My sister and I both had a thing for older men.
My fiancé, Tristram James, was the untouchable prince of the capital's elite circle—cold, refined, and impossibly out of reach. Sandra Sullivan's fiancé, Rodney Henson, was the opposite kind of dangerous: domineering, ruthless, and volatile enough that people crossed the street to avoid him.
Everyone envied us. The Sullivan twins, they said, had tamed an iceberg and a beast.
Until the night before we were supposed to sign the marriage certificate.
I went to the bridal suite to pick up our household documents.
The moment I pushed open the door, I saw the man who had always been cold to me kneeling at my sister's feet, begging.
"Sandy, if I hadn't settled for second best just to stay close to you, I wouldn't have spared Angelica Sullivan a single glance in my entire life."
Rodney had Sandra's wrist locked in his grip.
"Twins. One of them has to stay out front as a cover. Which one do you think we should keep?"
Sandra laughed, sweet and coy, her gaze sliding to where I stood frozen in the doorway.
"The dumb one, obviously. The one who's easiest to fool."
Every drop of blood in my body turned to ice.
...
I stood in the doorway, a tearing pain ripping through my chest.
"Tristram, what is it about your little fiancée that's so lacking?"
Sandra raised her voice deliberately. She wanted me to hear every word.
Tristram's breathing was ragged. "She's cheap. She disgusts me."
That single word—disgusts—nailed me to the floor.
When Tristram was nineteen, his enemies kidnapped him. I stormed their compound alone to save him. That night, countless hands violated me, brutalized me. I endured it from nightfall until dawn, when the police finally arrived and we were both rescued.
Every night after that, he held me close and whispered promises. He said he would be with me for the rest of our lives.
Standing outside that door, my legs nearly gave out.
Maybe I should have seen it sooner.
Tristram claimed he had no interest in sex. I'd tried everything to draw him out, and nothing worked. But the one night Sandra stayed over at our place, he got aroused by the lingering scent she'd left in the bathroom.
This was the eleventh time Tristram and I had planned a wedding. The previous ten, he'd always had a perfectly timed excuse to postpone. I'd cried. I'd fought. And every time, it ended with a single hollow "Sorry."
This time, I didn't shove the door open and make a scene. I turned around and went home.
Two plane tickets sat on the living room table. I'd bought them for our honeymoon and hadn't gotten the chance to tell him yet.
I picked them up, tore one in half, and dropped the pieces in the trash.
When I bought those tickets, I never could have imagined that the remaining one would carry me away from this relationship. Alone.
Tristram came back the next morning at eight.
There was a smear of lipstick on his neck he hadn't bothered to wipe clean.
"Emergency at the office last night. I had to work late. I've got a business trip coming up, so let's push the wedding back again."
The same excuse. The same words. Every single time.
I shook my head. "Don't bother with the trip. I'm not marrying you."
He crossed the room in three strides and wrapped his arms around me from behind, his voice dropping to that practiced tenderness. "Don't be difficult, sweetheart. I'll bring you back that necklace you've been wanting."
That was how he always handled me. A soft voice, a pretty gift, and I'd fold.
Not this time. I didn't want the necklace anymore.
I didn't want the necklace, and I didn't want him.
When I said nothing, a flicker of irritation crossed his face.
"If all you want is a wedding, I'll have someone throw one together. You can show up by yourself. I'm busy."
I almost laughed. One sentence, and he'd managed to reduce our entire marriage to an errand he couldn't be bothered with.
I cut him off. "Tristram, we're done."
His expression went dark in an instant.
"Done? Angelica, this kind of irrational tantrum is beneath you."
"When are you going to grow up and act more like your sister?"
I'd heard that line a thousand times. Before, I'd been naive enough to think he just wanted me to be more mature, to learn from Sandra's composure.
