The Life of Freedom I Long For

For ten years Kathy stayed beside Felix, taking the blame for his fights, delivering pills and breakup money to the women he slept with, and playing the shameless doormat everyone despised. She had her reasons: his mother paid her to devote her youth to him, money that saved her gravely ill mother and freed her from her gambling father's debts. She tutored him, guided him, and turned a hopeless delinquent into a proper heir.

The day he became the heir to his family's fortune, Felix dumped her with scorn, calling her dull and drained of affection. Kathy simply smiled, agreed, and left—her mother cured, a hundred million dollars in her bank account. While everyone waited for her to fall apart, she boarded a flight and tossed her phone in the trash.

Five years later, Kathy is a celebrated fashion designer in Provenelle, presenting a collection in Parovine. At a birthday party, she comes face to face with Felix and Eleanor—and the old crowd's mockery. This time, she has no intention of crawling back.