Ten Years Behind His Rise, One Day to Become Another Man’s Wife

For ten years, Azalea Ashbourne has used her family's name to clear a path for Adriel Aldridge, hiding her true standing and pouring her life into a man she believed would one day stand beside her as her husband. Then Amara Atkinson returns to the city, and the Aldridge Family celebrates her pregnancy — a child fathered by Adriel himself, arranged to carry on the Atkinson bloodline.

When Azalea walks into the Aldridge estate, she finds Adriel holding Amara and the two Families toasting the news, with Adelina Aldridge and Adam Aldridge dismissing her as a woman who would never dare walk away. Adriel is certain she is only making another scene, certain that after ten years she no longer has the courage to leave.

Azalea slips off her engagement ring and ends it. Then she calls her father to freeze Adriel's appointment to the Ashbourne council and reopen the marriage negotiations — because she has decided to marry someone else.