CHAPTER 1 — She Mocked Her Wheelchair-Bound Fiancé...
The first time my fiancée called me useless...
the entire ballroom laughed.
The second time...
I let them.
Crystal chandeliers glittered above the Lancaster mansion while New York's wealthiest families celebrated what was supposed to be our engagement gala.
I sat alone in the center of the room.
Wrapped in a gray cashmere blanket.
My hands rested quietly on the wheels of an expensive custom wheelchair.
Everyone believed I had lost the use of my legs after a devastating car crash three months earlier.
No one questioned it.
Especially Evelyn Hart.
She walked toward me in a crimson evening gown, a champagne glass dangling from her fingertips.
"Look at him," she said loudly.
"The great Lucas Lancaster."
"So powerful..."
"And now he can't even stand."
Laughter rippled through the ballroom.
Someone whispered,
"What a waste."
Another raised a glass.
"Life comes at you fast."
Evelyn smiled.
She loved having an audience.
She stopped beside my chair and leaned close enough for only me to hear.
"I've been patient long enough."
"I'll inherit everything soon."
Then she kissed my cheek...
just for the cameras.
The room applauded.
No one saw the disgust in her eyes.
Across the ballroom, my father watched in complete silence.
He didn't stop her.
He knew exactly what I was doing.
The accident had been real.
The headlines weren't.
My legs had healed weeks ago.
Only four people knew the truth.
My father.
My surgeon.
My head of security.
And me.
I chose the wheelchair.
Because nothing reveals people's true character faster...
than believing you can never stand again.
Evelyn wasn't the only one who changed.
Friends disappeared.
Business partners grew impatient.
Relatives began discussing my inheritance while I sat in the same room.
Then someone quietly knelt beside me.
The new maid.
She gently adjusted the blanket that had slipped from my knees.
"Are you cold, sir?" she asked.
I shook my head.
"I'm fine."
She hesitated.
Then whispered,
"You still deserve kindness."
No one had spoken to me like that in months.
Not because she wanted money.
Not because she expected anything.
Simply because she meant it.
I looked at her for a long moment.
"What's your name?"
"Linh."
She smiled shyly and walked away.
I watched her disappear into the hallway.
Then I looked back at Evelyn.
She was laughing with investors...
already acting like the future owner of my company.
She had no idea...
that hidden behind one of the ballroom mirrors...
a security camera had recorded every word she had spoken to me that night.
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And tomorrow morning...
I was going to stand.
