HE RUINED ME AND I BECAME HIS STEPMOTHER

Mia's POVI stood there clutching the invitation as I stared at him like he'd just spoken another language.Chris just pulled his boxers on and sat on the edge of the bed with his phone in his hand already.“You’re being dramatic,” he said, as if I was the one who lost it. “We never said we were engaged, Mia. You know that. You’re the one who kept saying ‘no pressure.’ This is on you.”My mouth opened and nothing came out at first. All the nights I paid his rent when his scholarship fell short. All the times I skipped my own classes to drive him to practice. Every dollar I saved from my part-time job that went straight into his gas tank, his textbooks, his stupid protein powder. Every weekend I spent doing his laundry because he said he was too stressed. Every time I turned down dates, turned down trips, turned down anything that wasn’t him.I felt the anger rise so fast it burned my throat.“On me?” I repeated. “I gave you two years of my life. I gave you everything. I paid

Mia's POVThe whole day was a war inside my head.Every time I tried to work, send an email, eat something, my mind went straight back to seven o’clock. Go. Don’t go. Go. Don’t go. Maggie’s voice kept cutting in (this is unhinged, Mia, promise me) and every time I almost texted Tom to cancel, my ultimate revenge plan didn't make me to.By four I was pacing my bedroom like a caged dog.I told myself — It was more like ‘lying to myself’ that I was only going for answers. Nothing else. Just information.But deep down I knew what I had intended, yet the idea of Chris using his father to finish me off was overwhelming.At six I gave up pretending and stepped into the shower. Hot water shaved everything smooth because my hands moved on autopilot.Out of the shower I stood dripping in front of my closet and reached without thinking, fingers closing on a little black dress.The one that hugs every curve and stops just high enough to make anyone lose their mind. I pulled it over my hea