My girlfriend was getting married, and I didn't find out until the day before.

“You invited everyone? Everyone but me?”

She twirled in her wedding dress. “Babe, you know my whole brand is anti-marriage. The wedding has to be solo—just me. If we actually got married, we'd both get torn apart online.”

She rubbed her stomach without a care in the world. “It's your baby. What more do you want?”

She kissed me with a smile, then pulled out her phone and asked me to pay the remaining hundred thousand for the banquet.

The second I finished the transfer, a messaging app chat window I'd never seen popped up on my phone. The sender claimed to be my future son.

"Dad, you need to go save Mom right now—she's about to get forced into marrying some old guy again."

I frowned. My girlfriend wouldn't even marry me. How was she getting forced into marrying some old man?

I was about to lock the screen when another message came through.

"Oh wait, I forgot—you're still being played by that gold digger. The baby she's carrying isn't yours, and she already got a courthouse marriage with your best friend!"

……

The words hit like ice water dumped over my head. I couldn't believe it.

Ruby and I had been together for five years. I had never noticed a single thing off about her.

She was already sitting on the couch, livestreaming with a bright smile. “Why marry myself? Because I'm an independent woman. I can give myself everything I……”

She talked effortlessly into the camera, not a flicker of guilt on her face.

I told myself the messages were a prank. But once the doubt took root, I couldn't stop it.

This person claiming to be my future son said she'd been with my best friend all along.

I only had one best friend.

When Ruby went to take a shower, I picked up her phone.

We trusted each other completely. We never looked through each other's phones.

Her phone was clean—too clean, the kind of clean that's trying to hide something. I ran a tech company. I recognized a hidden second system the moment I saw one.

The pinned contact on her hidden messaging app had a profile picture I knew by heart. I tapped into their chat history, and my stomach dropped.

【I'm pregnant. It's yours. Miles didn't touch me last month. I don't want to keep pretending with him anymore.】

【Be patient, babe. Our target is his company. We need to give our baby a better life.】

My eyes burned. I nearly smashed the phone right there.

My girlfriend and my best friend—Sebastian—scheming together to take everything from me.

When I'd hit rock bottom years ago, Sebastian had given me the money he'd saved for his own wedding so I could rebuild.

After I made it, I never once shortchanged him.

And Ruby had come from nothing. I put her through college. Bought her a house. Bought her a car.

Back when my startup was barely surviving, she'd leave before dawn for side jobs, come home after dark, and still make me meals that wouldn't wreck my stomach. Every friend I had envied us.

And the truth slapped me across the face and ground every last shred of my dignity into dust.

I kept scrolling through their messages.

【But you promised you'd marry me this year.】

【So throw a solo wedding. You can ride the buzz for more followers. Tell Miles to stay away so nobody gets suspicious, and I'll come as a “guest.”】

The phone shook in my hand, and the ache in my chest twisted so tight I couldn't breathe.

I immediately messaged the person claiming to be my son：【What else do you know?】

The reply came instantly：“Dad, you're smart enough that you've probably already found the proof. What happens later is she has the baby, then she sweet-talks you into putting most of your shares in her name and the kid's. After that, you get kicked off the board. You can't handle the double betrayal, you nearly get hit by a car and killed, and Mom is the one who saves you.”

A cold dread crawled up through me, and no amount of rage could push it back down.

Finally, I asked him：【Who is your mother? Where is she?】

Ruby stepped out of the bathroom, still humming to herself.

“Miles, that new skincare your assistant bought me is terrible. Tell her to get the expensive one again.”

Something about the way she looked made me lose focus for a second.

There was a time when Ruby Dickerson lit up over a ten-dollar bouquet of roses I'd bought her.

My expression darkened. “Ask your baby's father to buy it.”

Ruby froze.

I caught the flash of panic across her face, and my chest seized with a sharp, ugly pain.

Back in that cramped studio apartment, she'd given herself to me willingly.

She told me that even if the whole world threw me away, she'd still be right beside me.

She told me the father of her children would only ever be me.

Ruby faked annoyance. “What are you even talking about? You are the father of my baby.”

She wrapped her arms around my waist, pressed herself against me, then slipped into the master bedroom.

“Can't do that during the first few months. Separate rooms tonight. Good night!”

The door shut behind her. My phone lit up.

I'd set up a home security app on her phone just minutes ago. Their messaging app chat window was mirroring to my screen in real time.

【He's still mad I won't marry him. Now he won't even claim the baby.】

【Had to hug him a few times to calm him down. Made my skin crawl.】

【Hang in there babe. We already got our courthouse marriage, remember? If he touches you, we'll sue.】

My hands were shaking.

I had never once doubted either of them. In front of me, those two always acted like they couldn't stand each other.

I saved every screenshot, then spent the rest of the night pulling up every home security camera in the house. Every room. Every corner. They'd been in nearly all of them.

I doubled over the trash can and threw up until my stomach was empty, eyes raw and stinging, tears running down my face that I couldn't stop.

I drove through the night to the woman's place and held out my hand.

“Will you marry me?”

The next morning, fans packed the entrance of the biggest hotel in Riverton for Ruby Dickerson's singlehood wedding event.

Ruby stepped out of the bridal car in a white gown.

She saw me standing at the hotel entrance, and the color drained from her face.

“Didn't I tell you not to come? If my fans see you here, everything's ruined.”

Once she went inside, I watched the message she fired off to Sebastian.

【His money will be ours eventually. The man's a lovesick idiot. He can't survive without me.】

I smiled coldly and killed the screen.

I followed the crowd inside and walked straight up to the emcee's side onstage.

Ruby frowned. “What do you think you're doing?”

I half-smiled at her, all teeth and no warmth. “This venue's booked under my name, paid with my money. You tell me what I'm doing.”

I turned to face the crowd below. ：“Welcome, everyone, to my wedding.”

The look on Ruby's face curdled. “I can't have a wedding with you. You'll destroy my career.”

She turned to the audience and laughed. “This is my friend. He's just joking around.”

Down in the front row, Sebastian Delgado sat in the most prominent seat in the house, wearing a couture suit.

That suit was worth millions. I'd barely gotten my hands on it myself, but he asked twice and I handed it over.

Because I thought he was my brother.

Ruby pointed to a seat crammed in a back corner. “Sit over there.”

I didn't move from the stage.

A faint smugness crossed her face. She turned to her fans and friends below. ：“Just a suitor of mine. The man is obsessed.”

Applause erupted. “Our Ruby is just that irresistible! But boys, hands off the queen!”

The people who actually knew what Ruby and I were to each other just sat there, faces tight, not a word between them.

They were all major players in the business world. Ruby had invited them using my name.

For years they'd tried to set me up with their daughters, and every time I'd turned them down.

I'd talked about Ruby like she hung the moon. Every word I'd ever said about her was coming back to hit me in the face now, twice as hard.

They stood up. “Ms. Dickerson, if this is your singlehood wedding, then there's no reason for us to be here.”

Her fans erupted instantly.

“What's that supposed to mean? Sticking up for this pathetic clingy loser?”

Ruby turned her back to the crowd and grabbed at me. “Miles, if they leave, I'll be all over social media getting torn apart.”

Her fingers tugged at the hem of my jacket, shaking it back and forth.

But when her fans called me a pathetic loser, she didn't say a word.

I turned to the business partners who'd stood up for me：“Stay. Sit down. You didn't bring gift money for nothing. Today really is my wedding.”

Ruby pinched my arm hard. “That's not what this is! Do you have to marry me today? Come on, Miles.”

Sebastian suddenly stood. “Miles, a man's supposed to have some class. Since when are you this overbearing?”

I looked at him and smiled. Finally showing his true face.

My son had told me what happened after Ruby and Sebastian worked together to drain me dry. They didn't live happily ever after.

Sebastian only wanted to use her to steal my money.

Once he had it, he burned through everything—kept pretty actresses around, then married some young college girl on the side. Ruby and the child were swept out the door.

“You really think I'd love a woman Miles Henson already used up? Who even knows whose kid a slut like you is carrying.”

So now Sebastian was standing up for her. The only reason was simple: my money still wasn't in his pocket yet, but Ruby's influencer income—hundreds of thousands a month—was already landing in his account.

“Overbearing?”

I let out a cold laugh.

A large group of people swept through the hotel entrance. I smiled and greeted them.

Ruby went pale. “Why is your whole family here? I'm not joking around, Miles. I am not marrying you today.”

I waved my parents to their seats.

Ruby's fans lost it. “He's forcing her to marry him! Freeloader!”

Security was already asking them to vacate their seats. The fans refused. “What the hell is this? We're calling the cops!”

Ruby was seething. “Miles, do you have to cause a scene today? I'll make it up to you with a wedding later, all right?”

She shoved me back and screamed at the crowd below：“He's an obsessive pursuer who's been pressuring me to marry him! I never agreed, and now he's trying to force it!”

Her fans rallied behind her, some of them already shoving my family members.

My parents came up to me. “Miles, what……what's going on here?”

They glanced at Ruby a few times but didn't dare say anything.

My parents had met Ruby before. Every time, she'd been sweet, warm, attentive. Now she was pointing in their faces and screaming：“What kind of parents raised a son like this?!”

My parents were getting older. All they wanted was to see me married, to have grandchildren.

I steadied them. “Go sit back down.”

Ruby's fans wouldn't give up their seats, so my family ended up shuffled to other tables at the edges of the room. Dishes were brought out and set down in front of them there.

Sebastian came up onto the stage too. He leaned close to my ear.

“Miles, what's gotten into you today?”

I shook him off and gave him one long look.

“Funny. You're dressed just like the groom.”

His expression locked up. “What are you talking about? Ruby said I should come as her public rival. That way I can sit in the audience and the fans won't get suspicious.”

The emcee opened his mouth. “Welcome, everyone, to the wedding of Miles Henson.”

Ruby and Sebastian traded a look.

Down below, the fans exploded. Phones were already up, livestreaming the whole thing to tear me apart.

“This guy's a CEO and he pulls this? Disgusting. This is what money and power look like when they think they can buy a person.”