Chapter 1

The final code for "True Love AI" compiled without a single error, its clean report glowing on the massive monitor in my office.

I leaned back in my chair, a deep satisfaction settling in my chest. Everything was perfect. My company, Miller Innovations, was at the top of its game, and in seven days, I would marry Olivia Hayes, the woman I had loved for five years.

The AI was my wedding gift to her, a revolutionary software designed to analyze compatibility on a level no one had ever attempted. We would launch it on our wedding day, a symbol of our own perfect match. I had poured millions into it, not just as a business venture, but as a testament to my love. The venue was booked, a sprawling estate overlooking the ocean. The guest list was a who's who of the tech world. My life was a straight line to a perfect future.

I picked up the velvet box on my desk, opening it to look at the wedding bands. Simple, elegant, and impossibly expensive. I imagined sliding one onto Olivia's finger.

My phone buzzed. It was her.

"Hey, where are you?" I asked, my voice full of warmth.

"Ethan, can you come home? We need to talk."

Her tone was flat, completely empty of the usual affection. A cold knot formed in my stomach. I told my team I was leaving for the day and drove straight to the penthouse we shared.

She was sitting on the white leather sofa, her hands folded in her lap. She wasn't looking at me. The afternoon sun streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, but the room felt cold.

"What's wrong, Liv?" I asked, sitting across from her.

She took a deep breath, and the words came out in a detached rush. "I can't marry you next week."

I just stared at her, my mind refusing to process the sentence. "What are you talking about? Is this a joke?"

"No," she said, finally meeting my eyes. Her expression was unreadable. "I have to marry Daniel Reed."

Daniel Reed. Her ex-boyfriend from college. The name hit me like a physical blow. They had broken up years before I met her. I knew he was still in her life, a sad, lingering presence she claimed to pity.

"You have to marry Daniel? What does that even mean?" My voice was tight.

"His mother's dying wish," Olivia said, as if that explained everything. "Before she passed away, she made him promise he would marry me. It was her only regret, that we broke up. He's been suffering, Ethan. It's his filial piety. I have to help him fulfill it."

I felt the blood drain from my face. "His mother's wish? Olivia, his mother died over a year ago. Why is this coming up now, seven days before our wedding?"

"He's been struggling to tell me. He's a good son. He can't live with himself if he doesn't honor her wish," she explained, her voice gaining a strange, righteous tone. "It's just a formality. We'll get married, he'll feel he has done his duty, and then we'll get a divorce. Then, you and I can get married."

I stood up, pacing the room. The perfect future I had just been imagining was shattering into a million pieces.

"A formality? You're going to marry your ex-boyfriend as a formality? What about our wedding? Our guests? What about the launch of True Love AI? The entire project is tied to us, to our story."

She waved a dismissive hand.

"You can postpone the launch. Your business is important, but this is about a man's duty to his deceased mother. Your feelings, the business... they're secondary to Daniel's filial piety. You should understand."

Secondary. My feelings were secondary. Our life together, the company I built, the future I had planned for us, it was all secondary to the emotional demands of her ex-boyfriend. The betrayal was so sharp, so absolute, it left me breathless.

I stopped pacing and looked at her, really looked at her. The woman I thought I knew was gone, replaced by a stranger who spoke of love and commitment as if they were business terms to be renegotiated.

My naive devotion evaporated in that moment, replaced by a cold, hard clarity.

"No," I said. My voice was quiet, but it cut through the silence.

"No?" she asked, her brow furrowing in irritation.

"The wedding will proceed as planned," I stated. "The launch will happen. But you will not be the bride."

Olivia laughed, a short, ugly sound. "Don't be ridiculous, Ethan. Who are you going to marry? You have seven days."

I didn't answer. I just walked to the door. My mind was already working, calculating, moving past the wreckage of my emotions. If she could replace me so easily for a "formality," then I could replace her for a necessity. My business and my self-respect depended on it.

"This is just a tantrum, Ethan," she called after me. "You'll come to your senses. You always do. You love me too much."

I closed the door behind me without looking back.

Later that night, sitting in my sterile office, I replayed her words. "You love me too much." She saw my love not as a gift, but as a tool for manipulation. As I stared at the "True Love AI" logo on my screen, a bitter irony washed over me.

My phone buzzed. A text from Olivia.

Daniel is so grateful. He says you're a good man for understanding.

I didn't reply. A few minutes later, another text.

He needs some money to prepare for our... well, for the ceremony. It's just a small, private thing. Could you transfer him $50,000? He's a bit tight on cash right now.

I stared at the message. The sheer audacity of it. She had just destroyed our life together, and now she was asking me to finance her wedding to another man. The request was so outrageous, it was almost clinical. It wasn't just a betrayal anymore; it was a transaction.

I saw a notification pop up on my laptop. A social media memory. It was a photo of Olivia and me from a year ago, at a charity gala. In the background, partially obscured, was Daniel Reed. He wasn't looking at us. He was looking at his phone, a small, smug smile on his face.

It was just a detail, a tiny clue. But in the cold light of my new reality, it felt like a key. I started digging.

An hour later, another text from Olivia.

Ethan, are you ignoring me? Daniel really needs the money for the arrangements. He feels bad asking, but it's to honor his mother. It' s the right thing to do. Please don't be selfish about this.

Selfish. She called me selfish. My fingers hovered over the keyboard, a storm of angry responses swirling in my mind. But I typed nothing. I just saved the message. It was one more piece of evidence in a case I was just beginning to build. The case against the woman I thought I knew.