After the engagement, I gave up my boyfriend for my neighbor.

At a banquet where four heirs of the most influential families stand before Celeste, she is expected to choose a husband. Her stepsister Blair and her boyfriend Julian Vance were kidnapped alongside her, yet Julian paid the ransom only for Blair, leaving Celeste near death. In that moment she sees the soul of her late mother, who warns her that Julian and Blair have been deceiving her for her feelings and her inheritance, and urges her to look instead at Asher Hayes, who truly cares for her. Celeste chooses Asher without hesitation.

Her father, the wealthiest man in the state, backs her decision, while Julian's parents arrive expecting a family alliance and are left stunned. Julian, Blair, Ryan and Leo all live in the same villa complex, and Julian continues to feign devotion, even replacing Celeste's name with Blair's for the Freshman Orientation Week performance. Celeste plays along, but her mother's ghost reveals that the kidnapping was orchestrated by Julian and Blair to seize her fortune and ruin her reputation.