Chapter One

"You’re joking. This has to be a terrible joke.” My voice sounded distant even to my own ears as I stared at the documents spread across the table. The words swam before my eyes. I lifted my head and looked around the room instead.

My stepmother stared at me like I was stupid. Christabel, my stepsister beamed, one hand stroking her swollen belly. And Chase… my fiancé couldn’t even look at me.

“Chase,” I whispered, desperation clawing up my throat. “Honey, please tell me this isn’t real. Please.”

My voice cracked. He said nothing. The silence only fed the rage already burning inside me.

“Goddamn it,” I snapped, stepping closer to him. “Say something. Anything.” I yelled right in his face, searching for a reaction—anger, guilt, regret, something. I got nothing.

My stepmother, Glinda, grabbed my arm and dragged me back toward my seat.

“Oh, stop being such a drama queen,” she said coolly. “What’s happened has happened. There’s no going back.”

She spoke to me like I was a child throwing a tantrum over nothing.

“Yeah, Selina,” Christabel chimed in, her lips curling as she giggled. “Do you really want my baby growing up without a father? Or worse, with his uncle as his father? I mean, could you imagine?”

She laughed into her hand like it was the funniest thing in the world.

Something inside me snapped.

“You home-wrecking whore,” I screamed, my fists clenching at my sides. “You couldn’t get any man to love you, so you stole my fiancé. How dare you.”

She clutched Chase’s arm and pouted. “Baby, let’s just go. All this stress is really bad for the baby.”

My vision went red.

I lunged at her. Her shriek sliced through the air as I grabbed her hair, fury drowning out everything else. Suddenly, a hand shoved me hard. I crashed to the ground with a painful thud, landing awkwardly on my wrist.

“Argh!” I screamed. “My hand!”

The pain was unbearable, it was like thousands of needles piercing my skin all at once. I cradled my wrist to my chest, sobbing as tears poured down my face.

Glinda walked toward me and slapped me.

The sound echoed in the room.

“How dare you try to hurt my daughter, you little beast,” she sneered, slapping me again across the face. My skin burned where her handprint bloomed red.

I lifted my head slowly, looking at Chase through my lashes. Tears blurred my vision. He had his arms wrapped around Christabel, murmuring soft words to calm her down, like she was the victim.

“You pushed me,” I said weakly.

He paused and finally looked at me, really looked at me as I lay on the floor, shaking, crying, my wrist swollen and red.

“You were going to hurt an innocent pregnant woman,” he shouted, disbelief etched across his face.

“Innocent?” I laughed bitterly. “Innocent?”

My voice shook with venom. “There is nothing innocent about that fucking whore. Our wedding is in two weeks and she’s been sleeping with you behind my back.”

“She didn’t lure me into her bed,” he said quietly, refusing to meet my eyes again.

“What?”

“Things haven’t been working for a while,” he continued. “The company’s been going through a lot. I’ve been going through a lot and Belle was there for me.”

He reached up and caressed her face like she was something precious.

“Why didn’t you talk to me?” I asked, my voice breaking. “That’s what couples do.”

“Talk about what?” Christabel cut in, turning to me. “You know nothing about the company. You just sit at home doing nothing.”

I laughed hollowly. “You said you didn’t want your wife involved in company affairs. You said you hated that people thought you only succeeded because of my father’s money.”

My voice rose with every word. “I quit my job. I played the perfect loving fiancée. What exactly did I do wrong?”

“Give it a rest, Selina,” Glinda interrupted. “We need to wrap this up. I have things to do today. And as much as I enjoy seeing you like this, time is money.”

She smiled thinly. “Speaking of money,you’ve been cut off from your father’s inheritance.”

“What?” I gasped. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

I crawled toward her, panic setting in.

“All your father’s assets are now under my maiden name, Matthews,” she said casually. “You no longer have any claim to his properties or investments.”

It felt like ice water had been dumped over me. I couldn’t breathe. None of this made sense.

“Two weeks from now,” she continued, “my daughter will walk down the aisle in your place. She cannot have this baby out of wedlock.”

I snorted.

“She shouldn’t have been fucking other people’s boyfriends without protection,” I shot back coldly.

Christabel slapped me. Chase grabbed her, panicked, worried she might hurt herself.

I laughed.

“What?” I said mockingly. “You don’t like the truth? That you’re a whore?”

If I couldn’t hurt her physically, I would tear her apart with words.

“You always were an unruly child,” Glinda said, shaking her head. “Your father never let me discipline you properly.”

I stayed silent.

“You will marry Damian Torres in your sister’s place,” she said. “The wedding is in a week.”

“What?” I shouted. “No. I’m not marrying some man I don’t know especially not Christabel’s leftovers.”

“As if you’d be good enough for my daughter’s leftovers,” she scoffed. “This marriage is to secure the company’s future.”

“I won’t do it,” I said, lifting my chin defiantly.

“My daughter no longer feels safe with you in this house,” Glinda said coldly. “You have twenty-four hours to pack your things and leave. Otherwise, you’ll be arrested for trespassing.”

She turned to leave, then paused at the door and pointed at an envelope on the table.

“There’s thirty thousand dollars in there. Use it wisely. It’s the last penny you’ll ever get from me or this family.”

She smiled cruelly.

“You have two choices. You marry Damian Torres, or you leave permanently. Either way, I don’t want you in this house.”

Then she walked out, Christabel and Chase following behind her.

I was left alone in the study.

I finally collapsed to the floor, clutching my wrist as the sobs tore out of me.