After the Real Heiress Ruined My Fifteenth Engagement, My Fiancé Regretted Everything

Lily Hartley—the scholarship girl Sebastian had been bankrolling for years—had a thing about weddings. As long as she was still single, she couldn't stand to watch anyone around her walk down the aisle. Sebastian and I had announced our engagement fourteen times. She'd crashed it fourteen times. Every single time, Sebastian said the same thing. "Don't stoop to her level, Mia." Tonight was number fifteen. She shoved the champagne tower off its pedestal and told the guests to get the hell out. Then she scattered private photos of me and Sebastian all over the floor. I stood on the podium like the butt of her joke, watching the whole night fall apart, my face as pale as the tablecloth. Sebastian's closest buddies were jeering and placing bets from the sidelines. "Come on, girl's obsessed with him. Hundred bucks says she sucks it up like she did the last fourteen." I held Sebastian's silent stare and slid the ring off my finger. The room cracked up. Phones came out. Flash, flash, flash."No fucking way. Little Miss Doormat finally grew a spine?" Sebastian stubbed out his cigarette and smiled, slow and pleased with himself. "Pay up, boys. Venmo it to Lily." One of his friends groaned. "Seb, come on. How do you always call it? What's your secret, man?" Sebastian leaned back against the leather, lazy, eyes on me like I was a magic trick he'd already seen too many times."If I couldn't read her, what would be the point of keeping her around?" Ten years. I'd given this man ten years, and that was what I'd been to him. Something to read. Something to keep. He climbed up onto the podium, pulled me against his chest, pressed a soft kiss to my temple like a man soothing a tantrum."Don't be mad. Lily swore this was the last time. She just needs to get it out of her system." I pushed him off. My mouth twisted into something that wasn't a smile. "There won't be a next time. I hope you and Lily have a long, happy life together." I was done performing. …… The whole room went dead quiet. Then Sebastian's best friend started laughing."Mia, cut it out. You weren't even drinking tonight. What's with the drama queen act?" Another one jumped in. "If you're gonna be jealous, at least do it with some class. Take notes from Lily." "Yeah, when has Lil ever thrown a fit at us?" "Honestly, Lily's just easier. Sweeter. More fun." Lily smiled, soft and small, playing her part. "Guys, stop. She just found out she wasn't a real Hartley. It's a lot. Of course she's acting out." Sebastian frowned, cut her off with a wave. "Enough." But his eyes were still on my face, waiting for me to crack. I didn't. Something cold flickered through his expression. Impatience. He stepped closer, slid his arms around me, dipped his head to my ear. From the outside it probably looked tender. The words weren't. "Mia. So your identity's fake. So what? Doesn't change how I feel about you. But you've gotta give me something here. You've killed the vibe. Lily's upset. Go apologize to her and we'll pretend none of this happened. Okay?" I stared up at him. My nails bit into my palms until I felt blood. Ten years. Ten years with Sebastian Blackwood. High school. Senior pep rally. He'd grabbed the mic in front of the whole gym and said he'd love Mia Hartley till the day he died. The videos were still floating around on someone's old Facebook. Senior year of college, his father had tried to force him into an arranged merger-marriage with the Ashford girl. Sebastian said no. His father had him dragged into the study and beat him bloody for it. He didn't walk straight for a week. He still came to my dorm that night, swollen and limping, and told me he was marrying me and nobody in the world was going to stop it. Then the doctor told me I'd never carry a child. A surgery I'd had at sixteen. Irreversible. His whole family turned on me. His mother spent six months telling him I was a dead end. She wanted an heir. She wanted a Blackwood bloodline. He never told me any of it. I only found out later. What he did was double down. More flowers. More public dinners. More events on his arm. More cameras. "I, Sebastian Blackwood, will love Mia Hartley until the day I die." He said it in front of rooms full of people. Over and over. Like saying it louder would make the rest of them shut up. Then Lily came back. The real Hartley daughter. Lost at birth, found at twenty-two. And somewhere between then and now, I'd stopped being the love of his life and started being the running joke. Sebastian brushed my hair back from my face. Pulled me out of the memory. I stepped back. Looked at him. Really looked. "I can't do what you do, Sebastian. I can't be this fake." "The eighteen-year-old you? He'd be disgusted by what you've become."

The soft look on his face froze over. He grabbed my left hand. Ripped the ring off my finger. Looked down at me like I was a dog that had bitten him. "Mia. You spent twenty-two years in a life that was supposed to be hers. You can't throw her a bone?" "You know what she went through growing up. One engagement party. One. Can you not let her have this?" I looked at him, and I almost laughed. What she went through. Freshman year of college. Sebastian showed up one day with this girl. Said she was on a scholarship, working three jobs to stay in school. He felt bad for her. He got the Blackwood Foundation to sponsor her tuition. Then he started slipping her five grand a month. "Spending money," he called it. Then an apartment in Tribeca. She was an orphan, he said. She needed a safe place to land. Then he put his family's PI on it. Found her "biological parents." The Hartleys. My parents. And he called that what she went through. Sophomore year, I picked up her Birkin at brunch. Thirty grand bag. Louboutins. Cartier. The whole look. I remember saying it carefully. "Seb. Scholarship kids don't walk around in six figures of leather." He got irritated with me. "That stuff's from me, Mia. Can you not do this? You've had everything your whole life. She's had nothing. Just let her have this." After that, every single thing I'd ever worked for turned into something Lily could ask for and get. My Yale Law recommendation. The one I'd spent three years earning. She teared up and said "Seb, I want to go to Yale too," and that spot was hers before I finished my coffee. My birthday gift from him, the one I'd been hinting about for months. Gone. Every single time, all she had to do was blink wet eyes and whisper "Seb, I want that too," and he'd rip it out of my hands and put it in hers. Smiling the whole time. He mistook my face for softness. "That's my girl. Smile. We can forget this whole thing happened." He grabbed Lily's hand and walked out. A whole wedding party's worth of people trailed after him. Left me alone on the podium with broken glass and scattered photographs. I sat down on the edge of the dais and pressed a hand to my stomach. I was going to throw up. That's when my mother finally showed up. Late, as always. She took in the wreckage and ran to me, panicked. "Where's Lily? Isn't she here?" My face felt like paper. "Sebastian left. He took her with him." Her heel hit the floor hard. "Mia, what the hell is wrong with you? Your own engagement party, and you let it turn into this?" "How are you ever going to get a man like Sebastian to marry you if you can't even hold a dinner together?" "I'm not marrying him. We're done." Her face locked up. She knew. She knew Lily had been behind every single one of the fifteen cancellations. She knew that at some point along the way, my engagement had turned into a game Sebastian and Lily played, and the whole world was watching them play it. She sighed. Reached out and smoothed my hair. Then she opened her mouth and ruined me. "Mia. Your sister just came home to us. She was skin and bones when they found her. You can see what she's been through just by looking at her." "Don't do this to her. Go home, apologize to Lily, don't call off the engagement. She'll blame herself. Can you do that for me?" I tipped my head back. Stared at the ceiling. Would not let the tears fall. She watched me not cry. Then she patted my shoulder and stood up. "Come home and apologize. I promised Lily I'd take her shopping." She left. I pulled the ring off and let it hit the floor. Ten years. Falling with it. I went back to the penthouse. Started packing. My eyes caught on the framed photo by the bed. Our engagement portrait. The glass had cracked straight down the middle months ago when a housekeeper knocked it off the dresser. I'd begged Sebastian to replace the frame. He wouldn't. "It's just a frame, baby. Lily said it doesn't matter." Lily said. I called the movers. By midnight, every trace of me was in a truck headed for storage. I was dragging the last suitcase to the door when it swung open. Sebastian. Drunk. Cigarette dangling from his lips. The second he saw me, he dropped the suitcase and wrapped himself around me. "Baby. God, I missed you. I love you so much." My throat closed up. I'd never been able to stand cigarette smoke. In ten years, he had never once lit one inside. He'd always sit on the back steps and chain-smoke until I came and let him in, pathetic and apologetic. I looked at the face I'd loved for a decade and forced the words out. "Sebastian. Who am I?" He blinked. Grinned. Blew smoke in my face. "My jealous little brat. You still not over tonight?" My eyes burned. Brat had been his thing in high school. Nobody else got to call me that. I shoved at his chest, and he caught my wrists, laughing. "Stop, Lil." Everything went still. Static in my ears. "What did you just call me?" "Lil. Lily, baby—" His lips grazed my cheek, warm, and I'd never been so cold in my life. I shoved him with everything I had. Smack. His face snapped sideways. The haze cleared out of his eyes a little. He wiped his mouth. Dropped the cigarette on the hardwood and ground it out with his shoe. "Mia. Are you out of your fucking mind?" "Get out." I pointed at the door and I screamed it. "Get. Out." His mouth opened. His phone buzzed before he could speak. He glanced at it. "Lily says she's scared of the dark. I need to go sit with her. We'll talk about this tomorrow." The door shut behind him. I slid down the wall and sobbed into my knees. Don't bother coming back. Sebastian, I don't want you sitting with me anymore either.

I picked up my phone. Habit made me want to call my parents. I opened the family chat. The one pinned to the top. The one named The Hartleys. It used to be three people. Now there were four. Last week I'd sent five messages about venue options, floral budget, a seating chart. Read. Read. Read. Read. Read. No reply from either of them. I scrolled down. Lily had posted a photo of a puppy an hour ago. Dad: that's my girl biggest heart in this family Mom: our baby just venmo'd you 20k, spoil that puppy Dad: sweetheart, wired $2M into your account too. my princesses don't settle for anything less than the best My fingers were shaking so hard I nearly dropped the phone. I kept scrolling back. All the way to the day before Lily came home. Dad used to transfer money to me like that. Big round numbers. Baby girl. Princess. Mom used to tell me: "Mia, you are our whole world. Nothing is ever going to change that. The three of us are going to be a family forever." I closed the chat. I opened my airline app and changed my ticket. Domestic to international. One-way to London. Mom was right. The family of three hadn't broken. I was just the extra one. I didn't have a home. I should have left a long time ago. I rolled my suitcase to the elevator at six the next morning. Two security guards stepped in front of me in the lobby. Hartley private security. The ones my father paid for. "Miss Hartley says you're not to leave today." I took a step back. Looked at both of them. "I'm Miss Hartley too. You don't have the authority to stop me." "Move." They didn't move. One of them put a hand on my suitcase. I jerked it back. My heel slipped on the marble. I went backwards into the staircase. My skull hit stone. The world blew out in white and then in black and the last thing I heard, far away, was somebody shouting my name. "Mia—" When I opened my eyes again, Sebastian was holding my hand like he thought I'd disappear if he let go. He saw me blink and leaned over me, pale with panic. "Baby. I'm so sorry. Lily went too far this time. I already yelled at her." I turned my head. Looked at the wall. The panic on his face stiffened into something else. He laughed, incredulous. "Mia. Seriously? You're not even a Hartley anymore and you still want to pull the princess act?" Princess act. My engagement party got burned to the ground. I pushed back. Princess act. Half of Manhattan whispered I was Sebastian's side piece and his sister was his real girlfriend. I denied it. Princess act. Now I had a concussion and I didn't feel like talking. Princess act. Tears slid sideways into my hair. I pointed at the door. "Out." "Mia—" "Get out." He sighed. Walked out. I closed my eyes. Through the hospital door I heard the wet, unmistakable sound of someone being kissed. I grabbed the water glass off my tray and hurled it at the door. It shattered. The kissing stopped. Sebastian sighed on the other side of the wall.