I truly thought Jake was my forever.We shared three wonderful years—cozy mornings in an apartment that smelled like coffee, a playlist of road trip songs and love ballads, and a mischievous cat named Cami. When he proposed, it felt like the start of something real,

But nothing prepares you for the cracks that appear when money enters the picture.My grandmother passed away just as we began wedding plans. She had been my rock, and her death left an aching void. Yet, she left me $500,000, a gift born of love, not materialism.