The Shattered Engagement Party

The cathedral bells were still ringing their joyous peal, the scent of a thousand white roses hanging heavy in the air. I stood at the altar, my heart a frantic bird against my ribs, watching the man I loved more than life itself.

Alexander Sterling, my husband of less than a minute, stepped close. The live broadcast cameras zoomed in, capturing what the world expected to be a tender moment. A whisper of a smile touched his lips, but it never reached his cold, grey eyes.

"Happy wedding day, my darling wife."he murmured, his voice a low, intimate caress meant for the microphones.

Then, in a move so swift and brutal it stole the air from my lungs, his hands came up. Not to cup my face, but to clutch the delicate lace of my veil. With a sharp, tearing sound that echoed in the sudden silence, he ripped it from my head.

The congregation gasped as one.

His smirk was a cruel, ugly thing."Happy divorce, Evelyn Chase."

The tears of joy I'd been fighting back froze on my cheeks.

The grand hall, filled with the city's elite, erupted into a wave of nervous, confused laughter.

Before I could form a word, he turned from me, his gaze sweeping over the crowd until it landed on a figure standing near the pulpit.

Chloe Bennett, his personal secretary, clad in a Vera Wang gown that was a mockery of my own. He strode to her, pulling her into a possessive embrace.

"If you hadn't insisted on fighting her for that necklace a week ago, he said, his voice now cold and clear, projecting to every corner of the room, I wouldn't be doing this to you."

"When you finally apologize, and she forgives you, then I'll truly marry you."

The irony was a physical blow. That necklace... the one he'd demanded I hand over to Chloe... was my mother's final heirloom. The last piece of her I had left.

The laughter grew louder, crueler. I was a spectacle. A meme in the making.

By nightfall, Alexander Sterling and Chloe Bennett were the internet's new golden couple, and I was the punchline.

After three months of traveling the world with Chloe, he casually asked,

"Has she apologized yet?"

"Mr. Sterling... Miss Chase... she got married."

...

"Mr. Sterling, he's the one who called it off."

The study was drowning in shadows.

Mr. Sterling was slumped in his leather chair, the worry lines on his face looking deeper than ever in the low light.

He sighed heavily.

"I truly thought, with our families being so close... our children could..."

"Ah, forget it. Just forget it."

"You can't force these things. Chemistry... either it's there or it isn't."

He pushed the annulled engagement contract and a blank cheque across the desk, stamped with [VOID] .

"Take it. Write down any number you want."

I walked out.

I left the cheque right where it was.

Our families had been close once. The whole engagement between Alexander and me was their idea.

Sure, there was an element of social standing and mutual benefit.

But the truth is, apart from Alexander, the Sterlings never did me any wrong.

I wouldn't about to take a dime from his father.

Stepping outside their Beverly Hills mansion, the California sun was brutal. It reminded me vaguely of another scorcher, the day I first met Alexander Sterling.

The man was like a trophy you could never quite win. I was hooked from the get-go.

He just looked me up and down and sneered.

"You're easy enough on the eyes. But don't go getting ideas about things that aren't yours to have."

I thought he was talking about the Sterling fortune.

He had me pegged as just another gold digger.

For three whole years, I tried to make him see I wasn't in it for his money.

Then Chloe Bennett returned from Europe, and he snapped her up as his personal assistant right away.

Then I understood. The thing that wasn't mine... was his heart.

I couldn't stand the thought that I'd wasted three years. I held onto that engagement for dear life, refusing to let go.

But now.

I crumpled the torn contract and tossed it in the trash.

My phone screen lit up with a new message,

??[I'm getting on a plane. If you're truly saying no to me, then this is it. I won't bother you anymore.]??

??[I'm in.]??

The call came almost immediately after I hit send.

"This isn't just some game to get back at him, is it?"

"I swear on my mother, Lillian Chase's name, I mean it."

I could hear him breathing deeply on the other end of the line.

Finally, he managed just one sentence.

"I'll treat you right."

I almost smiled.

For a man like him, that was practically a sonnet.

The flight itinerary popped up almost instantly.

Departure tonight.

I went back to the mansion to throw my things in a bag.

I pushed the front door open and stopped cold. Alexander, who was almost never here, was waiting for me.

"So you've really made your choice?"

His voice was flat and cold in the dim hallway.

"Will you give her the necklace?"

My hand flew instinctively to the necklace at my throat.

"Chloe didn't grow up with any of this. Nice things... they still feel new to her."

"She's not even mad that you overstepped. She just admired one necklace of yours. What, is that really too much to ask?"

He came down the stairs and leaned in close.

"Do you want me to be the one to officially break off our engagement?"

It used to be his ultimate threat.

It used to tear me up inside.

I was so sure I was the one who was there first.

Even if Chloe knew him before I did, she never truly loved him.

Otherwise, why would she have married that old fossil?

And the second his will left her with nothing, she divorces and comes running back to Alexander?

I let out a sharp, bitter laugh.

"Wouldn't that be exactly what you want?"

I held his gaze.

His forehead creased in a frown.

He turned, picked up two airline tickets from the console table.

One was his.

The other...

My stomach dropped C

It had my name on it?

I was speechless C

I'd mentioned that I wanted to do a big European tour before we getting married.

He'd actually bought me a ticket? On his own?

The next instant, he ripped both tickets right down the middle.

He tossed the confetti into the air. The pieces fluttered down, catching in my hair, dusting my shoulders.

He pulled out his phone.

"Book new tickets. For me and Chloe."

"Yes. I changed my mind."

He hung up, glanced at my stunned face, and a look of pure contempt twisted his lips.

He shouldered past me without another word, and he never looked back.

That Alexander would buy me a ticket? Please. This was just another performance for his father's benefit.

He couldn't stand me. The man wouldn't voluntarily do anything nice for me if his life depended on it.

My fingers brushed against the necklace again.

I closed my eyes C

This necklace was all I had left of my mother.

A legacy passed down through generations of the Chase family.

I could never part with it.

I carefully unclasped it, settled it into the velvet box, and buried it deep in my suitcase.

I was packed and ready to disappear tonight, but an email popped up C a formal digital invitation.

A memorial concert for my mother, marking five years since she passed.

Inviting me, her only daughter, to perform her signature piece.

I hesitated.

I called Marcus Grant.

"Would you mind if I arrived two days later?"

Silence hung between us for a moment.

"You're not backing out on me, are you?"

"Of course not," I said, forcing a smile into my voice. "There's something I have to take care of first."

"...Alright. I trust you. I'll wait."

The simple faith in his words warmed me straight through.

I whispered. "Okay."

The concert was two days away.

During those two days, I didn't send Alexander a single message.

And he, as usual, never reached out first.

The silence was a gift. I threw myself into practicing my mother's composition.

I knew it by heart, but I wanted to give my absolute best for her memorial concert.

The morning of the concert, I was up before dawn. Shower, hair, a full face of makeup.

But when I opened the red velvet box, the necklace was gone.

My whole body went cold.

A horrible, sinking certainty took root in my gut.

I called Alexander.

The sound of orchestra music from the concert hall through the phone made my blood run cold.

"You're at the symphony hall? Did you take the necklace?!"

Alexander's voice was casual, almost bored.

"Chloe never got to perform like this. She always dreamed of music, but her family couldn't afford it."

"You were born with a silver spoon. Opportunities like this come easy to you."

"It's her birthday next week. Consider it your gift to her."

"Alexander Sterling!"

My roar echoed through the room.

But all I heard from the other end of the line was the dial tone.

I called back repeatedly, but no one answered.

I rushed to the venue as fast as I could.

The moment I stepped out of the car, the music pouring from inside made me freeze

Oh no, this song must not be played here, not ever!

On the concert hall stage, a familiar figure in a mask sat gracefully at the piano.

And around her neck was my mother's necklace!

Under the gaze of the expectant audience, Chloe Russo lifted her delicate fingers and pressed the first key.

"No!"

I tried to shout, to stop it.

But the hall was too vast, my voice didn't carry.

By the time I reached the VIP section, someone suddenly stood up.

"What is this song! Don't you know this composer plagiarized my mother's work?"

"Mrs. Chase was a musician who celebrated our national heritage! What do you mean by playing this stolen melody?"

"This concert is in memory of Mrs. Chase! As her daughter, why aren't you playing her classic pieces instead of this stolen trash?"

The audience began rising to their feet.

If not for security holding them back, they would have stormed the stage already.

Chloe stood up in fright.

I could almost picture her panicked expression beneath the mask.

Alexander Sterling rose from the VIP seats and whispered orders to his bodyguards.

The next moment, his men firmly blocked the angry crowd about five meters from the stage.

He then escorted Chloe backstage.

I pushed through the backstage curtains.

"Chloe Russo!"

I lunged for her neck without a second thought.

But a hand clamped firmly around my wrist.

"Let go!"

I fought like a madwoman to reach Chloe, but Alexander's voice came from above me.

"Have you had enough!"

"Chloe never minded you usurping her place, so why must you target her at every turn?"

"She never asked for anything valuable from youjust a simple apology and that old necklace! A concert like this is nothing special to you, but it's her dream!"

"Can't you show a little heart?"

"Smack!"

I slapped him hard across the face.

"Alexander!"

Chloe cried out and rushed to his side.

Alexander stared at me in disbelief. "You... hit me?"

I was breathing heavily.

"First, this is a memorial concert for my mother."

"Second, that necklace is a Chase family heirloom! Only I, as a Chase, have the right to keep it!"

Alexander was taken aback.

But Chloe burst into tears.

"You're lying! Why hold a memorial now, right when my birthday is coming and I want to have a concert?"

"You just look down on me and don't want me to achieve my dream. You could have said soI would have stepped aside willingly. Why did you have to hit Alexander?"

She sobbed even harder.

Furious, I was about to retort when the organizer's voice cut in from outside,

"Sorry, everyone, she is not Mrs. Chase's daughter. It was a staff error. Please remain calm."

"Impossible!"

An angry shout echoed through the hall via microphone,

"That necklace around her neck is the Chase family heirloom! I recognized it immediately!"

"Exactly! Who else but a Chase daughter would have that necklace?"

"Unless you drag that impostor out here, we won't believe it! Do you dare? Do you?"

The organizer sounded flustered.

"We'll handle this, we'll sort it out..."

"Alexander!"

Chloe shrank into Alexander's arms.

I stared daggers at him.

"Alexander, make her go out there."

"Alexander..."

Chloe's tears fell instantly.

She pressed herself even closer to him.

"Alexander!"

I gritted my teeth. "This is her fault to begin with!"

Alexander paused.

Then he reached out.

And removed the necklace from Chloe's neck.

"Evelyn, change clothes with her."

I thought I'd misheard.

"You... want me to admit I played that stolen piece?"

Alexander stayed silent, confirming it.

"My mother dedicated her life to original compositions! How could I play plagiarized music?"

"Chloe is the one who's incompetent and has no respect for artistic integrity! Why should I take the fall?"

"Chloe just made an honest mistake!"

Alexander raised his voice.

He pulled Chloe tighter against him.

"She didn't have formal training, she doesn't know music history like you do. You can't hold her to your standards."

"I promise, just this once. After this, I'll marry you."