Mila checked the time on her phone.
11:30 pm.
'Perfect,' she mumbled to herself. 'I still have time.'
Exhaustion weighed on her after the double shift at the hospital. Two emergency surgeries. One near-fatal crash victim. But she managed to save him.
She let out a weary sigh. Her bones ached, her body demanding sleep.
But tonight was special – her boyfriend's birthday. She had told him she couldn't make it. He had sounded disappointed, but he was understanding.
A smile touched her lips as she reached into her bag and took out a small velvet box. "I hope he will love this surprise," she murmured.
She had planned to give this ring to him, to tell him that she was ready to marry him, that she would never leave his side in this life.
"I can't wait to see the joy in your eyes."
She removed her scrub, put on a white dress she had specifically bought for tonight, and drove to the club, where Ethan was celebrating his birthday with his friends. She took the box of the ring in her hand.
'He will be surprised to see me.'
She asked one of the staff about the private room reservation under his name and made her way upstairs quickly. She wanted to see his face when she entered.
Music pulsed through the floor. Laughter and chatter drifted out from the slightly ajar room. With anticipation and joy in her heart, she stepped closer. Just then, she heard her name.
"Mila?"
Her steps froze. It was Ethan's voice.
"That foolish woman," he mocked.
Mila stiffened. She couldn't cross the threshold.
Laughter echoed inside the room.
"You are right. She is foolish. She still thinks you are in love with her," one of his friends said.
The words didn't hurt her much, but Ethan's careless chuckle tore at her heart.
"She believes what I tell her."
Mila tightened her grip on the box.
"Why are you still with her?" another male voice asked. "You clearly love Bianca. Why not break up with Mila and marry Bianca instead?"
Bianca?
Mila peered through the crack of the doors and saw her half-sister leaning intimately against Ethan. The sight made her heart tremble.
'He loves my half-sister!' she muttered with disbelief.
Ethan grazed his fingers on Bianca's shoulder. "There is no hurry." As he said, his eyes were on the woman in his arms. "Once I make her surrender her shares, I'll kick her out of my life. Then Bianca and I can go public."
Shares?
Mila gasped, her legs moving backward involuntarily. 'So it's all about those shares?'
"Her mother left her thirty percent of Vega Biocorp," he continued. "With that percentage, she can control the company in the future. That's why I approached her."
Mila's mind buzzed. She thought he loved her, but he was with her only for the shares.
"She is sentimental. She won't sign it away easily until I win her trust completely."
"Yes," came Bianca's voice. "Ethan is helping me to get those shares. Once we get control of the company, she won't have any claim."
Mila's heart dropped further. At first, she thought she was hearing things. But slowly, she understood everything. It was a calculated trap, no loyalty, no love.
"Once Mila signs the proxy rights, Bianca gets majority control," Ethan said. "It will happen soon."
Someone laughed. "You are so ruthless."
"But what if she refuses to sign?" one of them asked.
"She won't dare," Ethan said confidently. "She loves me so much that she will do anything to make me happy."
"Then I'll congratulate you in advance."
The clinking of the glasses echoed, mixing with their laughter.
The sound blurred. Mila didn't realize she had stepped back until her heel hit the wall behind her.
Ethan's voice sounded low but clear. "I've loved Bianca since the beginning. Mila is just a tool. Every moment with her was boring. I felt disgusted pretending. Only Bianca could make me truly happy."
The velvet box slipped out of her grip and fell onto the marble floor. Her world had just tilted. Images crashed through her mind.
She recalled Ethan stepping forward and protecting her when her stepmother scolded her, and her father hit her.
'I'll protect you.' He had promised her, and she had foolishly believed him.
Ethan had been there for her when her father had ignored her. He had been her support system all those years.
She had believed him. She had given her heart to him. But he had used her. He also turned out to be a cruel being who never loved her.
Her chest burned, but no tears came. She wouldn't cry for a man like him.
'Since you chose Bianca, you no longer exist to me. From now on, we are strangers.'
She left without looking back at the ring she had selected with so much love and enthusiasm.
The rain had started by the time she reached the car. It poured harder as she drove. Her hands trembled slightly at the steering wheel. No matter how hard she tried to make her heart steel, those words still reverberated in her ears, tormenting her.
There had only been her mother who had truly loved her. After her death, his father remarried and brought a half-sister. It was only then that she realized he had been cheating on her mother. Bianca already existed long before her mother passed away.
Mila hated cheating the most, and she had once warned Ethan half-jokingly not to deceive her ever. He had done exactly that. He had hooked up with the woman she had loathed the most.
"I'll never forgive you, Ethan."
The thunder clapped, and she flinched. She was scared of the thunder and wanted to hide somewhere. But the fear was nothing compared to the pain in her heart.
She continued driving. A movement on the road caught her attention.
Ahead, headlights swerved violently. A black luxury sedan ran to the side of the road uncontrollably and hit the divider. The car spun sideways.
Her foot hit the brake instinctively. For a split second, Mila just stared, her pulse roaring in her ears. When she saw smoke coming out of the engine, she reacted.
"The driver might still be alive. I need to help him."
She threw the door open and ran into the rain. The sight of a spark flickering near the hood chilled her bones.
"It's going to explode."
Her instinct told her to step back. But she caught a movement inside the car. It was a man, blood on his temples.
"Oh my God!" The smell of gasoline only added to her fear. She pulled the door open and tried to drag him out.
The seatbelt.
She unbuckled it and dragged him out.
He coughed up blood.
"Hang on there," she said reassuringly. "You will be alright."
She practically hauled him away. The car exploded just behind them, and they hit the wet asphalt.