Chapter 1: The Six-Million-Dollar Goodbye

I broke up—quietly, if not exactly painlessly—with Lillian Carter, Savannah royalty and queen of every garden party under the mossy oaks. On warm evenings, you could find her laughing at garden parties beneath the mossy oaks, the air thick with honeysuckle and gossip, her laughter floating above the clink of mint juleps.

She always had that magnetic pull—old Southern money, polished charm, and the kind of self-assurance that could hush a room.

She reunited with her first love—the one she lost and then found again.

Small towns like Savannah don’t forget old stories. Folks love a comeback, and for Lillian, Noah Greene was both heartbreak and fairy tale.

As her stand-in, I accepted a breakup fee of six million dollars, tears in my eyes, and quietly exited the stage. The check burned cold in my pocket. Six million dollars, but it felt like hush money for my heart. I told myself it was dignity, but it tasted more like loss.

I remember the day clearly: her lawyer in a pressed suit, the check in a blank envelope, the bittersweet clink of my keys as I left her porch for the last time. Dignity costs less than people think, but that check burned cold in my pocket.

You could say I left with dignity, right?

I told myself that as I walked the riverside that night, feeling the humidity press down, staring at the city lights reflecting on the water.

So why, not long after the breakup, did she suddenly hunt me down, saying she wanted to kill me?

God as my witness, I really didn’t do anything.

Was it just a blind date? Just finding a new partner? Is it really that serious?