Chapter 1

I've returned to the country on the night of New Year's Eve.

At the welcoming party, my girlfriend, Sabrina Monroe, suddenly produces a diamond ring and goes down on one knee.

"Although this proposal is delayed by three years, our love is never late. Will you marry me, Colin Lawrence?"

All of our friends begin cheering on us. Everyone is practically waiting for me to nod and accept Sabrina's proposal with tears in my eyes.

They've completely forgotten about the fact that I prepared a lavish marriage proposal for Sabrina on New Year's Eve three years ago. Back then, she had told me that she'd show up on time.

But that night, I was the only one present in a fancy suit. I waited the whole night for Sabrina, and yet she never showed her face.

All I received was a phone call. "Matthew has fallen ill. I'm too busy taking care of him, and I can't leave his side at all. Let's put a raincheck on the marriage, yeah?"

So, I left the country on New Year and accepted the marriage alliance my family had arranged for me.

This means I'm already married to someone else for three years.

Chapter 1

I silently took a step back and swirled the wine in my glass. I smiled and asked, "I think you're proposing to the wrong person, Ms. Monroe. Shouldn't you be proposing to Matthew instead?"

"I had a feeling you were still jealous because of Matthew," Sabrina Monroe said, her expression twisting slightly. "It's been three years. Don't tell me that you're still angry. I already told you a million times that—"

"That you only treat Matthew as if he were your younger brother, yes? There's nothing going on between the two of you," I said calmly, finishing Sabrina's sentence for her.

I had heard the same excuse from Sabrina hundreds of times. She would tell me this every time she abandoned me, her actual boyfriend, to go to Matthew Dawson's side, the man whom she apparently only saw as her younger brother.

Sabrina was momentarily stunned by my retort. She softened her voice and said, "I admit that it's my fault for standing you up three years ago. But I did send you a message to explain the situation, didn't I?

"Matthew was very ill and needed someone to take care of him. I was worried that he would get too emotional if he found out that we were getting married. I didn't expect you to throw a tantrum and leave the country the next day without so much as a word to me. You made me wait for you for three years.

"Fortunately, you still came back for me. Marry me and stay here. We can spend the rest of our days together."

I nearly burst out laughing when I took in her self-righteous expression.

"When did I ever say that I came back for you?" I asked lightly, making sure to keep my tone distant. "I won't marry you."

Sabrina was once again stunned by my words. She stared at me in disbelief before a hint of certainty flickered in her eyes. It was obvious that she didn't believe me.

"You're still angry, aren't you?" Sabrina asked.

She rose to her feet and tried to take my hand, but I easily dodged out of the way.

Our friends tried to convince me on her behalf.

"Why don't you forgive her, Colin? She had her reasons for standing you up three years ago."

"He's right. Sabrina has been waiting for you for the last three years."

"She specially prepared this proposal for you when she heard that you were coming back."

A confident smile stretched across Sabrina's lips when she realized that our friends were on her side. She grabbed my hand and tried to slip the ring onto my finger.

My lips curled up into a frosty smile before I knocked the ring away.

The ring fell on the floor and rolled away, but my eyes were trained on the red roses that Sabrina was cradling.

"I like white roses, Sabrina," I said, ruthlessly exposing her. "The person who likes red roses has always been Matthew."

The air froze the moment the words left my lips. Silence descended upon the room.

Just then, a familiar voice resounded from behind me.

"I'm begging you, Colin. Please forgive Sabrina!"

Matthew walked over to us and picked up the ring. He turned and looked at Sabrina with teary eyes, saying, "It's all my fault. The two of you wouldn't have been apart for many years if it weren't for me. I should have just died three years ago if I knew I was going to cause so much trouble."

He started coughing violently, his complexion turning pallid.

Sabrina immediately forgot that she was angry with me. She looked utterly heartbroken as she supported Matthew and asked, "What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to rest at home?"

I sighed as I watched Sabrina dote on Matthew.

If I had known that the welcoming party would end up like this, I would have skipped it altogether.

I nodded at the other guests and said, "I just returned to the country. I'm still suffering from jet lag, so I'll be taking my leave now. Let's meet again another time."

Sabrina tried to stop me when I turned around to leave.

I ignored her and exited the room, leaving the hotel without sparing a single glance at her.

Chapter 2

I made my way to the hotel entrance. I was just about to contact a family member to pick me up when I heard the sounds of hurried footsteps behind me.

"Colin!"

Sabrina had chased after me. Matthew was hot on her heels. His face was as white as a sheet, and he looked quite upset.

"What do you want?" I asked, frowning.

"You crossed the line tonight," Sabrina said. "How dare you reject me so many times! I know that you're still angry, but I might actually believe your lies if you keep rejecting me."

I rolled my eyes. I took a deep breath before saying, "I was being serious. I won't accept your proposal, Sabrina. I stopped loving you three years ago. Besides, I'm already married."

I didn't expect Sabrina to scoff upon hearing my words. "Drop the act. I'm going to get angry."

"She's right, Colin," Matthew chimed in. "Everyone knows that you love Sabrina. How could you possibly marry someone else? Sabrina loves you too. That's why I'm willing to give the two of you my blessing…"

Tears welled up in his eyes as he spoke.

"That's impossible," Sabrina mumbled. "There's simply no way that you're married. You wore my favorite red shirt today. You even used my favorite cologne. You knew that I was going to propose to you today, didn't you?"

I didn't understand why, but I was suddenly struck with the realization that it was pointless to talk to them.

"I'm married," I repeated. "Our relationship ended three years ago, Sabrina. I'm a married man now, so stop bothering me. My reputation will be affected if someone snaps a picture of us together. My wife loves me very much, and we're very happy together.

"As for the red shirt and cologne—I'm sorry, but I forgot your preferences a long time ago."

"Why do you insist on lying to us, Colin?" Matthew suddenly demanded. "Why are you hurting Sabrina this way? If you're married, why did you return to the country alone?"

Sabrina's eyes lit up. Anticipation flickered in her eyes when she looked at me.

I could tell that she was under the assumption that I was madly in love with her.

I couldn't deny that Sabrina and I were childhood sweethearts in the past. Our families were also a good match, so it had only been a matter of time before we got together.

As the scion of my family, I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, but I was willing to work hard for her sake. I forgave her countless times after Matthew appeared in our lives. I had even covered for her in front of our families.

Unfortunately, Sabrina responded to my love for her by lying to me repeatedly.

She claimed that she only treated Matthew as if he were her younger brother, but would a sister share a bed with her brother to take care of him?

I realized that I had truly been blinded by love in the past as I took a trip down memory lane.

However, at that moment, I felt nothing but disdain when I looked at Sabrina.

"Say whatever you want," I said as I started walking away, ignoring the hint of hurt that flickered in Sabrina's eyes. "Just leave me alone. I never want to see the two of you ever again."

Chapter 3

I thought that Sabrina would understand that it was impossible for us to rekindle our relationship after I made my stance blatantly clear.

However, I woke up to a barrage of messages the next day.

"Are you and Sabrina getting engaged, Colin?"

I had no idea what was going on. I tapped on the trending topics link that my friend sent me and frowned when I read the headline.

"Is Marriage on the Table for the Lawrence and Monroe Families? The Romance of a Pair of Childhood Sweethearts Is About to Become a Reality!"

The comments section was filled with clueless netizens expressing their envy for our love.

"I love them as a couple so much!"

"I didn't think that a romance between a prince and princess could actually happen in real life."

"It turns out that I'm just an NPC in this world."

I was about to contact the media to remove the trending topic when I received a call from Sabrina.

"Have you looked at the trending topics chart? Are you happy? I know that you care a lot about your reputation. You're not angry with me anymore, right?" Sabrina asked smugly.

"Are you the one who did this?" I asked coldly.

"Watch your tone. Our engagement was inevitable from the start," Sabrina replied haughtily. "You should feel honored that I'm willing to be your fiancee. Monroe Group is about to break into the international market. We're going to become the top company in the country."

Sabrina was clearly talking nonsense.

Monroe Group had been struggling financially for the last few years. In fact, I returned to the country to acquire the company.

I pretended to be clueless and said, "I had no idea that Monroe Group has been doing so well. But, I heard from Dad that Monroe Group's financial situation has been looking a little precarious recently."

Sabrina scoffed. "I'll have you know that I've been in contact with an internationally-renowned investor. She has already agreed to work with our company."

I was surprised to hear that Sabrina had managed to convince someone to invest in Monroe Group. If she succeeded, my plans of acquiring the company would go up in smoke.

My heart skipped a beat, but I swiftly regained my composure. "Is that so? Monroe Group will be elevated to an even higher level if that's the case. Will I get a chance to meet this investor of yours?"

"Of course," Sabrina answered without any hesitation. "I've already released the news about our engagement, which in turn stabilized Monroe Group's stock market value. In fact, the investor just sent me a message. She'll be attending our engagement party that's taking place in three days' time."

She lowered her voice before she continued, "That's why you must attend the engagement party. I can't guarantee that your company will remain unharmed if you don't. After all, the investor isn't someone that you can afford to cross."

It was easy to pick out the threat in Sabrina's words.

The seed of an idea was planted in my mind as I mulled over my thoughts. A few moments later, I said in a low voice, "Alright, Sabrina. I'll be there for the engagement party."

Chapter 4

Sabrina invited hundreds of media outlets to cover the engagement party to generate buzz for the event. She also wanted to prove to the investor that the Monroe family was a force to be reckoned with.

During the party, Sabrina fixed an adoring expression on her face as she chattered endlessly to the reporters about how we were madly in love.

Meanwhile, I stood by her side emotionlessly.

Soon, it was time to show off the photos that were taken when she proposed to me. Her face twisted when the pictures appeared on the screen.

Instead of showing Sabrina and me being in love, the photos were of Sabrina and Matthew—irrefutable proof that she had cheated on me.

The photos showed Sabrina and Matthew celebrating the holidays together. There were also screenshots of their sweet conversations. A few borderline explicit photos of them being intimate with each other were also in the mix.

I grabbed the microphone from her and looked at the cameras, wiping away nonexistent tears.

"The truth is, Sabrina cheated on me three years ago. She lied to me, telling me she was going to propose on New Year's Eve. But in the end, she stood me up to spend time with her kept lover instead.

"Our relationship ended that day. Sabrina was the one who released the fake news about our engagement. She just wanted to use Lawrence Group's reputation to stabilize Monroe Group's stock market value."

Chaos erupted among the crowd the moment the words left my lips.

The camera flashes went off endlessly as the reporters eagerly bombarded us with questions.

"Is Mr. Lawrence telling the truth? Did you cheat on him?"

"Did you call off the engagement three years ago? Did this incident affect the relationship between the Lawrence and Monroe families?"

"Is Monroe Group's current circumstances as abysmal as Mr. Lawrence claims? Is the company's stock market value so low that the president has to resort to leaking fake news about getting engaged to stabilize the prices?"

The netizens also had plenty to say. Their envy for our perfect relationship morphed into hatred toward Sabrina.

Sabrina was totally helpless against the reporters' barrage of questions. She had no choice but to order the security guards to send them away.

The engagement party ultimately ended with nothing being accomplished.

Since I had exposed her ruse, Sabrina couldn't keep up the adoring act any longer either.

The moment the reporters left, she whirled on me and began interrogating me.

"How dare you, Colin Lawrence!" she gritted out. "You've ruined everything!"

I pointed at my phone and smiled. "Monroe Group's stock market value just plummeted. Your plans have fallen through."

"So what?" Sabrina exclaimed, her eyes wide. "You ungrateful fool! The investor will be arriving any minute now. Once I secure our partnership, Monroe Group's stock market value will rise again! The first company I'm going to tear down is Lawrence Group when that happens!"

Matthew chimed in, "She's right, Colin. You should apologize to Sabrina as soon as possible. I'm sure that she'll be willing to give you another chance if you admit your wrongdoing."

I chuckled. I was just about to speak when a familiar voice resounded toward us.

"Did I come at a bad time?"

Sabrina eagerly approached the woman and began fawning over her. She was just about to say something when the woman suddenly asked an incomprehensible question.

"I heard that you want to ruin my husband's company."