My Billionaire Ex Proposed to the Wrong Heiress,So I Bankrupted Him

To be with me, Elwin Gilbert gave up his position as heir to his family's empire.

After cutting ties with his clan, he lived with me in a basement apartment, surviving on instant noodles.

We built our company from nothing. In just five years, we took it public.

At the IPO gala, he walked toward me—diamond ring in hand, bouquet of roses cradled in his arm.

But he brushed past me.

He stopped in front of his secretary, dropped to one knee, and proposed.

I stared at him, stunned. "Why?"

He didn't even look at me. "Valerie is the daughter of Capital City's richest man. She defied her family to help me, came all the way to Bayview City alone. I have to take responsibility for her."

"From now on, she'll be my wife. You'll be my business partner. Together, we'll take this company to new heights."

I laughed out loud.

After my brother turned out to be a lost cause, my parents decided to toughen me up the hard way—raising me with nothing so I'd learn to fight for everything.

Funny. I didn't know I had a secret sister.

Just to make sure I wasn't about to destroy the wrong person, I pulled up Valerie's photo and dropped it into the family group chat.

I tagged my father, who was currently on a flight to Bayview City:

[Old man, did you go behind Mom's back and father some illegitimate daughter I don't know about?]

1.

A second later, my phone rang. My father's voice exploded through the speaker:

"You little brat! Are you so tired of suffering that you're trying to sabotage my marriage? I'm chained to your mother's waist twenty-four-seven—when would I have time to father a secret child?!"

My mother's thunderous roar erupted in the background, accompanied by my father's yelps of pain.

That confirmed it. Valerie Pruitt was a fraud.

I hung up and turned to Elwin. "Are you sure you want to marry her?"

"Yes."

He spun around, eyes shining with hope as he gazed at Valerie. "Valerie, will you marry me?"

His hand trembled as he held out the ring. The excitement radiating off him was almost painful to watch.

This was the scene I'd imagined a thousand times. But the woman he was proposing to wasn't me anymore.

Five years. Five brutal years of building this life with Elwin Gilbert.

My parents, determined to forge me into something unbreakable, had set my life to nightmare mode. Unless I was in mortal danger, they refused to lift a finger.

His parents, furious that he'd severed ties with the family for some "nobody from the middle of nowhere," wouldn't help him either—even if his life depended on it. They wanted reality to crush him until he crawled back, begging for forgiveness.

He never did. Not once.

For five years, we poured everything into one goal: taking this company public. Proving ourselves.

He wanted to prove he could make it without his family. That he could give me a better life.

I wanted to prove myself worthy—so my parents would finally reveal my identity, and his family would accept our marriage.

We clawed through every obstacle together, teeth gritted, backs against the wall.

He'd promised me countless times: the day the company went public, he would propose to me in front of everyone.

He would give me the grandest wedding imaginable.

And I had made up my mind to finally tell him who I really was.

"Yes!"

Valerie shot me a look of pure triumph before accepting the flowers with tearful grace. She extended her left hand to Elwin.

His eyes glistened as he slid the ring onto her finger. Then he pulled her into a kiss.

As if, in that moment, he had everything he'd ever wanted.

Around us, the crowd erupted in applause and cheers—mocking me. Not a single face showed surprise.

So Elwin had been cheating with Valerie all along.

I was the only fool who hadn't known.

My eyes burned. The smile frozen on my face must have looked grotesque.

Someone shoved me from behind.

"Maureen Farley, did you really think a nobody like you could transform into a phoenix?"

"Only a true heiress like Valerie deserves someone of Elwin's status. If you're going to cry, do it somewhere else!"