Chapter 1

For eighteen years, the Sterling family mansion was the only home I had ever really known. Mr. Sterling took me in when I was three, a quiet orphan with nothing to his name. He gave me a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and an education that opened the world to me. He treated me like a son, and my heart was filled with a deep, unshakable gratitude. My entire life was built around a single dream: to become a successful architect and repay him for his kindness, to make him proud.

He had a daughter, Olivia. We grew up together, two kids running through the endless hallways of the grand house. To everyone else, we were foster siblings. But behind closed doors, things were different. Our relationship was a secret, a fire that burned just for us. It all changed on my 21st birthday. The party was a blur of champagne and polite conversation, but I only had eyes for Olivia. Later that night, she came to my room, her cheeks flushed from the alcohol, her eyes holding a look I had never seen before. She seduced me, and I, who had loved her silently for years, gave in completely.

That night, I didn't just give her my heart, I gave her everything I was. It was like a dam broke inside her. It started a craving, an insatiable need for intimacy that only I could satisfy. Our secret affair became a dangerous game played right under her parents' roof. We would steal moments in the library, in the empty guest rooms, in the pool house late at night. Her touch was an addiction, her whispers a promise I desperately wanted to believe. For months, I lived in a haze of passion and hope, convinced that what we had was real, that it was leading somewhere. I was wrong.

I didn't want to hide anymore. I wanted the world to know she was mine. One afternoon, after a particularly intense encounter in my studio, with the scent of her perfume still lingering in the air and my architectural models standing as silent witnesses, I decided to make it official. My heart was pounding in my chest, full of a certainty I had never felt before.

"Olivia," I said, my voice shaking slightly as I took her hand. "Let's stop this. Let's stop hiding."

She looked at me, her expression still soft from our passion.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small velvet box I had been carrying for weeks. I got down on one knee. "Marry me, Olivia. Be my wife."

The warmth in her eyes vanished instantly. It was like a switch was flipped. She pulled her hand away from mine as if it had been burned. A cold, dismissive look replaced her smile.

"Liam, don't be ridiculous," she said, her voice sharp. "Get up. I have a company meeting to get to."

She turned and walked away without a second glance, leaving me kneeling on the floor, the open ring box in my hand. The rejection was so sudden, so cold, it felt like a physical blow. I was left confused and deeply hurt, the weight of her words crushing the hope in my chest.

The next few days were torture. Olivia avoided me, her coldness a constant, silent rejection. I told myself she was just stressed, that the pressure of her father's company was getting to her. I wanted to believe any excuse. The truth, when it came, was far worse than anything I could have imagined. I was in the library late one night, unable to sleep, when I saw her laptop open on a desk. She had forgotten to close it. An email was open on the screen, the sender's name catching my eye: Ethan Cole.

Ethan was her childhood friend, an architect from another prominent family and my main rival in the upcoming Sterling Architectural Grant competition. My blood ran cold. I leaned closer, my hands trembling as I read. It wasn't just one email, it was a chain. There were messages from Olivia to Ethan, complete with attachments. My attachments. My preliminary designs, my structural analyses, my unique concepts for the grant proposal. She had been feeding him my work for months.

"Use this," one of her messages read. "Liam is talented, but he's naive. This will guarantee your win. He'll never suspect a thing."

My breath hitched in my throat. I scrolled further, finding more evidence. Text messages, call logs. It was all there. The passionate nights, the stolen moments, her insatiable desire-it was all a lie. I wasn't her lover, I was her pawn. She had used my love for her, my body, my talent, all to clear a path for Ethan Cole, the man she truly wanted. The realization hit me with the force of a tidal wave, drowning me in a sea of betrayal. My entire world, built on the foundation of her supposed love, crumbled into dust. I stood there, staring at the screen, my heart not just broken, but completely and utterly destroyed.