Chapter 1The Low-Maintenance Ex Paying Me Back In Full

The night before the long weekend, I worked overtime until two in the morning.

I sent my girlfriend seventeen messages. She only replied with one word: "Busy."

The next morning, while scrolling through Instagram, I saw a photo posted by my younger brother.

A tropical beach. A woman’s hand resting on his waist. On her wrist was the luxury watch I had given my girlfriend for her birthday last year.

Lucas and I grew up together. He was always the spoiled golden child of the family—everyone let him have his way. Serena and I had been together for four years. When she first started her tech company and struggled the most, I emptied six years of savings to give her every dime.

Yet today, the woman I loved most and the brother I cared for the most had teamed up to play me for a fool.

I stared at that photo for three full minutes before dialing Lucas's number.

"Lucas, did you go out of town for the long weekend? I saw your Instagram post."

There was a two-second silence on the other end, followed by his airy, cheerful laugh. "No, Ethan! That's an old photo from last year. I’m just binge-watching shows at home today."

"Really? Want me to swing by? I just grabbed some of your favorite cheesecake."

"No, no, don't! I'm grabbing lunch with a friend right now. Let's hang out another day!" The panic in his voice was impossible to hide.

I smiled, said sure, hung up the phone, and took a cab straight to the airport.

Some things, I had to see with my own eyes.

On my way to the airport, I called Serena.

It rang six times before she picked up. The faint sound of ocean waves echoed in the background. She deliberately lowered her voice. "What is it?"

"Nothing. Just wondering if you've eaten."

"I ate. I'm in a meeting. Talk later." She tried to hang up.

"Wait." I took a deep breath. "Serena, that watch I gave you last year... do you still have it?"

Silence hung on the line.

"Yeah, of course. Why?"

"Nothing. I was cleaning up and noticed the warranty card is about to expire. Thought about taking it in for maintenance for you."

"No need, the watch is totally fine." Her tone showed no cracks. "I have to go. The client is waiting."

The line went dead. I leaned back against the cab seat, watching the highway trees blur past outside the window.

I met Lucas when I was fourteen. He stole my brand-new console, and I told Mom it was fine. At eighteen, right before my SATs, he hid my state ID. I barely got an emergency replacement outside the testing center and nearly missed the exam; our parents said he was just young and immature. At twenty-two, I bought him a birthday gift with my very first paycheck. He complained it was cheap and threw it straight into the trash right in front of my face. At twenty-four, I brought Serena home. Lucas sat right beside her, smiling brighter than anyone.

I should have seen it back then.

Yet I didn't.

Because he was Lucas. He was my brother.

Everyone had conditioned me to cater to him. After twenty-four years of giving in, I had forgotten what it felt like to put my foot down.

I bought a ticket on the earliest flight out—departing at three in the afternoon, a four-and-a-half-hour trip to the tropical resort coast.

While waiting at the gate, I pulled up my brother’s Instagram and zoomed in on the photo.

The woman's hand was slender and fair. No ring on her ring finger.

The watch was a classic luxury piece. Last year for Serena's birthday, I had gone through a private buyer to import it. On the side of the casing, the letters "S&E" were engraved—Serena and Ethan. Her initial and mine.

I had wired sixty-eight thousand dollars to that buyer. It was literally every cent I had to my name back then.

When Serena put it on, her eyes were red with tears.

She held my hand tightly and said, "Ethan, I will never let you lose."

Lucas was standing right there when she said those words.

He looked at us with a beaming smile, holding up his phone. "Let me take a picture of you two!"

Looking back now, he wasn't capturing our happiness. He was capturing the exact design of the watch.

To buy an identical replica?

No. Knowing Lucas, he would never settle for a fake.

He would demand the real thing with total entitlement, and Serena would simply hand it over.

I texted Serena's college roommate, Chloe: "Is Serena on a business trip to the beach this weekend?"

Chloe texted back within seconds: "Are you kidding, Ethan? She told me last week she was taking her special someone on a getaway to Atlantis. You didn't know?"

My fingers froze over the screen.

"Her special someone?"

"Yeah, that's what she said! Booked an oceanfront suite at the Atlantis Resort. I even teased her about being so generous all of a sudden."

Chloe sent a facepalm emoji. "Crap... did I say something I shouldn't have?"

"No. Thanks for letting me know."

I locked my screen and buried my face in my hands.

The Atlantis Resort.

Last year, I told Serena I wanted to go. She said it was too expensive and that we'd go once her company’s cash flow stabilized.

I said okay. No rush. I’d wait.

I had been waiting all along.

Waiting for her to finish work, waiting for her company to steady, waiting for her to have time.

I waited four years, only for her to take my brother to the place I had dreamed of going.