Ten Years Wasted on Trash

I manage to drag Jared Sheppard from death's door. Since then, I've accompanied him from his poorest times all the way to the current moment, when he's now worth tens of millions of dollars.

On the day his company goes public, he gets engaged to another woman.

"Gabrielle, she's different from you. She's an actual princess of the elite. I need to give her an official title, so I can't fool around with you anymore."

I never bothered defending myself. It's time for this farce to end, anyway.

After all, there's still a man waiting for me at home, who's been calling me his princess since I was a little girl.

I snatched the cigarette from Jared Sheppard's mouth and took a deep drag. This was a move we'd repeated countless times over the past ten years.

The mess stretched from the kitchen all the way to the bed. I often called Jared a wolf in sheep's clothing. He looked like a gentleman on the surface, but was absolutely feral when he was in bed.

I slowly blew out a ring of smoke and handed the remaining half of the cigarette back to him, but he refused it.

"Gabrielle, I'm done fooling around. I'm getting engaged tomorrow."

I flipped over and straddled him, the smile at the corner of my mouth impossible to suppress.

"Ten years, and you're finally ready to propose to me? Do it now. No need to make it so formal. I'll say yes—"

"It's not with you. She's not like you."

Our voices rang out at the same time.

Silence fell between us.

Jared picked up his phone and held it out in front of me. On the screen was a young woman smiling boldly and freely. She was dressed in clothes with no identifiable brands, yet one look told you that they cost a fortune.

"Rachel Speight," he said. "She's the daughter of one of our business partners. She's pretty, right? She's not like you. She doesn't need anything. She can just have fun with me without any concern or worries.

"She comes from a good family, and she's very innocent and pure. For my sake, she fought with her family for a long time. I have to give her a proper title."

He pulled the phone back and carefully caressed the screen. It was clear that he cherished this woman—so much so that he couldn't even bear to let me look at her for one extra second.

Pain stabbed through my chest.

This Rachel really was different from me.

I was calm, brooding, and always thinking three steps ahead. Every glance I took carried an agenda. And because of that, I'd helped Jared build his company from nothing to an empire worth one billion dollars.

Meanwhile, Rachel was bright and carefree. She was the type who never planned her next move.

Yet, I'd been the one who stayed by Jared's side for a full ten years. From the time he had nothing, I'd slept