On the day of our wedding, my fiancé was taken away by the police for raping his female student.

I chased after him in my wedding dress, desperate to clear his name.

Only to learn that he had turned himself in.

He looked at me with an apologetic expression and said:

"Elise's family found out that she was taken advantage of by someone, and now they're forcing her to marry the thug who did it."

"I couldn't bear to watch her end up like that, so I came forward and took responsibility myself."

"Her family said that as long as I agree to marry her, they'll drop the charges. Whether it's the university investigation or the rumors flying around, I need you to handle all of it for me."

"Elise and I have already agreed. It'll be a sham marriage, three years only. After three years, I'll give you a proper wedding. Just wait for me, okay?"

I turned and walked away without a word.

I pulled the veil from my hair and draped it over a stray dog on the side of the road.

Benjamin Delgado, what makes you think I'd wait for you?

……

Benjamin demanded I return to the venue immediately, smooth things over with the university officials, and squash the rumors for him.

But I only did two things.

First, I contacted his university and informed them I was pulling my investment from his research project and shutting down his lab.

Second, I left the venue and went straight back to our apartment.

I wiped my tears and began erasing every trace of Benjamin Delgado from the place, one item at a time.

The matching couple's mugs we'd shaped together in Porcelain Creek. The matching pajamas we wore every night.

The wedding portrait we'd just picked up yesterday, freshly and lovingly framed.

I threw all of it into the bathtub, flicked a lighter, and watched the flames eat through every last piece until nothing was recognizable.

As the fire climbed, I called the hotel where the wedding was being held.

"The wedding is off. Send the remaining bill to the groom. And deliver everything I left in storage at the hotel back to my home."

But the voice on the other end was the hotel manager's, thick with confusion.

"The groom just told us the wedding is still on, just postponed by one day. He also said we printed the wrong name on the photos and banners and asked us to replace the bride's name with Elise Simmons."

A thorn drove itself deep into my chest.

That wedding was something I had spent ten years envisioning, shaping detail by detail in my mind.

Every flower arrangement, every piece of décor, I had spent six months crafting with my own hands.

Benjamin knew full well that it was our dream wedding.

And he was handing it to his student?

I drew a long breath, forcing the pain down before I spoke.

"Fine. Whatever. Just send my things back. Especially the bracelet in the safe."

The manager sounded even more bewildered.

"But the groom already took the bracelet from the safe. He said it was going to be a bride gift for the new bride."

My head exploded with a deafening ring.

I hung up and dialed Benjamin's number. Over and over.

Every call was rejected. He declined each one until the eighteenth, when he finally picked up.

His voice carried a thin, weary irritation.

"Didn't I already tell you? Don't contact me for a while. I need to play the part of a real husband for Elise. I was just chatting with her parents and you almost blew my cover."

My throat locked shut, but I forced the words out.

"Benjamin Delgado, did you take my bracelet?"

He paused for a second, then laughed.

"Yeah. Elise's mom said it's their family tradition to have a bracelet as part of the bride gift. Yours was heavy enough and pretty, so I grabbed it for her."

My heart felt like it was being ripped apart, stitch by stitch.

"Benjamin Delgado!!"

My voice cracked, shrill enough to shatter.

"That was the only thing my mother left me before she died! What gave you the right to take it and hand it to your mistress as a bride gift?!"

"Give it back! Right now! Bring it to me this instant, or I'm calling the police! I'll make sure you two have your wedding behind bars!"

I was shaking with rage, every word barbed.

Benjamin flinched on the other end of the line, then fired back with anger of his own.

"What kind of way is that to talk? I told you it was all for show! I just borrowed it! It's not like I'm keeping it forever!"

"I was going to wait until tomorrow and buy you a few similar ones as an apology gift. But you just had to—"

Fury surged through me. I couldn't stand to hear his voice for another second.

I hung up, walked out the door, and hailed a cab, giving the driver Elise's address.

I grabbed Benjamin's luggage on my way out.

During the ride, my phone buzzed nonstop. Text messages from Benjamin.

"I got a little worked up just now. I said some things I shouldn't have. Maud, I'm sorry."

"How about this—I'll return the bracelet tomorrow, but you have to come to the wedding and be Elise's bridesmaid."

"Think about it. We were supposed to get married, and then I suddenly went and got my marriage license with Elise instead. That doesn't look good for a young woman's reputation."

"If you show up tomorrow as the bridesmaid, nobody will think Elise came between us. And if anyone asks about what happened with us, just cover for me... Tell them you cheated, that you fell for someone else, that you'd been wanting to break things off for a while. Just don't drag Elise into it."

I stared at his messages, and a laugh escaped me. The sheer absurdity of it.

But the laughter didn't last. Tears rolled down and soaked into the hem of my coat.

The driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror and silently handed me a tissue.

I thanked him quietly, pushed open the car door, and dragged the suitcase behind me as I stormed upstairs.

I went straight to Elise's front door and pounded on it with everything I had.

The door rattled like thunder under my fists.

Hurried footsteps echoed from inside, and the door swung open.

"Who the hell—? It's the middle of the night!"

Benjamin stood there in a pink apron, flour dusted across his forehead.

My eyes burned red in an instant.

Benjamin and I had been together for ten years.

I'd watched him go from a penniless student to a respected professor.

The deepest scar he carried was from college, when he'd worked part-time as a kitchen hand at a restaurant to put himself through school. A group of rich kids who resented him had jumped him, pinned him to the ground, and poured leftover food over his head.

"Pathetic little cook. You think you can steal another man's girl?"

After that, he despised the kitchen. Loathed everything about cooking.

Even when I brought him home to meet my mother after our engagement—my mother, who was already gravely ill—all I asked was for him to carry the dishes out from the kitchen. He went cold, slammed the door, and left.

My dying mother wept for me.

Even then, I forced a smile and made excuses for him.

After that, I treated him even more carefully, walking on eggshells around his wounds.

I'd never cooked a day in my life, but I burned and blistered my hands learning, just so he'd never have to.

And now I knew. His scars had already been healed—by another woman.

The moment Benjamin saw me, he froze. Then, instinctively, guiltily, he tugged at the apron.

"Maud... what are you doing here?"

Behind him, Elise's face appeared. Her small features were pinched with anxiety as she peered at me.

"Professor's wife... no... Miss Fox, what are you doing here?"

Tears welled in her eyes as she stepped in front of Benjamin, shielding him.

"Miss Fox, if you need someone to take your anger out on, just hit me. Professor Delgado only did all this to help me..."

Benjamin looked at her with aching tenderness, then turned on me.

"Maud, how can you be so heartless? Elise's family is trying to force her to marry the thug who assaulted her. All I did was step in to protect her. Can't you show a shred of compassion?"

"No!"

My voice trembled with fury.

"If she's so pitiful, that's between her parents and whoever hurt her! She could have said no! She could have called the cops! Why should I be the one to sacrifice my marriage and my happiness?"

"Unless..."

A sob crept into my voice.

"Unless none of it ever happened. Unless you two were already together, and that's why—"

The slap came before I could finish.

Benjamin stood with his hand raised, face twisted in rage. "Don't you dare talk about her like that! I already told you—Elise and I are only getting married on paper! Why do you insist on twisting everything into something ugly?"

Our shouting drew a crowd. Neighbors from upstairs and downstairs poked their heads out, gathering on the landing.

Someone turned to Elise and Benjamin. "Elise, who is this? What's her relationship with your husband?"

Elise stammered, her voice small. "She's his... ex..."

The look on her face said everything she didn't—wounded, long-suffering, victimized.

Understanding dawned on the neighbors' faces. They turned to me with open disgust, and one of them actually shoved me.

"They're about to get married! You're still chasing after someone else's husband? That makes you the other woman! You look decent enough—have some shame!"

"Exactly! Someone get a photo of her! Post it online!"

I laughed—a sharp, bitter sound—and slammed my suitcase down in front of them.

"Benjamin, why don't you tell them who the real other woman is?"

The suitcase popped open on impact. But Elise let out a shriek and crouched down.

Benjamin looked at her leg—at a red, swollen mark no bigger than a fingernail.

His expression changed instantly.

"Maud! When will you stop? Elise and I already have our marriage certificate! So tell me—who's the other woman here?"

I stared at him, stunned, and let out a hollow laugh. "Benjamin. This is what you call a fake marriage? You got the certificate and it's still fake?"

He realized his slip the moment the words left his mouth. Guilt flickered across his face before he deflected.

"All this over some worthless bracelet—you come here and assault people!"

"Maud, I never knew you could be this heartless. This selfish. This cold-blooded!"

My eyes went wide as Benjamin stormed back into the apartment. When he came out, he was holding the bracelet I treasured more than anything in the world.

He hurled it at the ground.

"You want your bracelet so bad? Take your piece of junk and get out!"

"No!" I screamed and lunged for it, hands outstretched, but I wasn't fast enough.

I watched it shatter against the floor, pieces scattering like broken teeth.

My head snapped up. I fixed him with a stare full of something he had never seen from me before.

Not love. Not devotion. Not patience.

Hatred.

Even through his rage, it shook him. For one brief second, panic crossed his face.

But the next second, Elise whimpered through her tears. "Professor Delgado, my leg hurts so much. Do you think it's broken?"

Benjamin snapped back to attention. He scooped her up and strode past me toward the stairs.

"Don't be scared. I'm taking you to the hospital."

He moved fast and hard, and as he passed, he knocked straight into me where I crouched on the floor.

I tumbled down the steep staircase and hit the landing below with a sickening thud.

People gasped. I called out, my voice thin and weak.

Benjamin never looked back.

Before my eyes closed, the last thing I saw was Elise resting her head against his shoulder, looking right at me.

Smiling.

In that moment, something inside my chest cracked open—clean and sharp, like porcelain breaking.

There was a time when Benjamin had protected me the way he now protected Elise.

When those trust-fund boys followed me, catcalling and closing in, and I was shaking with fear—he had charged out and planted himself between us. He told them to back off without flinching.

Then he grabbed my wrist and pulled me through their circle, and we ran.