Ditching Me for His 'Soulmate'? His Loss. Next Stop: My New Life novel Chapter 88

Chapter 1

The rain poured relentlessly as I stood outside the grand mansion, clutching a sushi order worth $2,500, topped with a generous hundred-dollar tip. A small surge of pride swelled within me—after all, delivering such an expensive meal in this weather was no small feat.

Suddenly, laughter echoed from inside the house, sharp and mocking.

“Can you believe she actually bought the story about his paralysis from that car accident? And she’s been delivering food every single day just to keep him afloat? She even pawned her mother’s heirlooms for cash!” a voice sneered.

“If she knew he’s worth millions—an elite Manhattan millionaire playing the poor victim—she’d probably have a heart attack,” another voice added, dripping with scorn.

Behind the towering floor-to-ceiling windows, Reed toyed with the wine glass in his hand, a cruel smirk playing on his lips.

“Trash like her was born to serve others,” he said coldly.

“It’s payback for how she always outshone Sage back in school. This is exactly what she deserves,” came the venomous reply.

I stood there, rain soaking through my clothes, tears streaming freely down my cheeks. Two years. Two long years of deception. Reed had been faking his paralysis the entire time, all to help his childhood sweetheart exact revenge on me.

His supposedly paralyzed legs, the tragic story of his dead parents, the helpless tears—all of it was a carefully crafted lie, twisted and sick.

Wiping my face, I reached for my phone and dialed my billionaire father, the man I’d refused to speak to for years.

“Dad,” I said quietly, my voice trembling but resolute, “you win. I’ll agree to the arranged marriage.”

As I ended the call, Sage’s voice floated out from the mansion, dripping with smug satisfaction.

“My darling Reed spoils me rotten, so of course he’d teach that little bitch a lesson for me. I couldn’t be happier,” she purred.

Her slender fingers traced lightly along Reed’s jawline, and my heart clenched when I noticed the ring on her finger—my mother’s ring.

Reed chuckled low and soft, gently biting her fingertip with a possessive grin.

“You’re such a little troublemaker,” he teased.

My eyes flicked down to his legs, which were casually crossed on the coffee table—completely normal, no sign of paralysis. The thick white casts that had fooled me for over two years now looked glaringly fake under the bright lights.

Taking a steadying breath, I grabbed the delivery bag and knocked firmly on the door.

It slid open automatically, and every eye in the room locked onto me. The lively chatter in the living room died instantly, replaced by an oppressive silence.

His face drained of color. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

The tension in the room thickened.

Sage let out a contemptuous laugh, rising gracefully in her heels. She approached me deliberately, holding up the ring right in front of my face.

“This ring was a birthday gift from Reed,” she said with a mocking smile. “Like it now? Want it back?”

She stressed “birthday gift” with a smugness that burned.

Reed’s face paled. “Sage, stop it! She—”

“She what?” Sage interrupted impatiently, eyeing me up and down in my soaked, cheap delivery uniform with disdain.

“You want it? Fine.”

“For Reed’s sake, I’m not completely unreasonable. But the original price is off the table.”

She smirked, leaning in slightly. “I’m generous, so here’s a friendship discount—$500,000, cash, right now. Then you can have the ring.”