Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Shattered Vows
He paused at the threshold, glancing back.
“Very good,” he said, like a professor mildly impressed. “Now that you’ve embarrassed yourself in front of half my staff, let’s get to the point.”
Her heart stopped. “Reporters?”
He smelled like cedarwood and cool cologne. Nothing like Adrian. But Melanie didn’t notice, or didn’t care.
“Where…?”
She was far gone.
She went home, cried under her blanket, and of course… her parents and Rose didn’t care. She wasn’t the loved one.
“Adrian…” she croaked, following him out the door.
Melanie tried to sit up. “Thank you for… for not taking advantage of me.”
“You’re… Leonard Westwood,” she breathed, realization drawing like a storm.
***
Melanie couldn’t breathe. She stepped back like their words had physically hit her. Her chest hurt. Her throat burned.
Not her family.
She looked at him like he was insane. “You’re out of your mind.”
“Good, ” he said, slipping his phone into his pocket. “You’re awake.”
The Palms Hall was decorated in white and gold, just like she had planned. Only… it wasn’t for her.
“If you change your mind, come to Westwood corp.” His eyes dropped to her. “And wear something less pathetic.”
Melanie spun around. Her parents were there. Watching. Waiting.
The wedding was supposed to be in three days.
No one had defended her.
“Don’t leave me…” she slurred, grabbing the back of his jacket and throwing herself against his back. “You promised… you promised you’d love me.”
Melanie opened her eyes slowly, taking in the opulent suite. Velvet drapes. Marble floors. A view that screamed wealth. Her head pounded as the memories tickled back.
She turned and ran, tears rolling down her face.
“You deserve the truth. Go to the Palms Hall. Now.”
Her mother adjusted her clutch. “Rose is better suited for someone like Adrian. You were always too soft.”
“Imperial Towers. Top floor.” He approached, each step echoing on the floor. “You were drunk. Making a scene. Clinging to me like a lost puppy.”
Not even her sister.
“Don’t say that…” she pressed her face against his chest. “I really loved you, you know?”
He raised a brow. “Miss…?”
“I know,” he cut in. “Adrian. Your ex-fiance.”
She didn’t know how long she’d been there when she spotted him, tall, broad-shouldered, stepping out of the bar with an aura that caught through the noise like a blade. He moved like someone who didn’t belong there, like someone who owned everything he walked passed.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t live a lie,” he said.
“Melanie,” he repeated. “Right, I don’t do favors. I don’t save damsels. I hate drama. But last night, you latched onto me, in a place full of private reporters. If I hadn’t saved you, your little meltdown and of course my reputation would’ve been today’s headline.”
She flinched. “I thought you were someone else…”
Melanie’s lips parted, but her voice was gone. She stared at the man she’d been engaged to for almost a year. “What… what do you mean?”
She blinked.
“I own the bar,” he said lazily. “And the hotel. And most of this block.”
“I can’t do this,” he said.
She stood up knocking the chair backward. Adrian didn’t flinch.
She wasn’t alone.
The man finally turned, his face cast in shadow under the glow of a streetlamp. Cold gray eyes locked onto her like ice settling over a battlefield.
Panic flooded her. She hailed the nearest cab and gave the address.
“You’re drunk,” he said flatly.
He took a card from the desk and dropped it beside her on the bed.
Melanie had imagined walking down the aisle in lace and white, the man she loved waiting at the end of the aisle with soft eyes and open arms. She had imagined joy and peace. Instead, she sat frozen in a quiet cafe, staring at the man she thought she knew.
Today was supposed to be her wedding day, but she had left the house very early. She didn’t know how long she walked before her phone buzzed. The screen was blank _ Unknown Number.
“Why me?”
Then he left, fully aware she was already his.
She felt his chest rise in a sigh. Then, without a word, he lifted her easily, like she weighed nothing, and carried her to a sleek black car that pulled up with perfect timing.
Not her fiance.
He turned when he noticed her stirring.
That was the venue. Her wedding venue.
Leonard shrugged. “You’re reckless. Alone. You have nothing to lose. And I’m attracted to you. That’s rare.”
Adrian wouldn’t meet her eyes.
Her chest tightened. “What are you saying right now?” she whispered. “You proposed to me. You planned a future with me.”
The scent of leather and crisp linen hit her first. Then the migraine.
“You knew?” she whispered.
“I gave you everything,” she said, voice shaking. “I trusted you with everything I had.”
He didn’t turn around.
“Don’t cause a scene,” her mother’s voice said behind her.
“Probably,” he said, already turning for the door. “But I get what I want.”
“This is pathetic,” he murmured.
Melanie stared, suddenly self-conscious in nothing but an oversized shirt.
“You talked a lot when you were drunk,” he said simply. “I tuned most of it out.”
His tone was like glass… cold, smooth, and dangerous.
*** Next Morning, Hotel suite
“You heard me,” he said.
“Melanie,” she murmured.
Melanie’s hand clenched the edge of the table. Her nails dug into her palm. “You’re sorry?” Her voice broke. “You humiliated me three days before our wedding and all you can say is ‘sorry’?”
***
“I need a wife. You need a way out. Two-year contract. Clean terms but I don’t share what’s mine. If you’re as desperate as you looked last night, you’ll consider it.”
The bar she stumbled into was dim and quiet, tucked between the tall shadows of the city. She ordered whatever was strongest and kept drinking until her hands stopped trembling. Her mind was hazy. Her heart… numb.
Her heart skipped.
Her eyes widened. “How do you know?”
Melanie staggered to her feet. Her vision blurred, her emotions worse.
Melanie clutched his shirt, sobbing. “Please… please don’t go. You said you loved me…”
He exhaled as if the weight of pretending was finally off his chest. “I don’t love you. I never did.”
The words dropped like bricks between them.
Melanie’s mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”
Adrian, the man who just broke her heart.
“If the contract isn’t signed by noon, terminate the deal. I don’t tolerate indecision.”
Melanie walked out of the cafe in a daze, the world spinning under her feet.
“Open the car door,” he ordered his driver. “Take us to the Imperial.”
Tears blurred her vision, but she didn’t need clarity to understand what was happening. Rose was radiant, smiling like she had won. Adrian stood tall, eyes locked on her with no remorse.
Across the room, the man stood near the window, dressed in new suit, talking into a phone with low, clipped authority.
Her father added coldly, “This isn’t time for drama”. Don’t humiliate us more than you already have.”
But he only turned his gaze away again.
From outside the glass door, Melanie watched in disbelief as her sister, Rose, walked down the aisle toward Adrian.
Melanie’s entire world collapsed in silence.
He stared at her _ no sympathy, no warmth, just detached curiosity.
