Chapter 1

I pulled every string in Hollywood to turn my girlfriend into an A-list superstar.

On the eve of our engagement, she fell in love with a D-list extra she’d worked with for barely a month.

All because he whispered: "Neither fame nor fortune could ever outshine you in my heart."

When I confronted her, asking how she could throw away five years of history, she screamed right in my face:

"He’s willing to sacrifice everything for me! Could you ever do that?"

"You helped my career, sure, but you don't own me! You can't stop me from pursuing true love!"

When Sienna posted her new relationship on Instagram, I was standing in the venue planning our engagement party.

I had waited five years for this night.

Yet, oddly enough, I wasn't shocked. Disappointed? Maybe. But deep down, I felt like I had seen it coming.

All that remained was a hollow, bitter question mark in my chest.

Sienna and I had been together for five whole years.

When I first met her, she was fresh out of college, picking up bit parts as an uncredited extra.

Over those five years, I tapped into my family’s network and poured millions of dollars and endless resources into her career. I dragged her out of obscurity and pushed her straight onto the A-list.

Knowing that an actor’s youth is fleeting, I even secured her a corporate backup plan, convincing my father to reserve an executive seat for her at our family firm whenever she got tired of the spotlight.

Every charitable donation I made carried her name, crafting her into Hollywood’s beloved sweetheart.

I gave her the world.

Eventually, she accepted my proposal. We started planning the engagement.

Yet, she kept stalling whenever I asked to go public with our relationship.

"I finally built a loyal fanbase, Caleb. Going public now would break their hearts."

"I already said yes to your ring. I’m not going anywhere. Why make a fuss over an Instagram post when I’m about to marry you anyway?"

That was the excuse she fed me. I trusted her. But she ran anyway.

I stared at the picture on Instagram—her leaning into him, tagged with that handle.

I knew who he was. Logan Brooks. He had a tiny cameo in her last studio film.

Sienna had been the leading lady; he played a background guard who died in the first scene.

I couldn't fathom how their paths had crossed, just as I couldn't understand how a man she’d known for thirty days could erase me so effortlessly.

Or maybe I never had a real place in her heart to begin with.

I called off the venue crew and dialed her number.

It rang and rang. She didn't pick up until my fifth call.

"Caleb, stop blowing up my phone! If I’m not answering, I’m busy! What is your problem? You're so annoying!"

Before I could even breathe a word, her venom poured through the speaker.

In the past, I would’ve apologized, thinking I had disrupted her work. But I was wide awake now.

"Busy? Busy playing house with Logan Brooks? Or busy hard-launching him on Instagram?"

The other end fell silent. She clearly hadn't expected me to call her out so directly.

"So you saw it?"

"Since you know, stop calling me. I don't want Logan to get the wrong idea. He’s very possessive and gets jealous easily."

She actually sounded shy, shamelessly flaunting their affection like a lovesick teenager.

A wave of sheer disgust washed over me. For the first time in five years, looking at this woman made my stomach churn.

"So you decided to ditch me right before our engagement just to run off with Logan?"

Her answer caught me completely off guard.

"What I feel for Logan isn't what I feel for you. He gives me butterflies, a spark! I’m still going to marry you eventually, Caleb, but you have to let me experience real passion for a few years."

"I’m still young. You can’t trap me in a boring marriage right now. I want to see how colorful the world can be."

It was laughable. She wanted raw passion and novelty, yet refused to let go of the wealth and career I handed her.

Nobody gets to have their cake and eat it too.

"So you expect me to wait around until you’re done having your fun, and then welcome you back at the altar?"

Sienna didn't even flinch. She doubled down:

"You just don't get it, Caleb! Logan told me that neither fans nor money matter to him—nothing is more precious than me."

"You gave me a leg up in the industry, but you have no right to stand in the way of my happiness and true love!"

I had nothing left to say. Logan didn't even have a thousand followers on social media. What did he have to sacrifice?

She was so blinded by his cheap words that she forgot who had built her entire empire.