ANNA’S POV

I stood frozen, my mouth hanging open. Tears streamed down my face before I could blink them away. My chest felt like it had been ripped apart. My fingers went numb, and my bag slipped to the floor.

For a second, I couldn't breathe. My heart hammered in my ears.

My boyfriend was on one knee, proposing to another woman. And not just any woman—my ex-best friend.

The same girl who held me when James and I fought. The one who showed up at midnight with ice cream and pushed me to stick it out with him. The woman who laughed with me, shared secrets with me, and felt like my own flesh and blood.

Melissa.

I wanted to scream his name, to ask him why. I wanted to remind him of the all-nighters we pulled, the promises he whispered in the dark, and the future we built from scratch.

But my voice failed me.

The crowd erupted. His mother clapped, beaming. Cameras flashed. People cheered.

And me?

No. I couldn’t stomach it.

"James, how could you do this to me?”

The words tore out of my throat. My voice cracked, loud enough to turn heads in the crowd. I staggered forward like a drunk.

There he stood, wearing the suit I bought with my last dime. The same suit I ironed two nights ago, imagining how handsome he’d look proposing to me. I hadn’t bought myself a new dress in years. I blew everything on him because I believed in us. Because I loved him.

Now, regret burned through my chest.

“James!” I wailed, my vision blurring. “After everything I’ve done for you? After five years?”

He turned his head, but not toward me. His jaw locked. His eyes darted toward the executives in the front row. Then, treating me like a ghost, he looked right through me and smiled for the cameras.

“Melissa! How could you?!” I shrieked.

She didn't even bat an eye.

“Who is she?” someone whispered behind me.

“I thought she was his girlfriend,” another voice muttered, sharp enough to pierce my eardrums.

My coworkers from the lab. I felt their stares burning into my back. I could practically hear their thoughts.

Wasn’t it supposed to be Anna?

Didn’t they live together?

How could he do her dirty like that?

The gossip spread like wildfire. My face burned.

I took a shaky step forward. “James, tell them the truth. Tell them you promised me—”

Before I could finish, a slap exploded across my cheek.

I stumbled back, gasping. The crowd murmured. My hand flew to my face, heat rushing to my stinging skin.

It was his mother.

She stood tall in her sequined dress, her chin raised high, her eyes blazing. “Shameless tramp,” she spat. “How dare you embarrass my son in front of his peers? Have you no shame?”

“Ma…” My voice broke. “You know I love him. I gave him everything. Even my—”

Her hand shot up again, her words cutting deeper than the blow. “My son would never date trash like you. A peasant hawking cakes on the roadside! You think working in the same building makes you our equal? You’re nothing but a gold digger!”

The crowd gasped. Phones whipped out. The whispers grew louder.

Gold digger.

The label hit me like a freight train.

I shook my head, sobbing. “No! That’s a lie. I gave him my life savings—twenty-five grand! Every last penny I had, I handed over because he said it was for our wedding!” My voice cracked, but I screamed louder, desperate to clear my name. “I formulated that drug! It was my research! My blood, sweat, and tears! He told me to put it in his name because the brass wouldn't respect me. He swore he’d marry me after he got promoted!”

All eyes glued to James. This was his chance to step up. To clear the air. To prove I hadn't wasted five years of my youth on him. To prove this was just a sick joke.

But James didn’t bat a lash. Neither did Melissa.

“James, is the girl telling the truth?” someone shouted from the crowd.

All eyes swung to him. His gaze—cold and dead—met mine for a split second.

“No. I have no clue what she’s rambling about. It's all lies. I don't even know her.”

Then, he gave a subtle nod to the security guards flanking the stage.

“No… James, please don’t do this.” My knees buckled as two burly men closed in. “Please! You know I’m telling the truth!”

He turned his back.

Beefy hands clamped onto my arms. I thrashed, kicking and screaming as they dragged me toward the exit. My voice echoed across the courtyard.

“James! Tell them! Tell them it was me! You said you loved me!” My cries sounded ugly and desperate.

“Throw her out!” his mother barked.

The crowd parted like the Red Sea. No one stepped up. People I worked with, broke bread with… they just stood by and watched me get tossed out like yesterday's trash.

But the final nail in the coffin was Melissa.

She stood beside James, clutching his arm tight. When our eyes locked, she didn’t look away. I searched for an ounce of guilt, but found nothing. Instead, a wicked smirk played on her lips.

That smirk broke me.

Someone chucked my bag at me. My loose change scattered across the floor. I clawed at the ground, but the guards yanked me up.

“Please!” I sobbed. “James, don’t do this! Don’t you remember our plans? You said once you moved up—”

He never looked back.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched James slide the ring onto her finger. He wore the smile that used to be mine. The crowd cheered as Melissa flashed her rock, beaming brighter than the diamond itself.

I went dead weight. The guards hauled me out like a ragdoll.

At the gates, one of them shoved me onto the street. I hit the deck hard, scraping my knees on the rough asphalt. The heavy gates slammed shut behind me, the sound echoing in my hollow chest.

I sat in the dirt, gasping for air. My dress was ruined, my face swollen, my cheek throbbing from the slap. Strangers walked by, throwing me weird looks, but I couldn't move a muscle.

It felt like my soul had been ripped from my body.

How could he? After five years of backbreaking sacrifice. I handed him my heart, my body, and my life savings. I gave him my all.

And he chose her. Not a stranger, but Melissa.

The girl who knew exactly how much blood I bled for James. She knew. And she still stabbed me in the back.

I doubled over, clutching my stomach as nausea washed over me. The image of them together burned into my brain. His tender voice replayed on a loop.

A gut-wrenching sob tore out of my throat.

The world blurred. I dug my nails into the concrete. I prayed it was just a nightmare. Any second now, I’d wake up in our bed, with James smiling down at me.

But the stinging cheek told me it was real. The gaping hole in my chest told me it was real. My drained bank account told me it was real.

By the time I stumbled home, the tears had run dry. My body felt like lead. I had left a piece of my soul on the pavement outside Greenleaf. My eyes burned, my cheeks felt stiff, and my head throbbed with the sheer weight of my loss.

I just wanted to crawl under the covers and die. Instead, my mother was waiting in the living room. Her voice sliced through the silence the second I walked through the door.

“You shameless tramp!”

Before I could even drop my bag, her hand cracked across my jaw. The slap landed hard. I staggered backward, eyes wide, clutching my stinging face.

That was slap number three. Just today.

“Mom… what did I do?” I croaked, my voice shaking.

She shoved a crumpled paper into my chest, shaking with rage. At first, my eyes couldn’t focus. Then, the penny dropped. My chest seized. I recognized the hospital logo. The bold print.

My pregnancy test results.

Oh God.

I'm dead.