But losing yourself in a relationship hurts longer."

- Charles Orlando

Mia's POV

A month before the wedding

"What? Have you gone made? You want to cancel the wedding?" Mom glares at me when I mention cancelling my wedding. She puts the pen down and rubs her head, "Do you even know how much money we invested in this marriage?"

"Is that all matter?" I ask fuming with anger, "Didn't you hear Chris is cheating on me that to with Sarah? And yet you want me to marry him. If you have invested so much in this wedding, then why don't you ask Sarah to marry him? I'm sure Chris will be thrilled."

She lets out an exhausted sigh and gets up from her chair. She walks up to me and puts her hands on my shoulder, "So what if he's sleeping with Sarah? Mia, he's a man and he has desires. If you can't fulfil your duties and satisfy him, then you shouldn't even complain about him being unfaithful."

Huh! I should have seen this coming. It's not like I didn't know how much all of them wanted this wedding to happen. And I'm their scapegoat. Even if it means they have to hide the affair of Sarah and Chris.

I know she has no interest in Chris. She's only sleeping with him because he's my fiancé. She thinks she can be hurt by sleeping with Chris. She doesn't even know I only agreed to marry that bastard because her parents forced me to. I don't even like him to begin with. Why would I even like a scumbag like him? I'm fully aware that he's only marrying me because of the deal between our companies.

A few months ago, the company suffered a huge loss when my step-father used his oh-not-so-useful brain for a project. Even though, I told him for the umpteenth time that the bid was way too low for the project. But he didn't pay any heed to my words and submitted the bid. And as I expected, we did win the bid, however, it was a loss project. Because he had to use a lot of his funds for the project.

That's when my step-father and Chris's father decided to marry their children to help each other to get away from their dire situation. At first, I thought they would talk about Sarah and Chris's marriage as she's the real daughter.

However, I didn't expect them to talk about my marriage with Chris. I didn't know the reason behind their decision but it seemed Chris's grandmother didn't like Sarah much. On the other hand, Chris needed a powerful ally to suppress his older half-brother and inherit the company.

Even if I didn't want to marry Chris, they forced me to do the engagement. Back then, I couldn't do anything to stop the engagement. Then there's no way I can stop this marriage like this. And knowing that she wouldn't help me, I still came here only to confirm my doubts.

I let out a chuckle, "Ah, I forgot I was talking to. Your husband also went to another woman just because you couldn't satisfy him."

Her expression hardened, she fumes in anger, "What did you say?"

"Why are you surprised? I'm just stating the truth," I say, smirking at her, "You know very well that your husband isn't loyal to you. Perhaps it's you who couldn't satisfy him that's why he slept with another—"

My words are cut off when the sound of a slap echoes throughout the room. I can feel a burning sensation on my cheek, but there is no pain. All I feel is deep rage for her. I have spent my whole life in anguish and pain, only because of this woman.

She chose to abandon her daughter so that she could live her life. For her, I was just a mistake that she made in her early life.

"How can you disrespect your mother like this?" She asks, with a murderous glare, "Did you forget that you're here because of me? You can enjoy this luxurious life, only because you're my daughter. Even your father is alive because of me—"

"You're wrong, mom. You didn't do anything for me or dad." I say, cutting off her in mid-sentence. I take a deep breath before glaring at her murderously, "The only reason I'm here is because you needed me. You needed me to take revenge on your husband for his infidelity."

Narrowing my eyes at her, I let out a mocking laugh, "You would've never bring me here if I wasn't useful to you," I lean closer to her and whisper in a low voice, "You should be grateful to me that I helped you to gain what you have now. Because of me, you got revenge on your husband as well the position you wanted for so long."

My mother and her husband wants to take over Kingstone Enterprise. However, they can't do that because her mother-in-law wants her eldest grandchild as the heir of Kingstone Enterprise.

It makes sense why she wants that. Nathan Kingstone is a genius. I heard that his father was like that as well. I also heard that she wanted Nathan's father to inherit the company. Unfortunately, he passed away when Nathan was just a child.

They would have lose the company if Nathan has shown interest in inheriting the company. But he has no interest in becoming the heir, in fact, his relationship with his own family is in shambles.

I don't know the exact reason, but I did hear it has something to do with his mother, who came from a very poor background.

"Do you think I don't know the reason why you are keeping me here?" I tell her, she raises her eyebrows at me. I smirk at her, "I know very well that you are keeping me here to do all the dirty works so that Sarah can inherit the company without a hitch."

With Nathan and Nicolas in the line, it wouldn't be easy for her to make Sarah, the heir. So, she wants to use me as her pawn and discard me when time calls for it.

I shrug my shoulder nonchalantly, "After all, Sarah isn't capable of beating me, let alone Nathan."

She fumes in anger, I chuckle seeing her like that. Then I walked out of the office room. As soon as I open the door, I see Nathan standing right in front of the door with Darren. I close my eyes and let out a sigh of frustration. I told Darren not to follow me, but he still came — that with Nathan.

And Nathan, what's doing here? Did he hear the conversation? He probably didn't. If he had then he wouldn't have stayed out—

"What happened to you?" Nathan asks,  looking at me with concern. He's about to touch my lips but I step away a little. He sighs and asks, "Did she hit you?"

He grits his teeth as he looks behind me. I look behind at my mother who is looking at us angrily. I roll my eyes at her and walk out of the room. Darren follows me behind.

"Is it okay to leave Mr. Kingstone there?" Darren asks while following me. I stop and look behind to see Nathan, but he's not there. He already walked inside of the room, "What if he causes any ruckus?"

There is no point in interfering, it will only make Nathan think that I care for him. I do not want to give him any kind of hope. I don't even know why does he even like me? Do I look like a stray cat to him that always needs his help?

At least, it gave me a reason to deal with his grandmother. Don't get me wrong, Nathan. I'm doing all this because I have to survive in your crazy household. If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't be standing here right now.

I then look at Darren, "Then let him. It's not my job to babysit him. Even if he causes any ruckus, it has nothing to do with us."

Darren nods his head. I walk into my office room and let out a sigh. Then I look at Darren and ask, "Oh, did you get the recordings and videos?"

"Yes," Darren replies, "But are you planning to use them to cancel the wedding?"

"No, I won't use them to cancel the wedding. I will use them to destroy the wedding. It'll be so disastrous that they will forget with whom they dared to mess with." I say, smirking at Darren.

Darren hums in response, he's well aware of my situation. It's probably why doesn't judge me for being so cold and cruel. And it's probably the reason I trust him too.

"Oh, I forgot to mention this earlier, but we found him." My eyes widen in surprise when I hear his words, "The person you are looking for, Trevor Klein, we found him."