Chapter 1
Blake’s cheating on me with my body double. Again.
“Great eye for casting, babe,” he says, like I hired her for a movie instead of watching her steal my life.
So I play his game. Doll myself up like some tragic Disney princess to win him back
But he wipes off my makeup. “Nah, sweetheart. This isn’t you”
Then even promises me: “She’s just a fling. Only you will be my wife.”
Only me will be his wife?
While Charlotte Fisher accepts MY awards, attends HIS family dinners, and basically lives the life I’m supposedly getting married into.
Even during our wedding rehearsal? This man’s got AirPods in, vibing to his couple’s playlist with her.
“I ditched a board meeting for this,” he snaps when I freeze up. “Can’t you at least pretend to care?”
“Maybe Charlotte should just rehearse for you instead.”
This time I don’t fight for myself. Just calmly say, “Fine.”
My phone buzzes. Text from Adrian Cross, my old enemy turned European playboy: ‘Vivian why the hell didn’t you pick me for the arranged marriage?”
I look at Blake texting Charlotte and think
Yeah. Why the hell didn’t I?
“Vivian, my time’s valuable here.”
Blake’s giving me that look-like I’m wasting his precious minutes-while bas eyes may glued to Charlotte the entire time.
Charlotte. My childhood body double. Dad hired her to literally be my shadow, my escape route when things got dangerous.
I suddenly feel exhausted by it all. “Fine. She can do it.”
I pull off my veil and turn to leave.
“Wait.” Blake’s voice stops me cold. “Give Charlotte your dress first.”
I stare at him. “Excuse me?”
There are like a hundred people here. Staff, planners, his family. And this psycho wants me to strip down in front of everyone.
“Right now? Here?”
Yeah.”
He pulls out his checkbook, rips out a blank check, and literally throws it at my face. “Fill in whatever number makes you feel better.”
Every last bit of hope I had just dies
When I don’t move, he smirks “What’s with the act? You’ve been bleeding me dry for years to keep your family’s company afloat. Why go all high and mighty zone?
Chapter 1
Years together, and this is what we’ve become. Nothing but suspicion and spite.
Charlotte puts on her sweet little performance, shaking her head. “Oh no, I couldn’t possibly wear something so beautiful.”
“Miss Vivian would be so upset with me.”
One sentence. That’s all it takes for Blake to promise her the latest couture wedding gown. “If I say you can, you can. You’re every bit as good as
Vivian.”
“Let her throw her tantrum. I’m sick of that victim face she pulls every damn day.”
His words echo through the mic, filling the entire venue.
Half the city’s elite are here-even for a rehearsal, these people live for the tea.
Everyone’s staring at me now, waiting to see if the proudest princess in the city will finally bow down for money.
I know what happens when I cross him. Dad’s company bleeds more money. The debt gets deeper.
Worst case? I can’t even afford Dad’s medical bills overseas.
Last time there was some business drama and Charlotte took a coffee to the face for me, Blake froze all our company funds. Two months of deal-making down the drain.
The stress literally put Dad in the cardiac unit.
Blake knows I’m trapped.
When I reach for my zipper without hesitation, he loses it. Grabs the bouquet and hurls it at me.
“Enough!”
“God, Vivian. I didn’t know you were this pathetic.”
The rose thorns scrape my skin, leaving bloody scratches.
I bend down and pick up the check. Consider it payment for saving his life all those years ago.
Not some sick measure of what we meant to each other.
We’re even. Finally fucking even.
Almost at the exit when I hear Charlotte’s sweet little voice: “Oh, I couldn’t possibly wear this.”
I turn around. Blake’s sliding my engagement ring onto her finger.
“Don’t worry,” he says. “It’s brand new.”
When did this become normal? Blake buying two of everything-one for me, one for my replacement.
I used to lose my shit over it. Couldn’t wrap my head around why my body double got the same treatment as his actual fiancée.
But you can only bang your head against a wall so many times before you go numb.
Turns out he ordered matching wedding rings too.
I slip mine off and toss it in the nearest trash can.
If it’s not one-of-a-kind, I don’t want it.
19:51
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You Chose the Bastard? Then Prove It’s Yours
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