He Gave My Heirloom To His First Love

“Alora, you have to marry Westley Hall—the Hall family’s comatose heir. This is the debt you owe us!” her adoptive mother insisted.

“I’ll marry him,” Alora said.

Her adoptive mother froze, disbelief flickering across her face. “What did you just say?”

Alora understood her shock. In a city like New York, everyone knew she was crazy about Rafael Holmes—crazy enough to sacrifice her career and her dignity for him.

She’d turned down her adoptive mother’s demands more times than she could count, all for Rafael’s sake. So of course her mother hadn’t expected her to agree this time—least of all to marry a man she’d never met.

Alora repeated, calm as still water, “I’ll marry him.”

Once it was clear Alora truly meant it, her adoptive mother relaxed—but her tone turned stern. “A month from now, on December 18th—the date the Hall family chose—you’ll marry Westley Hall.”

“Someone will come for you and take you to the Hall estate. They’ve already paid us for the arrangement—the money settles the debt you owe this family, and I’m not giving it back.”

“If you dare back out or cause trouble, don’t expect me to forgive you.”

“I won’t back out,” Alora cut in. “The Hall family is loaded. I’m sure they paid generously. You adopted me from the orphanage sixteen years ago. Now I’ll repay that by marrying into the Hall family in your real daughter’s place. My debt to your family is settled.”

“From now on, we owe each other nothing. We’re done.”

With that, Alora hung up.

Sitting alone at the dining table, Alora couldn’t help checking the news she’d seen earlier. The internet was buzzing with viral videos of Rafael Holmes and Tessa Guzman’s wedding.

In the clips, Rafael and Tessa vowed to spend forever together, their friends gathered around as witnesses.

The whole internet was congratulating the couple on their reunion, wishing them a happy family.

Only Alora couldn’t bring herself to wish them well, because Rafael was the man she loved with everything she had.

Four years ago, Rafael had been paralyzed in a car accident. His family abandoned him, and Tessa left him to marry someone overseas.

Once, when Alora was being bullied, Rafael had stood up for her.

She’d secretly harbored feelings for him. On a snowy night, when he’d lost all hope, she brought him home.

She did everything she could for him—nursing him, encouraging him, pulling him out of his depression.

When she heard about a hospital overseas that might heal his legs, she grew desperate to raise the money. She sold her belongings, took grueling jobs from wealthy clients, and endured every hardship.

Through sheer grit, she finally raised enough money two years ago.

The surgery was a success. He could stand again. He promised he’d spend forever making it up to her, that he’d never let her down.

She believed the worst was behind them, that their future was finally bright.

Then Tessa came back from abroad, and everything changed.

They said she was gravely ill, with only six months to live, and her last wish was to marry Rafael.

Moved by pity for his old flame, Rafael gave Tessa the wedding Alora had spent half a year planning down to the last detail.

The wedding dress Alora had sewn with her own hands was worn by Tessa.

The diamond ring Rafael had custom-made for Alora was slipped onto Tessa’s left hand.

Through a blur of tears, Alora noticed the locket around Tessa’s neck.

She recognized it instantly—the keepsake her parents had left her, the one she’d lost while trying to help Rafael.

Rafael had promised to give it back to her on her birthday once he found it.

But just because Tessa liked it, he’d given it to her instead.

In that moment, Alora realized her love for Rafael had meant absolutely nothing.

She didn’t call him to demand it back.

Instead, she lit the candles on her cake and watched them burn down. She watched the buttercream melt into an unrecognizable mess—just like the heart that had loved Rafael, burned out overnight and lost all its warmth.

Rafael came home at dawn.

He found her sitting at the table, eyes red, clearly without a wink of sleep. His brows drew together.

“Why are you still awake?”

Alora ignored the question and said flatly, “Rafael, let’s break up. Make sure Tessa gives me back my parents’ keepsake.”

Rafael knew she must have seen the wedding news. That was why she was upset.

He didn’t care for pointless jealousy, but breaking up with her had never crossed his mind. So he softened his voice. “Don’t be upset. I haven’t forgotten your birthday. I got you a gift.”

He opened an ornate wine-red velvet jewelry box in front of her.

Inside lay a pink diamond necklace.

It sparkled under the light, expensive and dazzling, the pendant set with an enormous pink diamond.

It was worth more than the locket her parents had left her. But it wasn’t what she wanted.

Just as she no longer wanted him.

Rafael knew exactly how much Alora loved him, how she couldn’t bear to leave him.

Seeing her silence, he assumed she no longer had it in her to fight.

He lifted the necklace from the box, meaning to put it around her neck.

“I don’t want that necklace! I only want my parents’ keepsake!”

Alora slapped the necklace out of his hand, stubborn and unyielding. “That locket was the only thing my parents left me. Why did you give it to Tessa? I only want that locket!”

She was still arguing.

Rafael’s patience snapped.

His striking face turned icy, radiating a sharp, suffocating pressure.

“Tessa really likes that locket. She’s dying. How long is she really going to borrow it for? Why are you picking a fight with a dying woman? Alora, when did you become so selfish and heartless?”