The Causal Agreement: A Hundred Favors

“My role as Ethan Stone' s fiancée was over the moment his childhood sweetheart, Scarlett Hayes, returned. He didn't just break off our engagement; he publicly humiliated me, declaring I was never his fiancée, but merely a "helper." At a party held to welcome Scarlett back, he pointed at me, accusing me of owing him a "karma debt." He forced me to crawl and retrieve a rose with my teeth, like a dog, for his new love. The next day, he made me sing children' s songs on a pedestal in his company lobby for an hour. I didn't understand why he was so cruel, or why I felt a searing pain in my chest with each public humiliation. But amidst the shame and growing physical agony, I had a secret. I was no ordinary woman, and my purpose wasn't to be his plaything. My only goal was to fulfill a "Causal Agreement" -a hundred favors for him, to balance a debt owed not to him, but to the universe. Only then could I finally go home.”