The night before my fiance and I were supposed to sign the marriage certificate, the wealthiest man in the capital's elite circle demanded that my family send a daughter to honor an arranged betrothal with his comatose son.
The moment my fiance Randolph Delgado heard the news, he ripped the diamond ring off my finger and slid it onto the ring finger of my fake-heiress sister, Nanette Fox.
Then he made it official online for the whole world to see:
"She's taken."
When I confronted him, shaking apart at the seams, Randolph barely furrowed his brow. His voice was calm, as if what he was saying made perfect sense.
"Nanette's never had a hard day in her life. Marrying a vegetable would destroy her."
"You're already pregnant. The Gilberts would never want damaged goods. This is the best solution for everyone."
I stared at the man in front of me as though seeing him for the very first time. My eyes burned.
I had loved Randolph Delgado for seven years. I'd taken a knife for him. I'd drunk myself into a hemorrhaging stomach at business dinners for his sake.
Just weeks ago, I'd gone through IVF to carry his child, and only then had he proposed.
But the love I thought I'd earned could never compare to his childhood bond with Nanette Fox.
Everyone waited for me to scream, to cry, to make a scene. Instead I swallowed the tears and managed a tired smile.
"Okay. I understand."
Randolph nodded, satisfied. He pulled Nanette close and started discussing the sham wedding with her, saying if they were going to put on an act, they might as well go all the way.
He assumed I would do what I'd always done: swallow every indignity and never leave.
But what Randolph didn't know was that the moment he walked out the door with Nanette to shop for wedding gowns, the Gilbert family came knocking.
"The Gilberts aren't the kind of people who force anyone's hand."
"Miss Fox, if you're willing to marry into our family, I'll give you half of my son's personal fortune, plus two properties in prime American real estate."
I rested my hand on my stomach, still flat enough that no one could tell. I nodded.
"I'll marry him."
Then, without a second of hesitation, I scheduled the termination.
1
Isabel Gilbert took me to get the marriage certificate that very day.
I watched Nanette's social media posts, one after another, showing off the lavish wedding gowns Randolph was buying her. I didn't waver. I signed the papers.
The process went through without a hitch. When the red booklet landed in my palm, I felt almost dazed.
Isabel's voice was gentle. "From this moment on, you are the young Mrs. Gilbert."
"Sidney Gilbert is receiving treatment in America. When can you come with me?"
I touched my stomach.
"Give me ten days."
"There are a few things I still need to take care of."
Isabel placed an intricately crafted ring in my hand, her tone warm.
"Marrying into the Gilbert family, you may never have love, and you won't have a normal marriage."
"But everything else you could ever want, you will have."
I looked down, my fingertip tracing the ring. Something loosened in my chest, faint but unmistakable.
"I'll treasure it."
Three full days passed before Randolph bothered to come home.
"I've got it all arranged. The wedding with Nanette is in a week."
"When the Gilberts come asking, just tell them you're pregnant. If they have any pride, they won't force the marriage."
"Once the dust settles, I'll take you to sign our certificate."
He reached for me the way he always did, pulling me into his arms, having decided my entire future without asking.
I looked up at him. My stomach twisted with a dull ache.
"So on paper, Nanette is your wife?"
"It's just a title. It doesn't matter. As long as I know in my heart that you're my real wife, isn't that enough?"
He said it like it was obvious. Like he was doing me a favor.
As if this arrangement was the best I could ever hope for.
It never once crossed his mind what people would call me if Nanette became his public wife and I was the one pregnant and unmarried.
Being abandoned on the eve of signing the certificate had already made me the biggest joke in our circle.
After a long silence, I let out a hollow laugh.
How had I not understood until now? In Randolph Delgado's eyes, my feelings, my reputation, none of it mattered.
But Nanette? She deserved the grandest wedding. The most spotless reputation.
"Tomorrow night at the banquet, I'll announce the wedding date to everyone."
He informed me, not asked. "Just tell people we broke up a long time ago."
"...Fine."
My nails bit into my palms, forcing down the bitterness rising in my throat.
In seven days I'd be gone. It didn't matter what I said anymore.
I'd already booked the procedure for two days from now. The baby inside me, I was letting go of that too.
Only then did Randolph look satisfied. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my cheek.
"Crystal, if I hadn't insisted the Fox family take you back ten years ago, you'd still be in that orphanage."
"As long as you behave, I'll always give you a home."
A home?
Randolph believed that a girl starved of love her whole life would put up with anything to build a home with him. That no matter what he did, I would never leave.
What he didn't know was that in seven days, while he was playing groom to another woman, I would be on a plane to America as the young Mrs. Gilbert, with a fortune that dwarfed everything the Delgado family owned.
By then, I would never have to beg anyone for a home again.
The banquet began at eight sharp.
Randolph walked in with Nanette on his arm, both dressed in matching formal wear. He kissed her amid the applause and announced their wedding in seven days.
Nanette swept her hair back with a flick of her wrist, and the diamond caught the light so sharply it stung.
It was a new ring. A three-million-dollar pink diamond Randolph had bid on at auction, because Nanette hadn't liked the old one. He'd replaced it without blinking.
Every socialite in the room flocked to Nanette like moths.
"Nanette and Mr. Delgado are so much more suited for each other. Crystal Fox only latched onto the Delgado family by clinging and refusing to let go. Guess she finally got dumped."
"Think she'll show up crying, begging to be his mistress?"
The whispers sliced through the air. I pretended not to hear.
That was when Nanette turned to me.
"Crystal, since you two have already broken up, you won't keep going after Randolph, right?"
Seven years of memories flashed before my eyes. I drew a slow breath.
"No. It's over, and I'll leave with my dignity."
Quiet laughter rippled through the crowd.
No one believed me.
Randolph included. He assumed I was putting on an act.
"Then shouldn't you hand over the keys to Randolph's properties?" Nanette smiled, and there was nothing kind about it.
"I'd hate for you to lose control and find some excuse to get close to him again. It would be so embarrassing if you showed up at his place and threw yourself at him."
My expression hardened. I opened my mouth to say I would never do something like that.
But before I could speak, Nanette moved where no one else could see. She grabbed my wrist and forced the juice in my hand up into her own face.
"Oh! Crystal, if you didn't want to give them up, you could have just said so. Why did you have to splash me..."
She turned to Randolph with wide, wounded eyes as he rushed over.
"Crystal Fox!"
His face went dark. Without a moment's thought, he hurled his wine glass at me.
I threw my hands up on instinct, but the shattered glass sliced across the back of my hand.
"Who gave you permission to bully her?" he snarled. "Apologize to Nanette. Now."
He didn't want to hear a single word from me. The verdict was already in.
The way he looked at me, you'd think I was something vile.
The murmurs around us erupted:
"See? She couldn't handle being dumped. She finally snapped."
"Crystal Fox just didn't want to give back the keys. She was probably planning to sneak into the Delgado house, sleep her way in, get pregnant, and claw her way to the top. Unbelievable."
I stood there. Blood ran down the back of my hand, mingling with the dark stain of red wine.
Randolph didn't so much as glance at it. He was too busy dabbing Nanette's face with painstaking care, his expression full of tender concern.
I thought of a day years ago, when I'd been shoved to the ground by bullies at school. He had been the one to help me up, cleaning each scrape with gentle hands.
All that tenderness, I realized now, had only ever been a fraction of what he saved for Nanette.
My eyes burned red, but I forced the tears back.
I didn't argue. I didn't lose control.
Instead, under the gleeful stares of every person in that room, I reached into my bag, pulled out every single key to every property I shared with Randolph Delgado, and dropped them all at Nanette's feet.
"You're right. I should have done this sooner. These keys belong to the real lady of the house."
"Your home. I won't set foot in it again."
