1

I chose the cheapest flowers in the shop because I thought my boyfriend was drowning in debt.

Hours later, I discovered he had sent his fiancée roses worth one hundred times more.

Julian Hart wasn't a struggling intern. He was the heir to Hart Group—and our entire relationship had been an experiment designed to test whether I was worthy of his fortune.

He expected me to forgive the lies.

He expected me to accept the career he destroyed.

He even expected me to come back after he refused to help save my grandmother.

Instead, I boarded a plane with another man and disappeared from his life.

Years later, the billionaire who once tested my love came begging for a second chance.

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At first, I told myself I'd heard wrong.

But I'd always been unusually sensitive to voices, and Julian's was distinctive. He had a habit of lifting the last word of a sentence, as if even a simple answer amused him.

Vanessa Reed ended the call and looked around at us.

“The flowers are from my fiancé.”

The room went quiet for a beat.

Vanessa had spent more than three years chasing the most handsome guy in the neighboring department. How had a fiancé appeared out of nowhere?

She shrugged.

“Our families arranged it. He's handsome, and he's good to me.”

Then she smiled as if she were sharing a private joke.

“But we both thought it would be a shame to spend our whole lives with only one person. So we agreed that, until the wedding, we could each have our fun.”

She pulled one rose free from the enormous bouquet and twirled it between her fingers.

“He has a girlfriend this year. He promised that whenever he buys her something, he'll give me the same thing at a hundred times the price.”

A price tag was still tucked beneath the wrapping.

Nine thousand nine hundred yuan.

Vanessa flicked it with one fingernail and laughed.

“Wow. So he only bought that girl ninety-nine-yuan flowers.”

“What an idiot. She must think she's found true love, suffering beside some rich heir while he pretends to be broke.”

There was no pity in her voice. Only delight.

Then her eyes landed on the bouquet in my arms.

“You got flowers too, Lily?”

She leaned closer. “They don't look very fresh. How much were they?”

Exactly ninety-nine yuan.