Almost Forever Our Fake Romance Agreement

Tonight, my boyfriend of seven years, Benjamin Kane, was supposed to propose. Our future was a perfect picture, planned down to the last detail.

But a single phone call shattered it all. A mysterious voice convinced him I was a gold digger who would ruin him, and that another woman, Jenna Christian, was his true soulmate.

He called off our engagement on the spot.

That was only the beginning of my nightmare. I was stalked by a man obsessed with Jenna, a confrontation that ended with me falling from a rooftop and shattering my arm. Then, I was kidnapped by a shady agency, trapped by a contract Jenna had signed in my name. I was living the horrific fate that was meant for her.

Benjamin, the man who promised me forever, abandoned me to suffer while defending the very woman who orchestrated my torment.

Lying in a hospital bed, I received an acceptance letter for a design scholarship in Paris. It was my only escape. I took it, leaving behind the man who broke me and the life he destroyed.

Chapter 1

The air in the grand university ballroom was thick with anticipation. Not just for the inevitable speeches, the clinking of champagne flutes, or the final goodbyes. For me, Amanda Stevens, it was for one moment: Benjamin Kane, my boyfriend of seven years, getting down on one knee. Everyone knew it was coming. Whispers followed us like a second shadow. Benjamin, the golden boy, real estate heir, and me, his talented fashion design student girlfriend. Tonight was our night. Our future.

I watched him from across the room, his dark hair catching the light, his profile sharp and confident as he spoke with a dean. My heart hammered, a frantic drum against my ribs. Seven years. A lifetime for us. We had planned everything, every detail of our lives, right down to the type of dog we' d get. I smoothed the fabric of the dress I designed, a soft blush silk that shimmered with every breath. It was my ode to our love, to the future I believed in.

Then, his phone buzzed. He glanced at it, a flicker of annoyance on his face, then excused himself, stepping into the quieter alcove near the main entrance. I tried not to stare, but my eyes were glued to him. He answered, his voice low, almost a whisper. I could barely make out the words, but the tension in his shoulders was a language I understood. Something was wrong.

"No, that' s impossible," Benjamin muttered, his back to me. His hand clenched around the phone, knuckles white. "How… how did you know that?" There was a pause, a long, agonizing silence. My breath hitched. He was listening, really listening, to whatever was being said on the other end.

"Amanda? A gold digger?" His voice was louder now, edged with something I couldn' t quite place-disbelief, maybe, but also a chilling hint of consideration. "She' d bankrupt me?" The words sliced through the hum of the party, finding their way to me. My blood ran cold. Gold digger? Me? I felt a wave of nausea.

He listened again, his head bowed. "Jenna Christian? My true soulmate?" My vision blurred. Jenna Christian. A scholarship student. Her name was like a shard of glass in my ear. Benjamin' s family sponsored her. She was a fellow design student, always hovering, always a little too close.

"The accident… you predicted it?" Benjamin' s voice was barely audible, but I heard it. The minor car accident he' d had last week, a fender bender that had rattled him more than he let on. He' d dismissed it as bad luck. But now… the caller had predicted it? A shiver ran down my spine. The conversation continued, hushed and urgent. I couldn' t hear the exact sentences, but Benjamin' s posture stiffened further. He kept glancing my way, a strange mix of suspicion and confusion in his eyes.

My heart felt like it was breaking apart, piece by agonizing piece. Gold digger? Bankrupt him? Jenna Christian? My mind reeled. What was this? A cruel joke? A misunderstanding? I wanted to rush over, demand answers, but my feet were rooted to the spot, heavy as lead.

He ended the call, slowly, as if in a trance. He turned, his eyes sweeping the room, then landed on me. The warmth was gone. Replaced by a cold, calculating gaze I' d never seen directed at me. A stranger' s gaze. He started walking towards me, and I braced myself, my stomach churning.

"Amanda," he said, his voice flat, devoid of emotion. "I… I can' t do this."

My world tilted. "Do what, Ben?" I whispered, my throat tight. I knew. I already knew.

"The proposal. Tonight. It' s off." His words were concrete, heavy, like stones dropped into still water.

My knees buckled. I gripped the back of a nearby chair to steady myself. The blush silk dress suddenly felt like a shroud. I stared at him, searching his eyes for any trace of the man I loved, the man who had promised me forever. There was nothing. Just a wall.