### Chapter 4
He was seething, teeth clenched, shouting at me like a cornered animal.
He was waiting for me to regret it. Waiting for me to beg. But I pushed through the crowd at the door and walked out without looking back.
I'd barely gotten into the car when my father called. "That Delgado bastard actually had the nerve to tell me the wedding is still on."
I drew a long breath. So he couldn't wait to announce his wedding to Vivian Porter to the whole world.
"And he had the audacity to say you were the one who fell for another man and called off the engagement first."
"Just wait. I'll make that animal pay."
Even though I didn't love him anymore, the sting still cut deep.
To protect his pride, I'd never told him. His biggest investor, his majority shareholder, was my own father.
And this was how he repaid me. Dragging my name through the mud, stripping whatever dignity was left from what we'd had.
I drove back to the Delgado house and packed as fast as I could.
Six full years, and I'd lived so frugally that everything I owned fit in a single suitcase.
I grabbed it and drove to the bridal shop.
The wedding dress had been custom-made before my mother passed. She'd overseen every detail herself. It was filled with her love, her blessing.
The wedding was off, but that dress was coming with me.
I hadn't even made it through the door when I saw Vivian Porter holding a pair of scissors, demanding the staff alter my dress.
"Stewart, I really love this gown. It's just too small. Tell them to let out the waist right now. We can't let it delay our wedding."
Vivian clung to Stewart's arm, her voice syrupy and simpering.
Stewart was busy negotiating with the shop manager.
"Call the woman who ordered it. I'll pay half a million on top of the original price. She can hand the dress over to my wife."
For Vivian, he really would throw money around without a second thought.
The manager's eyes lit up at the number. He turned and headed for the back room, saying he'd call me.
Vivian kept waving the scissors around the fabric, measuring, snipping at air. My heart was in my throat.
"I don't agree!" I charged in. "Vivian Porter, put my dress down!"
She flinched for a second. Then her expression twisted into something cold and cruel.
The scissors raked across the gown.
The skirt tore apart, shredded beyond recognition.
The back of my hand caught the blade when I tried to block her. Blood welled up instantly.
"Oops. My hand slipped."
Vivian dropped the scissors with a look of wide-eyed innocence, but the smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth gave her away.
I stared at the ruined dress. The pain in my chest was unbearable. Losing Stewart hadn't hurt a fraction of this.
"You vile bitch! That was my mother's. You owe me!"
I didn't feel the cut on my hand. I didn't feel anything except blind rage as I swung and slapped Vivian across her pale face as hard as I could.
"Ah!"
A bright red handprint bloomed across her cheek.
"Vivian!"
Stewart backhanded me even harder. The force sent me crashing to the floor.
"Stewart, my face hurts so much!"
Vivian wailed at full volume, throwing herself into Stewart's arms as if she'd suffered some unimaginable injustice.
My chest heaved. Tears burned in my eyes as I stared up at Stewart from the ground.
He knew what that dress meant to me. Better than anyone.
But he couldn't see the blood running down my hand. He couldn't see the dress torn to pieces on the floor.
All he did was cup Vivian's swollen cheek and stroke it over and over, so gentle, so tender, his hands trembling with how much it pained him.
"Leonora!"
He tucked the sobbing Vivian behind him and turned that frozen stare back on me.
"Have you lost your goddamn mind? If you hurt the baby, how the hell are you going to make that right?!"
"Apologize to Vivian. Now."
