Chapter 1

For ten years, I lived in my guardian Ethan Hayes's home, loving him in secret. He was the sun I revolved around.

Then, he announced his engagement, introducing the woman he loved as my future female guardian, and spent an entire year showing me I meant nothing to him.

The night he came home drunk, he pulled me into his arms, murmuring another woman's name as his lips crashed down on mine.

The next morning, his eyes filled with disgust as he accused me of climbing into his bed.

"I never thought you would stoop this low," he said.

His fiancée cornered me, calling me shameless and threatening to throw me onto the street.

In that moment, a decade of devotion turned to ash. The love carved into my bones was finally scraped away.

On the day of his birthday, I packed one small suitcase and walked out of the house that had been my prison. I left a final drawing on his desk with a simple note: "Goodbye, Ethan."

Chapter 1

The day Ethan Hayes announced his engagement, I deleted the secret folder on my computer named "My Sun."

It contained ten years of my life. Every sketch I'd ever drawn of him, from the first time I saw him at eight years old, to the man he was now at twenty-eight.

The mouse hovered over the delete button. My finger felt heavy, but when I clicked, it was with a strange sense of release. A ten-gigabyte folder vanished in a blink. Just like the ten years of my devotion.

Wiped clean.

I picked up my phone and dialed my father's number.

The call connected instantly. "Ava."

"Dad, I got in."

A moment of silence, then his voice, filled with relief. "To NYU?"

"Yes," I said, my voice steady. "The art department."

"Good, that's very good," he said, the sound of a chair scraping in the background. "I'll have the funds transferred to your account tomorrow. The apartment is ready whenever you are. Just tell me when."

"Thank you, Dad."

"Don't thank me. This is what I should have done long ago." His voice was tinged with regret. "Are you leaving because of Ethan's engagement?"

I looked out the window at the manicured lawn of the Hayes estate. A place I had called home for a decade.

"He's getting engaged, Dad. I can't stay here forever."

A heavy sigh came through the phone. "He watched you grow up... I thought he... never mind. Leaving is for the best. Boston has been nothing but a cage for you."

I hung up and walked to the full-length mirror. The girl in the reflection had pale skin and eyes that were slightly red, but her gaze was calm. Chillingly calm.

I had loved Ethan Hayes for ten years. A love so deep it was carved into my bones.

Now, I was going to scrape it out, piece by piece, even if it meant flaying myself alive.

With the acceptance letter in hand, I walked to his study. The door was ajar. He was on a video call, his brow furrowed in concentration. He was always like this when he worked-impossibly handsome, focused, and exuding an aura that kept everyone at a distance.

He was my legal guardian. The man who took me in after my family went bankrupt and my parents divorced.

He had given me a home, but he had also built me a beautiful prison.

As if sensing my presence, he looked up. His gaze was cold, impatient. "What is it?"

Before I could speak, his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID, and the ice in his eyes melted instantly, replaced by a tenderness I hadn't seen in a very long time.

He answered, his voice dropping to a low, gentle murmur. "Amelia."

Amelia. The name felt like a shard of glass in my throat.

"I'm still at the office," he said, a faint smile on his lips. "Yes, I'll be there. I miss you too."

I stood there, frozen, the acceptance letter in my hand turning into a worthless piece of paper. He had never once said he missed me. Not when he was on business trips, not even when I was sick in the hospital.

I remembered my eighteenth birthday, when I gathered all my courage to confess to him, handing him a drawing I had spent a month on.

He had taken one look at it, his face hardening. He tore the drawing in two, the sound ripping through my heart.

"Ava," he had said, his voice devoid of any warmth. "You are my ward. I am your guardian. Do not cross this line. You need to understand your place."

Then, a year ago, Amelia returned from abroad. He started spending more and more time away from home.

Just last week, he sat me down in this very study.

He looked at me with the same cold eyes as now and said, "Ava, Amelia and I are getting engaged. She will be your guardian's wife. I expect you to respect her."

He introduced the woman he loved as my future female guardian.

He had spent an entire year teaching me, with his actions, that I was nothing to him.

I finally learned my lesson.

He ended the call and looked at me, his patience clearly gone. "What did you want?"

I lowered my gaze, hiding the desolation in my eyes.

"It's nothing," I said softly. "I just wanted to say... congratulations on your engagement, Ethan."

I would grant him his wish. I would disappear from his world completely.