Author's Preface
Rose's POV
“...You are going to marry Victor.”
My father’s calm, definitive words vibrated through the silent room, echoing endlessly inside my mind. Marriage. Engagement. The concepts felt entirely surreal, like heavy weights dropping into a still pool. My throat tightened, a sudden spark of panic flaring in my chest. I wanted to voice my refusal, to tell him I wasn’t ready to let a stranger claim my life, but the words withered on my tongue.
Instead, a suffocating layer of guilt wrapped tightly around my heart.
“...Rose.”
My father’s deep voice violently pulled me back to the present. I lifted my chin, meeting his steady gaze.
“You will go shopping this afternoon for the formal engagement party. Lily and Victor will accompany you.”
Before I could formulate a response, Lily stepped forward, her heels clicking sharply against the floor boards. “What?” She stared at my father, her lips parting in utter disbelief. “You’re actually serious about this?”
My father adjusted his cuffs, his nod absolute. “I have already given my word to the Ashford family.”
Lily clenched her fists so hard her knuckles turned a stark white. “And what about Rose’s word? Does her life mean nothing to you?”
A heavy, suffocating silence descended on the living room. Lily whipped around, her wide eyes locking onto mine, desperate for a reaction. “Rose, say something! Tell him!”
Every pair of eyes in the room fell squarely on me, pinning me to the spot. My breath hitched, my lips parting as I tried to force the air through my constricted throat. “I...”
Nothing came out. The crushing weight of debt and gratitude wrapped around my neck like a physical noose, cutting off my voice completely. Lily stared at me for several agonizing seconds, her expression morphing from desperation to absolute frustration.
“I can’t believe this...” She snatched her designer handbag from the sofa, her breathing ragged. “I’m leaving.”
“Lily—”
She paused at the front door, her back rigid, refusing to turn around and look at me. “I’m sorry, Rose. I know exactly why you’re staying silent. But I can’t stand here and pretend this is okay.”
The heavy oak door slammed shut behind her, the violent vibration rattling the glass panels. The living room fell into an eery, dead silence.
.....
I slowly turned my head to the Victor's car window, tracking the passing neon signs and crowded city streets outside as we drove. Dad. The memory of the lean years before our sudden rise to wealth drifted back to me. Back then, home was a cramped, decaying apartment where the ceiling leaked muddy water every single time it rained. My father barely slept, his face permanently etched with exhaustion. During the day, he endured brutal shifts as a factory laborer; at night, he unloaded heavy cargo trucks at the harbor.
I still remembered the metallic tang of grease and the sight of raw cuts covering his calloused hands when he returned past midnight. Yet, despite the agonizing toll on his body, he would pull me into his arms, his chest heaving with fatigue as he forced a smile. “Did my little princess eat well today?”
I had never truly understood the depth of his sacrifice until I grew older. Everything changed the day Leon Ashford entered our lives, Lily’s father, one of the most powerful, dangerous men in Los Angeles. He offered my father a way out. Not a position in another crumbling factory, but a role deep within his sprawling organization. My father never fully explained what that work required, his jaw tightening whenever I asked. He only muttered, “It’s dangerous, Rose... but it will give you a future.”
Years dissolved. Our tiny apartment became a massive, secured mansion. Cheap, worn clothes were replaced by luxury designer brands, and instant noodles gave way to five-star restaurants. My father eventually founded Corvus Pharmaceuticals, which quickly scaled into one of the country’s fastest-growing medical manufacturers. Publicly, people admired his rapid ascent; privately, no one dared question where his foundational backing originated. Even now, he remained deeply bound to Leon Ashford. He respected him, trusted him, and owed him our entire existence.
Perhaps that was the sole reason he never scolded Lily, no matter what kind of trouble and situation she dragged me into.
My mother wasn’t there to offer a different choice. She had passed away when I was still young, her body succumbing to what everyone claimed was a rare, incurable disease.
I looked down at my palms, noticing the way my fingers trembled against my high-waisted skirt. My father had sacrificed his health, his safety, and his soul for me. For Mom. For this pristine, gilded life. How could I look directly into his tired eyes and tell him no? The sheer thought caused a sharp, physical ache to bloom behind my ribs.
The city streets passed quietly outside the tinted passenger window. Neither of us spoke a word. The silence stretching between Victor and me wasn’t uncomfortable; it was simply heavy, thick with mutual resentment for the hand we had been dealt.
Victor finally let out a long, low sigh, his large hands tightening their grip around the leather-bound steering wheel. “...I should probably apologize to you.”
I turned my head slightly, observing his sharp profile and the way the morning light caught his straight orange hair.
“This isn’t what I wanted either.” His voice remained smooth, but a distinct undercurrent of sadness colored his tone. He stared straight ahead at the asphalt. “...There is already someone I love. A woman I fully planned to spend my future with.”
A bitter, humorless smile touched his lips as he navigated the luxury vehicle through a sharp turn. “But our families have entirely different plans for us. So, for the sake of the alignment and the companies...” He glanced at me briefly, his sharp eyes holding a flash of cold reality. “...we are expected to make the sacrifice.”
I turned my gaze back out the window, watching the blur of high-rise buildings. An engagement ring I didn’t want. A pre-determined future I hadn’t chosen. For the first time in my twenty-one years, the concept of true freedom felt farther away than ever before.