Not Yours to Control

On our wedding day, my boyfriend, Hayden Grant, had me thrown out of the chapel. Instead, he walked down the aisle hand-in-hand with his childhood sweetheart.

I went back in and collapsed at the side of the aisle. The bouquet slipped from my hands, and scattered petals fell everywhere. However, his eyes did not linger on me for even half a second.

"Selena's child needs a dad. Once that's taken care of, I'll marry you."

Everyone thought I, the lovesick fool, would willingly wait another month.

After all, I had already waited for him for seven years.

However, that night, I did something no one expected.

I agreed to my parents' arranged marriage and left the country.

Three years later, I returned home to visit my parents.

My husband, William Fields, was the CEO of a multinational corporation. When an unexpected, important meeting came up, he asked me to head to the company's branch back home ahead of him, where his subordinates would take care of me.

To my surprise, one of those subordinates turned out to be Hayden, the man I had not seen in three years.

His eyes went straight to the sparkling diamond on my ring finger.

"Is this a knockoff of that pink diamond Mr. Fields bought for his wife that's worth five million dollars? I didn't expect you to become so vain after all these years.

"You've stirred up enough drama. Come home. Selena's kid is in school now, so it's the perfect chance for you to take care of his lunches."

I did not say a word and just traced the ring with my fingertips.

He had no idea that this was the cheapest of all the gems William had ever given me.

The moment I stepped into the company's reception area, I saw a sign in the most prominent spot in the room that read: [A Warm Welcome to Mrs. Fields!]

Standing right behind that sign was someone I had not seen in three years—my ex-boyfriend, Hayden Grant.

Three years had passed, yet he still had not offered an explanation, let alone an apology.

There he was, standing tall and smug in the middle of the crowd. Selena Reed was clinging to his arm, and there was a cluster of fawning subordinates at his back.

One of them spotted me right away and let out a sly little laugh. "Wait, Hayden, isn't that the little fangirl who used to trail after you back in the day? What was her name again? Vivi or something? How did she even get into the company?"

Hayden was stunned for a moment. However, he quickly put on an air of indifference as though everything was unfolding exactly as he had expected.

"She must've used my name to get in. I told you, she can't stay away from me. Sooner or later, she was bound to come back."

The group burst out laughing.

"Back then, when Vivian disappeared without a word, I thought she had grown a backbone.