Seven Years of Love Seven Minutes of Truth

Chapter 1

To force me into breaking off our engagement, my fiancé orchestrated my father’s company’s downfall, driving it to bankruptcy and leaving him drowning in millions of dollars of debt.

The shock made my father collapsed from a heart attack and was rushed into emergency care.

Desperate and out of options, I knelt before my fiancé, tears streaming down my face, begging him to help cover my father’s surgery costs. But he only looked down at me with cold indifference.

Then, just as all hope seemed lost, Atlas Whitmore, my childhood best friend, returned from abroad.

Without hesitation, Atlas pulled every string necessary to get my father the best medical care. He stayed with me through endless nights, never leaving my side, offering quiet reassurances when my world was crumbling.

But a week later, my father suffered another sudden attack.

As his life slipped away, Atlas knelt by his bedside, his voice trembling with emotion as he made a solemn vow–he would marry me and take care of me for the rest of his life, so my father could leave this world without worry.

After the funeral, hollow and broken, I finally severed all ties with my fiancé.

Instead, I chose Atlas.

For five years, I thought I had found peace, that I had been saved from my grief.

Until one night, I stumbled upon a conversation that shattered everything.

“You really outplayed me on this one. Got Celeste to walk away willingly, like the clingy fool she is. But tell me–what do you think she’d do if she found out it was you who destoryed her father? Will she’d want to kill you?”

My fingers hesitated on the polished brass handle of the private lounge door.

laughter rang out, low and

“Celeste trusted you like a brother, loved you unconditionally. I bet it never even crossed her mind that the man

breath caught in my throat.

with alcohol and anger, responded. It was Atlas.

his words laced with something bitter. “I never cared for Celeste even though, but I’m not a monster. I’d never go as far as pushing

the sound edged with suppressed fury. Then came Atlas’s voice again, low and

of Love. Seven

粒粒

Chapter 1

rest of my life making it up to her. The only reason I helped you back then was for Ivy’s

slow, taunting sound.

protecting your dear Celeste… after all, you killed her father.

The unmistakable sound of glass shattering against the door jolted me

and walked away, my heart pounding like a war

with the scent of liquor and smoke. My hands trembled as I reached for a glass, lifting

my eyes. I never drank. But tonight, I needed something–anything–to drown out the words replaying in

who ruined

spent five years sharing a bed with, waking up next to,

father’s first attack, he must have said something, done something,

onto him in those final moments. The look I

It was rage.

been too blind, too trusting, to see it. The love, the warmth, the marriage

been love at all. It was guilt. A hollow, meaningless compensation.

own ears. The taste of alcohol turned to ashes on my tongue, my stomach churning with something ugly and consuming.

blankly at my empty glass when warm