The night before my wedding, I overheard Rafael talking to his best friend at the end of the hall.
“After you pick up Helena tomorrow, tell the driver to take her straight to the Hawthorne estate in Greenwich.”
“To the Hawthornes’ place?”
Rafael lowered his voice.
“The Bennetts are bankrupt. They owe the Hawthornes millions. Her parents are planning to send Margot to the Hawthornes to pay off the debt. I can’t just stand by and watch her life get ruined. The only way is to have Helena go in her place.”
His friend was silent for a few seconds.
“So, because you can’t stand to see Margot suffer, you’re sending Helena instead?”
“Old Mr. Hawthorne is ninety and bedridden. All he wants is a wedding in the family before he dies. Helena just has to go through the motions. In a year or two, once the old man is gone, I won’t care that she was married. I’ll still marry her.”
“You think Helena will agree to that?”
Rafael paused.
“I’ll have my mother put something in her orange juice tomorrow. By the time she wakes up, she’ll already be at the Hawthorne estate.”
“Once it’s a done deal, she won’t have a choice.”
I stood on the other side of the door and heard every word.
I didn’t push the door open.
I didn’t make a sound.
I just went back to my room and quietly waited for morning.
Later, when Rafael came looking for me, begging me to come back, I was already five months pregnant.
I looked at him and said, “Like you said. Once something is a done deal, there are no other options. Now you’re the one with no choice.”
My Fiancé Sent Me To Another Man On Our Wedding Day Chapter 36 “Mommy!” My daughter’s clear voice drifted up from downstairs. I walked to the window and saw her holding Conrad’s hand, a huge bouquet cradled in her arms. All these years, Conrad had never taken off that braided bracelet. The color had faded,
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My Fiancé Sent Me To Another Man On Our Wedding Day Chapter 35 Three years later, my company moved into a new office building. On opening day, Chloe brought our very first door plaque. “CEO, should we keep this?” I took the plaque from her and smiled. “Yes.” It had seen us through our hardest
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My Fiancé Sent Me To Another Man On Our Wedding Day Chapter 34 My eyes suddenly stung. After the party, we took our daughter to visit my parents’ graves. The headstones were clean, clearly tended to regularly. I placed the first award certificate my company had won in front of them and quietly told them
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My Fiancé Sent Me To Another Man On Our Wedding Day Chapter 33 On Old Mr. Hawthorne’s ninety-third birthday, he was in excellent spirits. He sat our daughter on his lap, trying to coax her into calling him “Great-Grandpa.” But she just kept staring at the emerald bracelet on my wrist, reaching for it. I
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My Fiancé Sent Me To Another Man On Our Wedding Day Chapter 32 Once the presentation started, the other side immediately attacked our company’s youth. “Miss Ferraro, how can you prove that a team that’s only been in business for six months can handle a project of this scale?” I didn’t get defensive. I simply
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My Fiancé Sent Me To Another Man On Our Wedding Day Chapter 31 Six months after we founded the company, we entered a major bidding competition. The competing firm was larger and more established. Almost no one thought we stood a chance. Chloe had been losing sleep for days. “If we don’t land this contract,
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My Fiancé Sent Me To Another Man On Our Wedding Day Chapter 30 “He was giving them to me because right and wrong meant nothing to him.” I asked evenly, “Is that all you came to say?” Margot’s face paled. “I also wanted to apologize for the cat.” My fingers tightened into fists. “I fed
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My Fiancé Sent Me To Another Man On Our Wedding Day Chapter 29 When the company landed its first major client, Margot came to see me. The bruises had healed. She wore a simple white blouse and seemed much quieter than before. She didn’t cry or put on the wounded expression she used to wear.
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My Fiancé Sent Me To Another Man On Our Wedding Day Chapter 28 Of course I remembered. I had poured three months of my life into that project. Then Margot took it, basked in the glory, and Rafael told me to let it go. After that, I slowly lost all passion for my work. “I’m
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My Fiancé Sent Me To Another Man On Our Wedding Day Chapter 27 That night, I took out the wedding shoes. Conrad sat beside me, not asking what I planned to do, just being there. I ran my fingers over the embroidered threads and thought of twenty-year-old Rafael, bent over his work, making them just
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