Dumped by My Ex, Then I Married the Richest Man

Everyone knew Clarissa Beckett had been madly in love with Sebastian Hamilton for six years-completely, blindly, with no reservations.

She'd give up everything for him, even her life if it came to that.

But tonight... tonight, she was finally calling it quits.

Sebastian had once said, joking or not, "If you propose to me eighteen times, I'll marry you."

And tonight's personal concert, which Clarissa had spent half a year preparing, was meant to be her eighteenth and final proposal.

Her car rolled smoothly into the underground garage of Hamilton Group. Clarissa parked right next to Sebastian's reserved spot like she'd done countless times before.

She took a deep breath, dabbed on a bit of lipstick in the mirror, and forced a smile.

Six years of repeating the same ritual, of making sure she looked her best before seeing him-

Now it just felt like muscle memory.

The executive floor was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Her heels barely made a sound against the plush carpet as she walked toward his office. Just as her hand reached for the doorknob of that heavy wooden door, she froze.

Laughter and voices filtered from inside.

"Sebastian, I heard Clarissa's planning to propose to you again tonight at her concert. Is that true?"

Clarissa's heart skipped. She instinctively stepped back, hiding in the shadow just beside the door.

"Where'd you hear that from?" Sebastian's voice was casual, almost indifferent.

"It's all over the place," Liam Hollis said with a click of his tongue. "You told everyone if she asked eighteen times, you'd say yes. She's really going for it-are you seriously gonna marry her just like that?"

Outside the door, Clarissa held her breath, clinging to that sliver of hope.

It's been six years-surely, even ice melts eventually.

But then she heard something that shattered her whole world.

Sebastian let out a short laugh. "Liam, since when did you get this naive?"

"That promise? Just me messing with her. If it weren't for my parents liking her-and her shamelessly clinging to me-I wouldn't have wasted these six years playing house with her for fun."

Liam sounded a bit displeased, "Come on, that's not fair. We all saw how she treated you these years. Remember when you had that stomach bleed? She stayed by your side for three whole days, didn't sleep a wink. Even a dog would grow attached after six years."

"Feelings?" Sebastian's tone turned ice cold. "Did you forget how Aria ended up like that?"

In the hallway, Clarissa's face lost all color. Even her lips were pale now.

The name "Aria Ellis" hit her like an old wound being ripped wide open.

"The accident ruined Aria's hand. She worked her whole life on the violin-she was just one step away from becoming Perry Quinn's final student. And because of that crash, her future went out the window."

"Clarissa took her place in the spotlight. You seriously think she had nothing to do with what happened?"

"But the