Julie Morgan stepped into the grand halls of the Taylor Estate for what she knew would be the final time, a bone-deep chill settling in her chest.

A handful of staff lingered nearby, whispering under their breath:

"Did you hear Mr. Taylor was with Miss Chavez last night? Why the hell is she back here, anyway?"

"Must not care if she makes a fool of herself. He gave her an opportunity, and she still won't take it."

"Pretty ballsy."

"Let's just see how long she lasts..."

Julie climbed the stairs to the master suite—stairs she’d walked up every single day for seven years—but they’d never felt half as steep, half as daunting, as they did right now.

Aitana Lee, the housekeeper, trailed right behind her. When Julie reached for the bedroom doorknob, Aitana stepped right into her path. "Miss Morgan, Mr. Taylor isn’t here right now. It ain’t proper for you to go in. If anything goes wrong, we can’t be held responsible."

Julie had made up her mind yesterday to end things with Cameron Taylor for good. It was only now that she was seeing this side of Aitana. The housekeeper who’d once greeted her with open warmth now only looked at her with open disdain.

Julie held her gaze steady. "Don’t worry. I’m just here to pick up my things."

Aitana sneered. "Oh, I didn’t realize Miss Morgan owned anything here that she bought with her own money."

The Taylors had supported Julie for over a decade. If she had any sense, she’d walk away empty-handed and let Sophie Chavez take her place as Cameron’s fiancée. No fuss, no fight.

Julie’s eyes hardened, every last trace of warmth draining away. "Aitana. Servants shouldn’t speak out of turn."

Whatever drama was between her and Cameron was none of this woman’s business.

Aitana’s face went white as a sheet. Resentment flashed hot in her eyes before she dropped her gaze, stiff and respectful. "Mr. Taylor..."

Julie turned around.

Cameron Taylor was standing right behind her.

Morning light flooded through the floor-to-ceiling windows, gilding his tall, sharp-edged figure in warm gold.

For a split second, Julie swore his sharp features and piercing eyes looked less cold than usual.

"Leave us," he dismissed Aitana with a cool flick of his wrist, that commanding aura of his never fading, even when he was reprimanding someone.

"Aitana has worked here for seven years. You have no right to speak to her like that."

So what?

Julie almost laughed at how absurd it was.

Should she remind him she’d been part of the Taylor family for thirteen years? That she was once his fiancée?

And still, she mattered less to him than a damn housekeeper.

That’s enough. She’d accepted it.

What was she even still holding out hope for?

If she meant anything at all to Cameron, he wouldn’t have thrown her aside for Sophie Chavez yesterday, throwing away thirteen years of her devotion like it meant nothing.

Maybe the sardonic twist to her mouth was too obvious, because Cameron’s jaw tightened and his expression darkened. He grabbed her arm roughly.

"The Taylors indulged you far too much."

Sharp pain shot up her arm. Julie bit down hard on her lip, a soft whimper slipping out before she could stop it.

Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, her face drained of all color from the ache.

Cameron’s brow furrowed, his gaze growing even darker—there was that familiar mix of disdain and contempt… and something else, something unreadable.

"Ah—" Before Julie could pick apart what that look meant, he wrenched her right against his chest.

"No…" Julie tried to shove him away.

"You need money, don’t you?" he murmured, that usual contempt of his laced through with impatience. "I’ve got important stuff to handle. Don’t waste my time."

Humiliation burned hot up her throat, but Julie couldn’t fight him off.

After the cold, harsh encounter, Cameron got up indifferently, pulled on his clothes, and tossed a black credit card down onto the bed beside her.

Julie could feel every bruise and scratch on her body throbbing even worse now—last night, she’d been in a car crash, nearly lost her life.

She didn’t want Cameron to see and think she was faking being a victim just to win him back.

The black card glinted with quiet, understated luxury.

But Julie, wrapped tight in a cotton sheet, said nothing.

When she didn’t respond, Cameron got annoyed.

"It’s for your sister’s surgery," he said, unexpected explanation slipping out.

"That won’t be necessary," Julie said, her voice calm and steady.

His fingers paused halfway through fastening his shirt buttons, that icy gaze of his locking right on her.

Julie clarified, her tone still composed: "The lead surgeon’s out of the country. He can’t do the procedure right now."

The past was all behind them...

Last night, her sister Maryam had been critical. Desperate and sobbing, Julie had gone to Cameron’s private club, begged to see him, hoped he could pull strings to get the doctor to stay, to save Maryam.

He never even showed up. All he sent was a message through his assistant: Break up off leave. It’s her choice.

If Maryam hadn’t pulled through last night...

Julie took a deep, steadying breath.

Whatever. He had no idea how horrific her night had been. And he wouldn’t care even if he did.

For him, it would just be another thing to hold against her, another reason to look down on her.

"My grandfather’s eightieth birthday is next month," Cameron said, tossing the line over his shoulder right before he left. "Keep the card."

Translation: Don’t cause any trouble with my family.

He’d come back, given her money, fucked her, just to shut her up. Make sure she didn’t become a problem for the Taylors.

But Julie knew she was done.

Thirteen years of trying to win Cameron’s heart had all been for nothing. She wasn’t going to waste another single second of her life on him.

...

Hauling her suitcase over, she pulled open the closet door. The sight of all the white dresses lining the rails knocked the breath right out of her.

Anyone who knew her knew she loved white. White gowns, white blouses, white evening dresses...

Very few people knew her obsession with white started with a compliment Cameron gave her at her twelfth birthday party, when he told her she looked beautiful in her pearlescent white princess dress.

"You look lovely in white," she could still remember his tone, his warm gaze back then—full of approval, admiration, encouragement.

From that second on, her wardrobe turned into a sea of white.

Just like her entire heart had been reserved for one man and one man only.

He didn’t like bright colors, so she kept everything simple. He didn’t like heavy makeup, so she went bare-faced most days. He hated women drawing attention, so she gave up her hobbies and her dream career. He hated her going out with friends, so she cut every single one of them off...

Only when she saw Sophie Chavez, bright and colorful and vibrant at his side, did Julie realize Cameron liked all kinds of colors.

She’d remade herself into exactly what she thought he wanted, and he still chose someone else.

She’d convinced herself she could be Cameron’s quiet muse forever, but he’d rather have a bold red rose.

All those little dislikes he had? They were never about the things. They were about her. Everything she did was wrong, because it was her doing it.

Sunlight spilled all across the big bedroom, like it was washing her clean from her skin all the way down to her soul.

For a moment, Julie smiled.

She left.

She took nothing but the new beginning she’d claimed for herself, let go of all the dead, rotting feelings… and left the credit card right where he’d tossed it.

From that day on, she was going to live for herself.

Julie Morgan graduated with her bachelor’s in journalism from the London School of Media. She’d gotten early acceptance into grad school, and she could barely wait to tell Cameron Taylor the good news.

His response? A cold, cutting glare. "Straight to grad school? Real smooth move to win everyone over, huh?"

"C’mon, spill," he pressed, leaning in so close she could taste the sarcasm dripping off every word. "What did you promise Silas Olson to pressure him into that spot? Let’s be real—you’ve always been a pro at wrapping men around your finger and cashing in favors."

That was all it took. Julie walked away from that hard-won early admission spot. She even quit the job she’d lined up. She moved into Cameron’s estate, The Grove, to be his little stay-at-home fiancée, waiting on his every whim.

She’d gotten used to those accusations of leeching off favors. After her parents died in the line of work, the Taylors took her in. Out of guilt, they didn’t just adopt her—they paired her off as Cameron’s fiancée. It was all arranged before she even got a say.

As a kid, she’d been naive enough to daydream about a happy future. But growing up slapped the rose-colored glasses right off her face. Cameron never had any intention of actually marrying her.

Just like Sophie Chavez once spat at her: "Miss Morgan, leaning on the memory of your parents’ friendship with the Taylors is one thing. Having them treat you like their own and hand you their son is another. You think you love Cameron, but really, you’re just in love with the idea of being part of this family. Do you have any idea how much you torture him?"

Was she really just selfish? Julie couldn’t be sure. All she knew was that she’d lost herself for that man. She’d bent over backwards, humbled herself again and again, just to please him. If this love hurt both of them this badly… maybe letting go sooner was better than later.

Julie shook herself back to the present. She’d already sent out half a dozen job applications. Breaking up with Cameron meant she’d have to stand on her own two feet from here on out. Laura Taylor still sent her a monthly allowance, and Cameron’s grandparents slipped her cash in envelopes whenever they saw her.

But Julie couldn’t keep taking it anymore. She wouldn’t touch the money in her account unless she had no other choice, and every time she did, she paid it back as fast as she could. Never again would she let anyone hold that over her head, use it as leverage to control her.

Yeah, right. If she went out to work, Cameron would accuse her of flirting with every guy she meets. If she stayed home, he’d mock her for leeching off his family and contributing nothing. Ha…

From now on, she’d be independent. She’d live life on her own terms, call all her own shots. No one got to tell her what to do ever again.

Clearing her head of the bitter memories, Julie headed for the hospital. Maryam had been critical overnight, but they’d stabilized her. She was still frail, but she lit up when she saw Julie, a bright smile tugging at her lips.

"Sister."

Maryam was Julie’s cousin—her aunt’s daughter. After her aunt died, Maryam’s dad remarried almost immediately and had a new son. Maryam might as well have been thrown out with the old moving boxes. Last year, Julie came back from a Taylor family gathering to find the skinny, shivering girl huddled by The Grove’s gate, clutching a tattered burlap sack, her cheeks bright red from the winter cold.

In her hand was a crumpled note with The Grove’s address scrawled on it. She wouldn’t meet anyone’s eye, just whispered, "Are you my sister? Mom said if anything ever went wrong, I should find you…"

That note was the last thing her mom left her—her only hope. It didn’t take Julie long to learn why Maryam’s family cast her off. She’d been born with liver dysfunction, and later got diagnosed with leukemia. She’d walked all the way to The Grove alone, and by the time Julie found her, she was sick enough to be admitted straight to the ER that same night.

Ever since, complication after complication kept her locked in the hospital bed almost nonstop. The medical bills vanished faster than water through a sieve…

And Cameron? He just got colder, more sarcastic. "Your Morgan family sure knows how to milk a crisis for all it’s worth, don’t they?"

Julie took a deep breath and lowered herself onto the edge of Maryam’s bed. "Sister!" Maryam froze, worry creasing her forehead. "Are you hurt? Where does it ache?"

Julie froze. She’d forgotten all about it. Last night, she’d rushed to the airport to catch the lead surgeon before he flew out. Traffic was gridlocked, so she jumped out of her cab and sprinted for the terminal. In her panic, she almost got hit head-on by a private car—only a last-second swerve kept it from being worse than a light scrape and a hard fall.

It was just a minor accident, but the fall left her covered in bruises and with nasty soft tissue damage. The pain had gotten worse overnight, making sitting or standing agonizing. Cameron, who’d mocked her openly just the night before, never even noticed. But Maryam, hooked up to tubes and barely strong enough to sit up, caught the awkward way Julie held herself and immediately knew something was wrong.

Scared by Julie’s silence, Maryam started crying soft, hitching sobs. "It’s okay, sis… Maryam will get better. Once I’m healthy, I’ll work and pay you back, I promise. I won’t make Cameron mad ever again…"

Even Maryam, stuck in the hospital and barely having met Cameron, could see how awful he treated her. How stupid was Julie, to stay blind for so long, to keep thinking sacrificing one more piece of herself would win his heart?

"It’s nothing, I just slept wrong," Julie promised, smiling gentle as she tapped the tip of Maryam’s nose. "Where’d you get the idea that you have to keep talking about paying me back? The best thing you can do to save me money is get healthy, got it?"

Her phone buzzed in her jeans pocket. Julie pulled it out quick— a reply to one of her job applications. The company name made her breath catch: Prominence Media.

She’d spammed applications to every media outlet in the city, desperate for any work, but she never expected her first interview invite to come from Prominence. The interview was scheduled for 1 PM that same day.

After she got Maryam settled, Julie hurried out for the interview. Prominence Media was one of the top global news corporations out there—every journalism grad’s dream job. Julie had been top of her class in college, her graduation project got special recognition, even won one of the rare special achievement awards.

Right after graduation, Prominence gave her an offer. But she’d thrown her entire future away just to be Cameron’s "perfect" waiting wife. And Cameron had taught her a brutal, ruthless lesson: a woman without money or a career has no dignity, no standing. Love is just a useless, broken promise—especially when you never had it to begin with.

"Miss Morgan, looking at your resume, your expertise is in social news, but this position is focused on entertainment. Will that be a problem for you?"

"Entertainment journalism is fine. I can do it."

"So, Miss Morgan, when can you start?"

"I can start today."

Julie needed the money. She needed a steady, respectable job. She needed the strength to walk away and never look back. But after she finished all her new hire paperwork, she rounded the corner outside HR and came face-to-face with a familiar man, that gentle, warm smile of his…

"Hey Julie, it’s been forever," Silas Olson greets her with that familiar, lazy grin.

Julie Morgan blinks, caught off guard for a beat. "Yeah, Silas. It really has."

She’d thought he was still overseas. After all, he’d made it clear he wasn’t sticking around to let Cameron Taylor keep misreading their relationship, that he’d stay out of both their lives. She never expected him to sneak back to New York and show up at Horizon Media out of nowhere. Wait a second… her last-minute interview, getting hired on the spot… that probably wasn’t just luck, was it?

He falls into step beside her. "Heading back to the desk? Did he even okay this?"

Julie grabs her finalized HR paperwork, hesitates for half a second, then answers steady and sure: "We’re not together anymore."

Silas stops short, surprise flaring in his dark eyes. "Did the Taylors agree to that?"

Julie shakes her head. "The Taylors don’t know. Cameron was the one who called it off. I’m not going to beg them to accept me."

Why drag everyone through the mess? Laura Taylor would probably just kick up a fuss anyway. Who wants to stay in a relationship out of threats and coercion, anyway?

Silas pauses, then shifts gears smoothly. "Sticking you on entertainment beat might not be the best move. If you don’t want it…"

"It’s fine. Being a reporter sounds great," Julie answers with a small smile.

He’d already done so much for her. She didn’t want to owe him any more than she already did.

The entertainment department is split into a handful of teams.

Julie gets assigned to a team run by Khloe Boyd, their middle-aged editor-in-chief. Sharp, slim, glasses perched on her nose, she’s sipping cold coffee and grumbling under her breath: "Sophie Chavez is going public with her relationship now? Does she even care if we ever get to clock out of here tonight?"

Julie’s heart skips a sickening beat.

That soon?

She’d just moved out of their old apartment that morning. By the afternoon, Cameron and Sophie were already announcing they were together. They really couldn’t even wait, could they?

"Hell yeah! The guy’s Cameron Taylor from Taylor Industries, and he’s just handed us our next front page… Hey, new girl! You take this announcement write-up, yeah?"

Speed is everything in entertainment news. Sophie Chavez is A-list — the second she drops the news, every outlet has to rush out a story before the competition beats them to it.

"Got some exclusive shots here for you. Can you knock out the copy?" A young coworker named Ryan Dunn asks, polite and warm. "Just need it in a couple minutes, that’s all."

Everyone knows Julie’s here because of Silas.

He’d moved back to the States earlier this year and stepped into the role of Horizon’s chief editor, and it sent the whole office into a tizzy. Once everyone dug around, they found out not only did he have a killer resume from his years abroad, he was also the actual heir to the whole company…

So anyone he brought in gets a little extra courtesy — especially Julie, who’s way more stunning than anyone expected. Even the entertainment crew, who see glamorous celebrities every single day, did a double-take when she walked in.

Julie glances over the photos quick, and has the draft done in under a minute.

Good, she thinks to herself. My skills haven’t gone rusty. My instincts are still sharp. I can even look at photos of Cameron and Sophie together and not break.

Not that long ago, just hearing they were together would’ve left her gasping for air.

She once thought she couldn’t survive without Cameron.

Funny enough, she’s handling the breakup better than she ever imagined.

Time and distance really do wear away even the deepest, most passionate love a woman can feel, she realizes. She once thought her feelings for him were as endless as the ocean. Thirteen years later, they’re completely dried up.

Letting go isn’t half as hard as she thought it’d be. She just never tried before.

...

The photos were taken in the early hours of that same morning.

Cameron and Sophie are standing side by side outside a fancy downtown club. Streetlight glows over them, night breeze tangling their hair, and Cameron is gently draping his coat over her shoulders.

That’s the exact same night Julie showed up at that club, desperate just to see him.

Because Cameron wouldn’t answer her calls, wouldn’t meet her, she’d driven all the way out to the airport just to catch him before he left…

She never guessed that the second she walked away, he went straight to Sophie.

A single extra second with her was a waste of his time, but he’d spend endless hours on the woman he actually wanted.

Sophie’s the oldest daughter of the Chavez family, a performing arts grad from Empire State University. Between her family’s money and Cameron’s backing, her career’s blowing up nonstop.

Yeah. They’re perfect for each other.

...

Julie’s buried neck-deep in work when Cameron’s call pops up on her screen, and her brain goes completely blank for a second. She answers before she can think better of it.

"You’re not home. Where are you?"

Cameron’s voice comes through cold, sharp, demanding.

"I…" Julie fumbles, no words coming out.

"I’m giving you half an hour to get back here."

Before Julie can even say a word, he hangs up.

Julie stares at her screen for a full thirty seconds, stunned.

Then she huffs a disbelieving laugh.

Right in front of her lies the half-finished draft of Cameron and Sophie’s big new relationship story.

If she hadn’t jumped back into journalism, she probably never would’ve stumbled on all these exclusive details. She never would’ve guessed their relationship started this early…

She glances at the clock. It’s 1:30 AM.

Cameron’s out all night every other night, rolling in at 4 AM, but he still expects her to follow all his stupid old-fashioned rules.

Well, from now on? Anybody else who wants to be his perfect little housewife can have the spot. She’s not playing that game anymore.

Julie turns back to her work and keeps drafting her article.

Sophie’s big announcement is just one vague, cryptic line: "From today, we officially belong to each other."

And a selfie of her hand, a huge diamond ring glinting on her finger.

It’s either a tease, or a full-on engagement announcement to her one true love.

And that true love, every single source says, is Cameron Taylor…

To get the full scoop before anyone else, the whole team’s probably pulling an all-nighter.

"Got it!" Ryan suddenly yells, excited out of his mind. "I got the security cam footage of Cameron and Sophie picking out that diamond ring!"

The whole team crowds around his screen in seconds.

"This afternoon, they went to Truelove Jewelry, spent the whole damn afternoon picking out the ring!" Ryan brags. "It’s internal store footage — I got a buddy who works there that hooked me up."

Amidst all the whooping and cheers, Julie leans in to get a good look at the clip.

Yep. That’s definitely Cameron, right there beside Sophie.

Their heads are almost touching as they lean in to look at the trays of jewelry spread out in front of them.

The whole time, staff keep bringing more and more pieces over for them to try.

What a… perfect, enviable little moment.

Cameron’s warning from that same morning echoes in her head: "I’ve got a huge important meeting later, don’t waste my time."

Turns out his "important meeting" was spending the whole afternoon picking out a diamond ring with Sophie.