My Cheating Fiancé Shaved My Head

I was a supposedly penniless orphan, desperate for a family's love.

When Aiden Hayes saved me from a drunken attacker, he became my entire world, promising to protect me forever.

I worked three jobs and gave him $5 million to fund his company, and on our wedding eve, I thought I was the luckiest woman alive.

Until I woke up to find my waist-length hair shaved off by Aiden, just to comfort his "sister" Zaria who had cut hers.

"Now the ugly duckling won't outshine you at the wedding," Aiden whispered to Zaria as they stood over my bed.

He publicly declared that Zaria's happiness meant more than my dignity, warning me not to throw a tantrum.

From then on, whenever Zaria wanted something, he took it from me.

Whenever his mother humiliated me, he demanded I apologize.

I packed my bags in silence and canceled the wedding behind his back.

But shortly before the big day, I accidentally overheard their true plan in the living room.

"Once we're married, I'll transfer her company shares to you," Aiden's voice echoed coldly.

"Do you think she suspects anything?" Zaria giggled in his arms.

"She's an orphan with nothing but me! She won't dare leave."

"That's exactly why I crashed that car three years ago!"

***

My scalp froze, exposed to the biting air of the bedroom.

I reached up, my fingers meeting sharp, prickly stubble where eight years of waist-length hair used to be.

Aiden stood at the foot of the bed, the silver shears in his grip catching the dim hallway light.

"What did you do?" I asked. My voice came out hollow, stripped of panic.

"Don't overreact, Mazie," Aiden said. He lowered the scissors but made no move to hide them. "It's just hair. It grows back."

I looked down at the pillow.

Thick, dark ropes of my hair lay scattered across the white silk. They looked like dead snakes, severed and tossed aside.

"You shaved my head while I slept."

"Zaria is devastated," he shot back, taking a step closer to the mattress. "She had to cut hers for the surgery. She's been crying for hours in the guest room. She felt like a freak."

"So you made me one?"

"I leveled the playing field." He tossed the shears onto the nightstand. The heavy metal clattered across the wood. "Now she doesn't have to feel alone. You're my fiancée. You should be willing to make a sacrifice for her."

I ran a trembling hand over my bare skull. The cold sank straight into my skin.

"A sacrifice," I repeated.

I pushed the blankets back and stood up. The hardwood floor chilled my bare feet.

"Just last month, I wired five million dollars into your failing accounts," I said, holding his gaze. "I worked eighty-hour weeks for six years to build that portfolio. I emptied every trust, every savings fund I had to pull your tech firm out of bankruptcy."

Aiden flinched, his jaw tightening. "Keep your voice down."

"I bought your company's survival with my life savings," I continued, stepping toward him. "And you repay me by taking a razor to my head in the dark?"

"Money has nothing to do with this!" He pointed a finger at my face. "Zaria lost her identity today. I did what I had to do to prove she is still beautiful."

"By mutilating me."

"It's just keratin, Mazie. Grow up."

He didn't even look guilty. He looked annoyed.

The bedroom door creaked open, the sound slicing through the tense silence.

Zaria stood in the frame. She wore Aiden's oversized gray sweater, the sleeves hanging well past her fingertips. A choppy, uneven bob framed her tear-stained face. She walked farther into the room, stepping squarely on a clump of my severed hair. She didn't even look down.

"Aiden?" she whimpered, clutching the doorframe. "Are you guys fighting? I heard yelling."

"We're not fighting," Aiden said.

His tone softened instantly. The harsh, defensive lines of his face vanished as he rushed to her side, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders.

"Everything is fine, Z," he whispered.

Zaria looked past him. Her wide doe eyes landed on my bald head.

She gasped, slapping both hands over her mouth.

"Oh my god, Mazie!" she cried. "Why did you do that? You loved your hair!"

I stared at her.

The sheer audacity of her performance left me numb. I didn't scream. I didn't throw the heavy brass lamp sitting on the dresser. I just watched her play the victim in the crime she undoubtedly orchestrated.

"He cut it," I said. "For you."

"Aiden, no!" Zaria pushed his chest, tears spilling over her pale cheeks. "Tell me you didn't force her! I never asked for this!"

"She agreed to it," Aiden lied smoothly, rubbing circles on Zaria's back. "She wanted to support you."

"I didn't," I said.

Aiden shot me a lethal glare. "Shut up, Mazie."

"I won't shut up," I replied, crossing my arms. "You drugged my tea, didn't you? That's why I slept so heavily."

Aiden stiffened. "You were stressed. I gave you a mild sedative to help you rest. It was for your own good."

"You sedated me so you could assault me."

"Stop using words like assault!" he barked. "I gave you a haircut! Zaria is going through hell, and you are making this all about yourself!"

Zaria buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing harder. "I ruin everything. I should just leave."

"You're not going anywhere," Aiden told her. He kissed the top of her choppy hair.

My phone buzzed on the mattress, vibrating against the scattered locks of my own hair.

I walked over and picked it up.

The screen lit up with a message from an unsaved international number.

Message read: Flight AF023 to Paris confirmed. First Class. Your family is waiting for you, Mazie. We're so sorry we lost you.

My biological parents.

The wealthy French aristocrats who had spent twenty years searching for their missing daughter. The private investigator had handed me the DNA results three days ago. I had hesitated to reply. I thought I had a life here in New York. I thought I had a man who loved me, a wedding to plan, a home to build. I had ignored their calls because I wanted to stay with Aiden.

What an absolute joke.

I looked at Aiden, who was currently wiping Zaria's tears with his thumb.

I tapped the screen.

Reply sent: I'll be on that flight.

All the remaining anger evaporated from my chest, leaving behind a crisp, hollow clarity. The man standing in front of me was not my future. He was a parasite.

I locked my phone and slipped it into my pajama pocket.

"I want you both out of my bedroom," I said.

Aiden scoffed. "Don't act like a martyr. You can wear a wig until the wedding."

"There won't be a wedding."

Aiden froze. Zaria stopped crying for one measured beat.

"Excuse me?" Aiden demanded.

"I am done, Aiden," I said, walking to the closet. I pulled out a small black duffel bag. "Keep the five million. Consider it the price of my freedom. But we are finished."

"You're being ridiculous!" He marched toward me, leaving Zaria by the door. "You're going to throw away a four-year relationship over a haircut?"

"I am throwing it away because you crossed a line," I said. "You violated my body while I was unconscious."

"Oh, stop being so dramatic!" He threw his hands up. "It's just hair! You're making it sound like I cut off an arm!"

"You took away my agency."

"I took away a few inches of dead cells to save my best friend's sanity!"

Zaria let out a loud, tragic sob, dropping to her knees.

"This is all my fault!" she wailed.

She scrambled across the floor, lunging toward the nightstand.

Her fingers wrapped around the silver scissors Aiden had dropped.

"Zaria, stop!" Aiden yelled.

She pressed the sharp blades against her own messy bob. "If Mazie hates me, then I'll shave mine completely too! It's the only way to make it fair! I refuse to let her leave you!"

She didn't actually squeeze the handles. She just held them there, waiting for him to react.

Aiden lunged across the room.

He snatched the scissors out of her hand, tossing them violently against the wall. The metal clattered to the floorboards.

He pulled Zaria into his chest, shielding her as if I were the one threatening her with a weapon.

Then, he slowly turned his head toward me.

Thick blue veins bulged against the pale skin of his hand as he gripped Zaria's shoulder, his eyes locking onto mine with absolute, murderous fury.