Chapter 3Keep The Ring I Choose Me

It felt exactly like a physical slap across the face.

Roxy and the rest of the team were shaking with rage. “Is he out of his fucking mind?! He’s deliberately trying to ruin you, Evie!”

“Evie, you and I have worked together for years. Look me in the eye and give it to me straight—did he actually propose to you?” Roxy demanded. “Or did you stage this whole thing?”

I offered a hollow, bitter smile, my hands trembling violently by my sides.

Right on cue, my phone lit up. It was Damian.

“Why would you announce our relationship without discussing it with me first?” he demanded, his tone laced with irritation.

I was dumbfounded. A laugh escaped my throat, harsh and dry. “Our relationship? Am I your underground mistress? Am I your enemy? Is our engagement something shameful that needs to be hidden in the dark?”

Damian scoffed coldly, his words dripping with condescension. “You’re just doing this to force me to give you the role of August, aren't you?”

“Did you really think backing me into a corner publicly would make me hand it over?”

In all our years together, we had never fought like this. He was always so mild, so detached. I had never seen him so fiercely agitated.

The only explanation was the role of August. In his heart, that character—and the girl she represented—was infinitely more important than the woman wearing his ring.

In that singular moment, the humiliation lodged in my throat like shards of glass. His mocking words were repeated slaps to my dignity.

Desperate to salvage the last agonizing shreds of my pride, I screamed a lie:

“Yes!”

“I want the role of August. If you don’t give it to me, we are done!”

The moment the word 'done' left my lips, the tears I had been fighting back broke free, sliding rapidly down my cheeks.

I had a million questions festering inside me, and today, I was going to carve them all out. A heart has to be emptied completely before it can walk away light.

“Damian, would you ever write a book for me?”

“Do you look at me and feel inspired?”

“Where does all your creative passion and desire actually go? Toward whom?”

Finally, my voice cracking with a sob, I asked the fatal question:

“Is the inspiration for Three Years in August Cassidy Blake? The anonymous account, User0601... that was you, wasn't it?”

For a long time, the only sound on the line was the static hum of his breathing and the frantic beating of my own heart.

He said nothing.

His silence was his confession.

Heartbreak. Devastation. Total, humiliating defeat. That was all I was in that moment.

“So you set the wedding date for June 1st… because of her birthday, right?”

Damian finally spoke. His voice was hoarse. “You’re overthinking this. I told you I would marry you, and I am a man of my word.”

“As for that account, I already explained it to Cassidy. It was just a moment of nostalgia. A regret from my youth. It doesn't mean anything now.”

“I’m just angry that you used someone else’s hand to announce us. I’ll explain it to the fans later so it doesn't hurt your career.”

I found it almost hysterically funny. Why did I have to use a fake hand? Because you never allowed us to leave a single photographic trace of our intimacy.

He hated documenting his life. So my ten years of loving him left no footprints. My devotion existed only in the void.

We fell into a heavy, suffocating silence. Neither of us said another word before the call disconnected.

I lay there, staring blankly at the ceiling until my eyes burned and my vision blurred into a gray haze.

The PR director watched my face carefully, choosing her words like walking on a minefield. “Evie, Damian just posted a follow-up tweet. He confirmed the engagement. The internet is eating it up. It’s trending number one.”

“But… those brand deals just called. They said they need to 'evaluate the situation.' We're on pause.”

I nodded weakly. I pulled up X on my own phone.

When I refreshed Damian’s profile, a new casting announcement had just gone live.

It was the official casting for August. A complete unknown.

He had publicly confirmed that she was the real-life inspiration for the character.

Cassidy Blake.

The timestamp showed it was posted exactly thirty seconds after his post confirming our engagement.

He was so terrified that I would use my new status as his official fiancée to aggressively steal the role, that he rushed to lock Cassidy in publicly.

I sat on the edge of the bed, mindlessly twisting the diamond ring on my finger. Taking it off, putting it back on. In my blurred vision, the ring seemed to expand, turning into a massive steel trap, daring me to stick my neck inside and lock myself in a cage.

I shivered violently.

At midnight, after wrapping up a grueling day of damage control, I sat alone in the back of my SUV.

A DM popped up on Instagram.

“I warned you, Evie.”

“It’s only because we used to be best friends that I tried to let you down gently. I really, really didn't want to hurt you.”