no longer cared.

The moment I was discharged, I went straight home and started packing my belongings. All I wanted was to leave this place behind for good.

I put every gift Frederick and Lennon had ever given me up for sale on a secondhand site, then made plans to have one last meal with my best friend.

"What? You're going back to Bimern to get married and never coming back? Do Frederick and Lennon know? Would they even allow it?" At the restaurant, Jennifer Goulding was so shocked that she dropped her piece of meat.

I couldn't blame her. Anyone who knew me well knew that Frederick and Lennon had always been the two most important people in my life.

I served her some more lamb. "They don't know. And I don't plan on telling them."

Jennifer poked at her food, stunned at first. However, her expression shifted to delight. "After everything they did for that witch? Hurting you over and over like that? Good! Leaving them is the best thing you've ever done.

"And you're right not to say anything. Don't give those scumbags a chance to ruin it. When's the wedding?"

"Five days from now. My mom just sent over a few wedding dress options. Could you help me—"

I didn't even get to finish my sentence when Frederick stormed over, panic written all over his face. He questioned, "What wedding dress? Who's getting married?"

Florence trailed behind him, biting her lip. "Maybe she's trying to force your hand because you never proposed."

Frederick frowned and said, "Lizzy, we're still young. I wasn't planning to get married this early."

It was almost comical, the way he backed away so quickly. After all, he used to be the one who couldn't stop talking about getting married the second we were old enough, worried that I would fall in love with somebody else.

Now, he was acting as though the idea of marrying me was something to avoid at all costs.

I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat and forced a neutral tone as I said, "It's for a friend. Not me."

He let out a breath of relief, then walked off with Florence.

"Ugh. Scumbag. I think he still cares about you, but I hope he finds out that you're marrying someone else and regrets it for the rest of his life!" Jennifer snapped.

I held up my phone and enlarged the photos of the wedding dresses. "Forget about him. Which dress and bridesmaid gown do you think looks better?"

After meeting with Jennifer, I planned to pack and head back to Bimern for the wedding. With just a few more days to go, I thought I could at least get through them in peace.

However, soon after Frederick and Florence left the restaurant, footage of the two of them entering a hotel room with Lennon started circulating online. Lennon was a B-list actor with a decent following, so it didn't take long for the topic to trend online.

Jennifer and I had just picked out the dresses when the news alert popped up on my screen. "Frederick hasn't even broken up with you, and he's already doing this? What is wrong with him?

"Lizzy, are you okay? Please, don't bottle it up. It's not worth getting sick over." She was worried about me.

I exited the alert and simply said, "It used to hurt, but not anymore." If I still cared about Frederick, I would've lost my mind a long time ago.

At this point, whether he or Lennon wanted Florence no longer mattered to me. Even if the three of them ended up tangled together, it had nothing to do with me.

However, on my way home, I began to notice people staring and whispering. A few men looked at me in a way that made my skin crawl, as if they were mentally undressing me.

I had no idea what was going on until a news push notification popped up. Photos of me, Frederick, and Lennon from over the years were plastered online, with headlines claiming I was the real third in their alleged throuple, not Florence.

They were the only ones with those photos besides me. It seemed that they had thrown me under the bus.

Then Florence posted a carefully worded message on her social media account, not naming names, but heavily implying that I was a promiscuous woman who couldn't keep my hands off other men.

Now, everyone thought I was the main character of some messed-up three-way relationship.

I thought the past three years had hardened me enough to face anything calmly. However, the moment I saw those photos, I still felt my blood boil at the shamelessness of the people I once held dear.

I went home looking for either Lennon, Frederick, or Florence, yet none of them were there. So I pulled on a hat and mask and headed straight to the Kirby estate.

Florence had made it to the final round of the International Gemstone Design Competition using my work, and Frederick and Lennon were throwing her a party to celebrate.

"You aren't invited to my celebration. Get out before I call security!" Florence stood in front of me in the custom gown she had stolen from me.

She used to be cautious around me, afraid I might record her, always acting sweet, even when we were alone. Now? She didn't even bother hiding it.

I swallowed my anger and said, "Don't bother. I won't stay long. I just have one question. You were the one in that hotel room with them, so why throw me under the bus? I gave you both of them. I even handed over the designs I spent five years creating. Isn't that enough for you?"

After I went missing as a child, my parents adopted Florence. She got to live my lavish life, but I never resented her for it.

Even after I was found, I never tried to take anything back from her. So why? What did I ever do to her to deserve this constant cruelty?

At my words, her expression twisted with rage. "Gave? Don't make yourself sound noble. I took them because I could. Because you refused to marry that vegetable, I had to."

"Mom and Dad never planned to make you marry him," I said.

"Oh, please. Do you think I believe that? The Johnson family was out of money, and only the Coleman family could help. The Johnsons wouldn't send their precious daughter, so it's natural that they'd send me. Really generous, huh? What a load of crap!" Florence snapped.

Mom and Dad had treated her well, yet this was what she thought of them. My vision blurred with fury. "Florence, you—"

Before I could finish my thought, she screamed, flopped to the ground, and started sobbing. Her wine glass shattered beside her.

Then Lennon shoved me hard, sending me crashing to the floor. "Elizabeth! How many times have I told you to stay away from Florrie? Keep this up, and you can get out of my house. Go back to being the unwanted orphan no one cared about."

My head slammed into the wall, and my vision blurred. My palm landed on a shard of glass, splitting the skin wide open. The pain stole my breath, but Lennon didn't even spare me a glance. He picked Florence up in his arms and walked away.

Fredrick saw this and came over, not to help me, but to make sure I didn't cause a scene.

The usual polite and gentle Frederick dragged me out of the party, saying, "Lizzy, this is Florrie's night. Don't ruin it, alright? It's just a few designs. You can always draw more."

That was five years of my life. I had worked tirelessly on it, pouring my heart and soul into every detail. How many sets of five years do we even get?

I pushed him aside and snapped, "I'm not here because of the designs. I came because of the trending news. She was the one pictured at that hotel. So why am I taking the fall?"

"Keep your voice down! Florrie is about to win an international design award. If people find out that she was at a hotel with two men, her reputation will be ruined."

Frederick was my boyfriend. He was involved in a threesome with another woman, threw me under the bus, and never once felt the slightest guilt. Instead, he blamed me.

I looked at him with disgust. "What about me? Do I not have a reputation to protect?"

"You're not the one winning awards. A little gossip won't kill you. Besides, I'll marry you and take care of you," he said casually, as if that were a trivial matter.

Ever since the flood, he had been hurting me for her like it was the most natural thing in the world.

I looked at that familiar face, which now felt like a stranger.

Perhaps even he realized what a piece of garbage he sounded like because he avoided my gaze. "Suit yourself, Lizzy. But if you cause any more trouble, I'm breaking up with you."

"Then we're done." It wasn't the first time I had said it.

He thought that I would come crawling back, as I always did. So he just walked away, as if nothing had happened.

Through the glass, I saw Florence holding a trophy, standing between Frederick and Lennon, basking in the recognition and affection. It was the celebration that should have been mine.

Florence caught me watching and shot me a smug look.

A second later, my phone buzzed. It was a text message from Florence.

Florence: "You grew up with two men and still couldn't win either of their hearts? That's just sad. Watching you cry is honestly hilarious. You're so ugly when you cry.

"Oh, by the way. Your little designs might win me gold. Are you mad yet? But it doesn't matter. You're not getting them back. And as for that hotel drama? You'll just keep taking the fall!"

She deleted the message right after she sent it, like she always did.

I clutched my phone tighter, telling myself to hold on. Let's see if she would still be that smug once her plagiarism was exposed!

As for that hotel stunt, I refused to take the fall. I called my private investigator. I wanted him to dig out the deleted hotel footage.

"I'm on it. I've already gathered some of the false accusations she made against you. There's a lot, and it might take a few more days to sort through them," the private investigator told me.

"That's fine. There's no rush. Just send it through when it's ready," I replied.

I had hired one of the best investigators money could buy, hoping to prove that Florence had set me up and clear things with Frederick and Lennon.

However, after Lennon kicked me into the pool and Frederick left me to drown, I didn't care what they thought about me anymore.

Since I no longer cared about them, I wasn't in a hurry to obtain the materials either. I smiled bitterly, slid my phone back into my pocket, and returned home.

Most of my things were already packed. I intended to walk away without leaving the slightest mark. Whatever I wanted to keep, I took. I threw away or sold the rest.

In the end, all I had was a single 20-inch suitcase, a thick photo album, and a glass jar full of colorful paper cranes.

The photo album held years of pictures of me, Lennon, and Frederick. They once said that we would take at least a hundred photos a year, so we would have something to look back on when we were old. However, they had already broken that promise for three years.

The paper cranes had been a gift from them. They told me that each one held a wish.

When I pulled them out years ago, begging them to believe that I was innocent, they had crushed the paper cranes under their feet and told me to grow up.

I took the album and the jar outside, stacked them, and set them on fire.

"What are you doing?" Lennon had arrived just in time to watch it all burn.