I Married His Rival

Penn timed it perfectly.

He chose the exact day I was boarding a one-way flight to London to announce his engagement to the love of his life.

Hadley is unmanageable, he told them, his voice devoid of warmth. She needs discipline. London will be good for her. Don't let her come back.

My friends were frantic. They blew up my phone, terrified Id find out, cancel my flight, and storm back to the city screaming and crying.

They didnt know the truth.

I wasnt going to scream. I wasnt going to cry. And I certainly wasnt coming back.

Before I left for the airport, I said yes to someone else.

In two weeks, Im getting married.

---

Chapter 1

The last time I told Penn I loved him, I didnt just crash and burn.

I disintegrated.

The VIP section of the club was packed, bodies pressed together on velvet sofas. But the silence? It was absolute. Suffocating.

Minutes ticked by. A lifetime in a vacuum.

Finally, Brandi, seated securely under Penns arm, broke the tension. Her voice was syrup-sweet, laced with a pity that felt like a slap.

"Come on, Penn. Don't be like that. Youre embarrassing Hadley." She tilted her head, smiling benevolently. "Shes just a child, after all."

From the shadows of the booth, Cartera member of Penn's entourage of trust-fund wastrelssnickered.

"A twenty-one-year-old child? Yikes."

Laughter rippled through the room. A cruel, jagged sound.

I stood my ground. I locked my knees to keep them from shaking, refusing to run. Refusing to give them the satisfaction.

But Penns face was starting to blur. My vision swam, water pooling in my eyes no matter how hard I fought it.

"Hadley," Penn sighed, the sound sharp with impatience. "How much clearer do I have to be?"

He stood up, towering over me, and flicked the ash from his cigarette. The movement was casual. Dismissive.

"I rejected you when you were sixteen. I haven't changed my mind."

A sob caught in my throat, jagged and painful. "But you were so angry when I started dating back then. You were jealous."

"I was angry because youre a ward of my family." His eyes were cold, hard flint. "You represent us. One wrong step, one scandal, and its my familys reputation in the gutter."

"What about my eighteenth birthday?" I whispered. "What about the kiss?"

Something flickered in Penns dark eyes. Not regret.

Disgust.

"Hadley, you were black-out drunk. You were making a scene. Screaming. Crying." He took a step closer, his scentexpensive tobacco and icewashing over me. "I kissed you to shut you up. To end the nightmare."

I laughed.

The sound tore out of my chest, broken and wet. Tears finally spilled over, hot tracks burning my cheeks.

"Penn, youve had four girlfriends since then." I took a shaky breath, my lungs feeling too small. "And every single time, all I had to do was cry, and you dumped them. You dropped them for me."

I looked up at him, searching for a crack in the armor. "Can you look me in the eye and say you feel nothing? That you never have?"

"I dumped them because I didn't care about them."

Penn reached out, gripping Brandis hand and pulling her flush against his side. "Hadley, listen closely. Im only going to say this once."

His voice dropped an octave. Serious. Final.

"I love Brandi. I am going to marry her."

He looked at me like I was a stranger. A nuisance.

"Your little manipulative games? The tears? They don't work anymore."

Brandi beamed, her face flushed with victory and adoration. "Penn"

He didnt hesitate. He dipped his head and captured her lips.

Brandi wrapped her arms around his neck, rising on her tiptoes to deepen it.

It wasn't a peck. It was a claim. Passionate. Intense. They devoured each other, oblivious to the room, oblivious to me.

I stood frozen. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic, dying bird.

Because that kiss?

It was exactly the same.

The same tilt of the head. The same lingering pressure. The same consuming heat. It was identical to the kiss he gave me on my eighteenth birthday.

That kiss had been my anchor. It had fueled a four-year delusion. I had sleepwalked through life, convinced that deep down, beneath the cold exterior, he actually loved me.

I was wrong.

I was so stupidly, tragically wrong.

---

Chapter 2

Penn moved out of the family estate.

He moved in with Brandi.

He chose the date carefullythe exact day of my senior thesis defense. He probably thought he was being clever, dodging a bullet. He expected me to storm over, scream, and throw a tantrum.

But this time, I didn't.

A ripple of annoyance crossed my mind, but I shook it off. I didn't have the energy for him.

That night, I went out for a graduation dinner with a few close girlfriends. I went to the restroom to freshen up, and there she was.

Brandi. Standing by the sinks like a bad omen.

"Hadley," she chirped. "Penn is here, too. Do you want to come say hi?"

I shook my head, pumping soap onto my hands. "I'm with friends. I'll pass."

Brandi's eyes instantly welled up. The switch was terrifyingly fast.

"Hadley, look I know I don't come from money. I know Uncle Richard and Aunt Helen never liked me because of my background." Her voice trembled, pitching higher. "Can you please stop poisoning them against me? Please stop badmouthing me."

I froze, water dripping from my hands. "Excuse me? Miss Brandi, I have never mentioned you to them. Ever."

Brandi let out a tragic, broken laugh. "I know you love Penn. Youve been obsessed with him for years."

"I get it," she continued, a tear tracking down her cheek. "You can't accept that we're together. I understand. But Hadley we're both women. Can't you have a little kindness? Just a little?"

My temper is just like my mother'sstraightforward, blunt, and completely incapable of playing 4D chess.

My blood boiled. "Brandi, cut the crap. Stop gaslighting me and stop slandering"

Before I could finish, Brandis knees buckled. She dropped directly to her knees.

"Hadley, please! I'm begging you!"

I was stunned. Instinct took over, and I reached out to help her up.

My fingers didn't even graze her fabric before she threw herself backward, hitting the tiles with a heavy thud.

"Hadley! What the hell are you doing?"

Penns voice roared from the entrance.

Before I could turn, a massive force slammed into my shoulder. He shoved me. Hard.

I flew back, losing my footing. My knee collided violently with the sharp corner of the tiled wall.

Crack.

White-hot agony exploded up my leg. It stole my breath.

"Penn, wait don't misunderstand" Brandi sobbed from the floor. "Hadley didn't mean to"

"Stop defending her!" Penn snarled. "Ive seen her pull this garbage since we were kids. Im done watching it."

Penn bent down, scooping Brandi into his arms like she was made of glass. He looked at me, and his eyes were pure, unadulterated ice.

"Apologize. Now."

"Penn" I gasped, clutching my leg.

"Shut up. Apologize!"

Brandi buried her face in his chest, her weeping soft and pitiful.

My knee was bleeding. Two stark lines of blood snaked down my shin, pooling at my ankle. The crimson was vivid against my skin. The pain was throbbing, a rhythmic, nauseating beat.

Penn didn't even blink.

He looked at the blood and saw nothing. He looked at my face and saw a monster.

A laugh bubbled up in my throat. Broken. Dry.

I didn't want to explain. I didn't want to fight.

"I apologize."

Penn paused, a flicker of surprise crossing his face. But it was gone in an instant, replaced by deeper scorn.

"Not enough."

I forced myself to stand. My leg screamed in protest, trembling under my weight. I straightened my spine and bowed deeply. A formal, theatrical gesture of submission.

"Is this sufficient?"

Brandi peeked out, the corner of her mouth twitching upward in a smirk only I could see. Then she turned back to Penn, voice wobbling.

"Forget it, Penn. I I don't want to make a scene."

Penn tightened his grip on her, his expression softening into adoration.

"Hadley, I told you," he said, his voice cold again. "Brandi is different. You bullying her doesn't push us apart. It only makes me love her more. And it makes me disgusted by you."

He turned on his heel and carried her out.

I stood there for a long time. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead. The gash on my knee burned. The pain was sharp, grounding.

But my chest? It felt light. Hollow.

I knew it then.

In that sterile, white-tiled bathroom, the obsession died. The four years of longing, the delusions, the hopeit all turned to dust.

It was gone.

---

Chapter 3

That night, Brandi posted three times on Instagram.

My phone lit up like a Christmas tree. The "friends" who usually ignored me were suddenly very active, DMing me screenshots with fake concern. They circled Penns reply to her caption in neon red.

They were baiting me.

They wanted the meltdown. They were waiting for me to storm over to Penns place, mascara running, screaming until my throat bled.

Usually, I would have.

Penn would have sighed, looked annoyed, and then eventually caved. That was our cycle. My hysteria gave him control. It fed his ego to be the only one who could calm me down.

But tonight?

I swiped the notifications away. I didn't even read them. Instead, I dialed a number Id been ignoring for a week.

"Madam Vivienne," I said, my voice steady. "It's Hadley. Ive thought about what you said. Im in."

My parents died in a car crash when I was seven. Uncle Richard took me in, not out of love, but out of obligation to his dead friend.

Vivienne was my mothers best friend. But she was a wild cardshe ran off with a lover, ghosted everyone, and vanished. By the time she resurfaced in London, wealthy and widowed, my parents were buried.

She wanted to take me to London. She wanted to fulfill an old pact she made with my mother: to have me marry her son, Adrian.

Seven days ago, I stalled. I told her I needed time.

But tonight, staring at the ceiling, the fog lifted.

Seven years.

I had spent seven years chasing a man who treated my affection like a burden. It was pathetic. It was humiliating.

I was done being the punchline of their jokes.

Six months ago, Penn tried to ship me off to London to "finish my studies." I fought him tooth and nail, sobbing until I hyperventilated. He refused to budge.

Now? It felt like divine intervention.

On the other end of the line, Vivienne laughed. It was a bright, victorious sound.

"Oh, darling, I am so pleased. Adrian has been waiting for you to say yes. Hes fueling the jet to Beijing as we speak. He wants to propose properly."

I gripped the phone, feeling an indescribable trance.

Fifteen years in the Gu house. Seven years of obsession.

And it took exactly seven days to kill it all dead.

---

Penn timed his engagement party perfectly.

He scheduled it for the evening of the very day I departed for London.

No one came to the airport to see me off. Why would they? The real show was at the hotel, where Penn was slipping a ring on Brandis finger.

When the plane touched down in London, I turned off Airplane Mode.

My phone vibrated so hard it nearly rattled off the tray table. A flood of messages. Photos of the engagement. Videos of the toast.

I didn't feel a thing.

I laughed, once. Then I blocked every single number.

Before I left Beijing, Adrian made good on his mother's promise. He flew in. We met.

I told him I didn't want a circus. No press releases, no grand gestures, no drama. Adrian respected it. He looked me in the eye and simply nodded.

He proposed in a private lounge. We exchanged rings. It was quiet. Clinical. Efficient.

The only evidence that anything had changed was the notification from my bank.

Wire Transfer Received: $20,000,000.

And the simple, platinum band resting on my middle finger.

I walked out of the terminal and toward the sleek black Bentley waiting at the curb. The driver held the door open.

My phone rang again. It was Brittany.

"Hadley!" Her voice was breathless, panicked. "Where the hell are you? The ceremony is starting in ten minutes!"

"I just landed in London," I said, checking my nails.

"What? Are you crazy? Get a flight back! Right now! If you leave now, you might still be able to stop it!"

"Stop it?" I paused, looking at the grey London sky. "Why would I want to do that?"

---

Chapter 4

Brittany paused, the silence on the line stretching thin.

"Hadley? Did the grief finally fry your brain?" Her voice pitched up, incredulous. "If you don't get your ass back here and throw a fit right now, my brother is actually going to belong to someone else. Like, legally."

"Why would I come back and cause a scene?" I asked, my voice terrifyingly calm. "Isn't this a happy occasion for your family?"

"Hadley?" Brittany practically shrieked. "Have you lost your mind?"

I was about to hang up when the voice on the other end changed. It wasn't Brittany anymore.

It was Brandi.

"Hadley," she purred, the sound dripping with faux-concern. "Aren't you coming to the engagement party? Penn has always looked at you like a little sister. Which makes me your sister-in-law now. Id really love your blessing. It would mean the world to us."

I looked up.

A few yards away, Adrian was leaning against the sleek black car. Tall. Impeccable. His eyes were warm, patient, fixed solely on me.

The tightness in my chestthe one that had been there for seven yearssuddenly snapped.

It was gone.

"Sure," I said into the phone, a small smile playing on my lips. "I wish you both a lifetime of happiness. Seriously. Lock it down. Don't ever let him go."

---

Penn stood in the manicured garden, the ember of his cigarette glowing in the twilight.

He wasn't looking at the guests. He was watching Brittany, who was huddled in a corner with her phone.

He knew the script. He wrote it.

Every time a woman got too close to him, the "sisters"Brittany and her crewwould run to Hadley. They would feed her the intel. Then, Hadley would lose her mind. Shed storm in, tears streaming, demanding he choose.

And he always did. Hed feign annoyance, call Hadley a brat, and then dump the girlfriend "to keep the peace."

It was a power trip. A cycle he was addicted to.

He checked his watch. 5:45 PM.

He had timed this perfectly. Hadley was supposed to be landing in London right now, but he knew she wouldn't be on that plane. Shed receive the text, turn the car around, and be here right as the ceremony started.

"Penn," Carter asked, swirling his drink. "What if she actually shows up and trashes the place?"

"Yeah, man. Youre engaged. Shes going to go nuclear."

"Shes been quiet lately, though," another friend muttered. "Weirdly quiet. Usually, shed have flooded the group chat with threats by now."

Penn looked down at his cigarette. The ash had grown long, a grey worm threatening to fall. Hed forgotten to flick it.

His mind replayed his friend's words. Shes been quiet.

"It's a tactic," Penn scoffed, finally crushing the cigarette under his dress shoe. "Retreat to advance. She thinks playing it cool will make me chase her."

"So you think she's coming?"

Penn didn't answer immediately. But the certainty in his gut was absolute.

The girl was obsessed. She read those trashy romance novels where the heroine crashes the wedding. She lived for the drama.

"Tell security to stay sharp," Penn ordered, checking his watch again. "Don't let any uninvited guests cause a scene."

The words had barely left his mouth when Brittany came sprinting across the lawn, hiking up her expensive gown.

"Penn! Penn!" she shouted, breathless. "It's Hadley! She's here! There's a car right outside the gate!"

Penns heart did a traitorous thing.

It skipped a beat. A surge of dark satisfaction flooded his veins. I knew it.

He masked it instantly with a scowl.

"Unbelievable," he growled, feigning anger. "She never learns. She is determined to ruin this."

"What do we do?" Brittany wailed. "If she comes in screaming, its going to be a scandal!"

Penn buttoned his jacket, his face set in a mask of cold authority. He turned and marched toward the entrance.

"Ill handle her. Ill make sure she understands this is the end