The Billionaire's Broken Bride,Rescued by Her Stepbrothers

The day we were supposed to register our marriage, my fianc Kenneth Matthews showed up late. Again.

There was a woman in the passenger seat.

He glanced at me standing in the wind, shivering, and let out a quiet laugh.

The registration office is closed? Guess we can't get that marriage certificate after all.

"This little thing's so clingy. She won't go to a single prenatal checkup unless I'm there. Wears me right down." Kenneth looked at her with a smile dripping with affection. "Betty Simmons, how about we wait until after she has the baby, and then we'll register?"

"She's been so good about it, really. Never once tried to take your place."

"You've waited this long already. What's another year or so?"

The numbered ticket in my palm was crushed into a tight ball.

I turned and dropped it in the trash, then lifted my gaze to her flat little stomach.

"Fine."

My mother had remarried into a wealthy family. There were two stepbrothers waiting to meet me there.

The truth was, I'd known about Kenneth's affair since the beginning of the year.

One of the Syndicate's guys tipped me off.

"Boss has been making a lot of trips to the college district lately. You might want to keep an eye on that."

It didn't take long to find out.

The girl was barely in her early twenties, a college student named Eleanor Harding.

She'd started waitressing at one of our restaurants late last year. Her family didn't have much, but she was undeniably pretty.

"Don't worry too much about it, though."

"I think the boss is just chasing a thrill, reliving old times. Why else would he pick someone who looks so much like you?"

I stared at the photo on the table. The girl stood under a cherry blossom tree, smiling at the camera. There was a faint echo of my own face in hers.

From that day on, I waited. Waited for Kenneth to come clean.

But I never expected him to bring her right to my doorstep.

And throw in a two-for-one deal.

"Betty, I know you're the best." Kenneth reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

He cradled my face in his hands, the calluses on his palms rough against my cheeks.

"She's fragile. If she loses this baby, her first, it could do real damage to her body."

"I can't stand the thought of a young girl suffering because of me. Just wait a little longer. Next year, we'll register. I promise."

Looking at their fingers laced together, I couldn't stop my eyes from burning.

I'd been pregnant once, too.

I was barely in my twenties when I held up the ultrasound for him, beaming, certain he would do something romantic, maybe even propose.

He took the ultrasound, glanced at it, and said with a face as cold as slate:

"Get rid of it."

"People like us, living on a knife's edge, aren't meant to have kids."

My whole body went rigid. I could barely get the words out. "But the doctor said my health isn't great. If I lose this one, I might not be able to conceive again..."

"Then we won't have kids. Ever."

In my memory, Kenneth's profile was sharp and indifferent, his eyes locked on the game on his screen.

Back then, he said the timing wasn't right. Said it wasn't suitable. Said he didn't like children.

The one thing he never said was that he felt sorry for me.

But now, with that delicate woman tucked against his chest, his eyes were brimming with tenderness he couldn't contain.

Maybe the contrast was too stark. The tears I'd been holding back finally slipped free.

Kenneth's brow creased, barely perceptible. "You're not some eighteen-year-old girl. What's with the waterworks?"

"I told you, once she has the baby, I'll marry you."

The girl beside him tugged at Kenneth's sleeve and leaned forward to peer at me.

"Don't cry, okay?"

"I'm not trying to steal Kenneth from you. I just liked his genes and wanted to keep the baby without the man."

"Our generation isn't exactly desperate to get married."

Every word rolled off her tongue, light and easy, like it cost her nothing. Kenneth stood there listening, thoroughly amused.

I was the only one who couldn't stomach a single word of it.

"Alright, enough with the theatrics."

"Go home and clear out the bedroom. She needs to stay at the house for her pregnancy."

Kenneth offered me a few impatient words of comfort, then took Eleanor's hand and got in the car.

Kenneth and I grew up together. Childhood sweethearts, inseparable from the start.

He had no parents. He survived by tagging along with debt collectors on the street corners, scrounging for meals. A miserable existence.

I lost my mother young. My father was a gambler, a drunk, and a man who liked to use his fists. My life wasn't much better.

The year he loved me most, he found out my father planned to hand me over to a casino owner to settle a debt. He broke into my house with a knife pressed to my father's throat.

He cursed the whole time. Broke three of my father's ribs. And took me with him.

"Betty's with me now."

"You touch her again, I'll kill you."

From that day on, he became one of the few lights in my life.

Not many people where we grew up could afford school, but Kenneth hustled on the streets and paid my tuition out of his own pocket.

He said, "I'm not cut out for books. But a girl should get an education."

Later, I spent my days in a school uniform and canvas sneakers, playing the good girl. At night, I'd slip into a black camisole and stockings and follow him around, learning to smoke, to drink, to fight.

At our lowest, we couldn't even afford a clinic visit for a broken bone. We'd split a single bowl of rice between us for the whole day.

I remembered the first time my pinky finger cracked open. He knelt outside the clinic door all night, begging, until they gave him one bottle of medicine.

After that, whenever he looked at my crooked pinky, he'd cry and say he was sorry.

He fought his way up from a nobody running errands on street corners to the boss of the Syndicate, and then to Mr. Matthews in the business world.

I never missed a single step of it.

I thought the red thread between us was made of steel wire, the kind not even the devil himself could cut.

But a girl named Eleanor Harding snapped it without breaking a sweat.

June. A storm rolled in, sudden and savage.

I wandered the streets with no destination, soaked to the bone.

My phone rang.

"Betty, what's your problem?"

"Didn't I tell you to clear out the bedroom?"

The voice on the other end was ice. Colder than the rain hammering my skin.

I said nothing. Hung up.

By the time I got home, I was drenched through.

"Kenneth, stop it, quit messing around."

"Someone might see us."

The moment I opened the door, there they were. Kenneth and Eleanor on the couch, draped over each other, flirting like teenagers.

Eleanor's oversized collar had slipped down, exposing half her collarbone. Kenneth lifted his head from the curve of her neck and looked at me.

"What took you so long?"

"Don't you know we've been waiting for you to get the room ready?"

Not a single word of concern. Not a trace of worry. Just blame.

Something clenched tight around my heart. I genuinely could not understand how we had ended up here.

I shook my head, dizzy, and said nothing. I started walking toward the guest room.

"She's sleeping in the master bedroom with me. You take the guest room."

I stopped mid-step. Pulled my foot back. "Fine."

Two hours later, I'd finished clearing everything out. The moment I sat down, Eleanor appeared.

"Kenneth told me you two have been together thirteen years. Sounds like a long time, I guess."

"But all it took was one night in bed with him, and your thirteen years turned to nothing. Not even worth mentioning."

Gone was the sweet, demure girl from this afternoon. Her eyes glinted with raw ambition.

All that talk about keeping the baby and leaving the father out of it was just talk.

I forced the faintest smile and didn't say a word.

All I wanted now was to leave Kenneth quietly. Leave all of this behind.

Wasting my breath would have been the stupidest thing I could do.

Eleanor tossed out a few more lines. When I gave her nothing in return, she got bored and scurried off to find Kenneth.

I sat on the edge of the bed and dialed.

"Mom, I've thought about your offer."

"I'd like to come to Westford."

Surprise and joy flooded through the line. She laughed, already talking about booking my flight.

"No, no, we'll come get her!"

"Ma'am, we'll pick her up ourselves!"

Those two brothers I'd never met were shouting over each other in the background, voices bright with excitement.

So different from the deathly silence on my end.

The other side of the call was a beautiful chaos.

For a moment, I actually looked forward to a new life.

Ever since I'd come home soaked from the rain, my whole body had felt weak and feverish.

I was crouched in the living room, fighting to stay conscious while digging through drawers for medicine, when Kenneth's voice came from above me.

"What are you looking for?"

"Nothing."

I grabbed the medicine and stood, pushing the drawer shut.

Kenneth frowned and caught my wrist. "How long are you going to keep this up?"

"Why are you making such a fuss over a young girl? She's here to rest during her pregnancy. Obviously she needs the bigger master bedroom."

I looked at him calmly and pulled my hand free. "I'm not making a fuss..."

"I just"

"Forget it. Go find me some condoms first."

He cut me off, impatient. The words hit me like a slap, a dull throb pulsing between my brows.

Thirteen years with Kenneth, and we had never once used those.

"They don't feel good. I don't like them."

So every time, I was the one swallowing the pill afterward.

Thirteen years, and we'd only had one accident.

That child, he didn't keep.

I didn't even know whether the fact that it never happened again meant something was wrong with my body or the pills just worked that well.

"We don't have any in the house."

My teeth were clenched when I said it, and I couldn't stop my body from trembling.

"Then go out and buy some."

"She's pregnant now. It's inconvenient without them."

My fingers curled into fists inside my sleeves. I looked up at him, disbelief crawling through me.

"Kenneth, do you have any idea how hard it's raining out there?"

Only then did he turn toward the window. In the pitch-black night, rain hammered the glass like gravel.

"Drive."

He pressed the car keys into my palm. "Nobody's asking you to walk in the rain. Stop being dramatic."

I stood there. The keys burned against my skin.

I took one deep breath, and then I walked out the door.

With Kenneth, I was obedient most of the time.

For the light he'd given me when I was sixteen. For the thirteen years we'd clung to each other with no one else in the world.

I used to believe I owed him a debt bigger than the sky itself.

That was why I turned down every job offer after college and poured everything I had into helping him gain a foothold in the business world.

But that debt should be paid in full by now.

And the love should be done.

"I'll take these."

I grabbed a random assortment at the pharmacy, shoved them into a bag, and stuffed it away.

"Miss, do you have a fever? You're sweating, and your color doesn't look right..."

I licked my cracked lips, shook my head, scanned the code to pay, and turned to leave.

I didn't make it out of the pharmacy before my legs buckled.

The next second, I was on the floor.

"Miss! Miss!"

I felt myself sinking into darkness, drifting in and out of fragments and half-formed dreams.

In the dream, it was me and Kenneth at sixteen.

A past I could never return to.

My eyes snapped open. White ceiling. An IV bag hanging above me.

"Betty, you're awake?"

It was Victor, the same kid who'd tried to warn me before.

Even knowing Kenneth couldn't possibly be there, I still couldn't stop myself from scanning the room.

He wasn't.

"Kenneth... he had something to take care of."

"He said tomorrow. Come back tomorrow."

Victor stammered through the words, his eyes darting everywhere but her face.

"Tell me the truth."

"Kenneth's throwing a formal introduction ceremony for that woman. Wants people to serve her tea, the whole thing..."

I drew a long breath, ripped the IV from my arm, and said, "Take me there."

Victor couldn't stop me. So he drove.

The moment I walked through the door, I saw Eleanor Harding sitting in my chair, wearing my clothes.

A line of people stretched from the entrance, waiting their turn to offer her tea.

Kenneth sat beside her, gazing at her with open adoration, pressing his lips to the corner of her mouth every few moments.

I stood at the back and watched. Watched her smile and drink cup after cup.

It wasn't until my turn came that Kenneth finally noticed me.

Eleanor hadn't expected me either. Her hand froze mid-air, the cup halfway to her lips.

"Go on. Drink. Why'd you stop?"

Kenneth's expression darkened. He seized my arm and yanked me aside.

"You're sick. You should be in the hospital. What the hell are you doing here causing a scene?"

I kept my chin raised, my fingers twisting the hem of my hospital gown without my permission, the pain inside me flooding past every wall I had left.

"I'm sick, and you're here throwing her a party. Making people bow to her like she's your wife!"

"Kenneth, what am I to you?"

His eyes went cold, several degrees past indifference. "Didn't I send someone to watch you?"

"I'm not a doctor. What good would sitting there do?"

A low buzzing filled my skull, and I dropped my head.

Eleanor was afraid to go to her prenatal checkup alone, so he canceled our marriage registration to be there for her.

I was burning with fever, and he said there was no point in staying.

The man who once swore he'd die for me had rotted through to the bone.

Nobody in the room dared to breathe, terrified of catching the crossfire.

"Fine."

"Kenneth, starting today."

"We go our separate ways. We're done."

I hurled the teacup in my hand. Porcelain shattered across the floor.

"Ah!"

"It hurts..."

Eleanor clutched her shin, her face crumpling into a pitiful mask as she looked up at Kenneth.

Kenneth's brow furrowed deep. He crouched to examine her wound, his hands impossibly gentle.

"Betty, I've spoiled you rotten. You think you can do whatever you want!"

A sharp sting spread through my clenched fist. Warm, sticky blood pooled in my palm and seeped between my fingers.

But Kenneth didn't see.

All he saw was the tiny scratch on Eleanor's leg.

"Lock her in the cellar downstairs. Nobody lets her out without my say-so."

The chaos ended with that single sentence.

He scooped Eleanor into his arms and walked away.

And I was escorted into that lightless pit beneath the building.

The cellar was meant for subordinates who stepped out of line, or rivals who needed to disappear for a while.

Now it was mine.

"I'm sorry, Betty. Just hang tight for a bit."

"Once Kenneth cools down, he'll let you out. I'm sure of it."

I sat in the pitch-black cellar. The smell of mold filled my nose, thick and damp.

It reminded me of the basement apartment we used to rent, always wet, always dark.

Back then, all we needed was each other, and every day felt like the best day of our lives.

The days got better. The people didn't.

"You're not bad in bed either, you know!"

"Kenneth showed me all your videos and photos."

"What do you think would happen if these got out? Think you'd still get to play Mrs. Matthews?"

In the blackness, the only light came from the phone in Eleanor's hand.

The moment I made out what was on the screen, I went still.

"Kenneth gave those to you?"

Eleanor waved the phone lazily. "Sure did."

"I told him I wanted to see, and he just handed them over. He even told me I should never let a man film me like that. Said it wasn't safe..."

Rage tore through me like a live wire. I shot to my feet and shoved Eleanor to the ground.

"Kenneth, help me!"

I pinned her beneath me, slap after slap raining down without pause.

Kenneth arrived and kicked me off her.

"Betty, have you lost your mind?!"

"She's pregnant, do you even know that?!"

Eleanor buried her face in Kenneth's chest, sobbing, whimpering that she was scared, that it hurt.

My bloodshot eyes locked onto Kenneth.

He noticed the phone on the floor. Something flickered behind his gaze.

"This is what you hit her over?"

"Pictures are already taken. What, afraid someone might see?"

His voice carried seven parts cold mockery and three parts careless anger.

"Betty, I really have spoiled you."

"Time you learned a lesson."

Kenneth snapped his fingers, and men flooded into the room.

Two of them seized my arms and pinned me against the wall. Kenneth took Eleanor's hand.

"Hit her back."

"Until you feel better."

Eleanor's eyes lit up. She swung hard, her palm cracking across my face.

That wasn't enough for her. From somewhere, she produced a small knife and dragged the blade deep across my cheek.

"Everyone says I look like you. Let's see who says that now."

"A disfigured woman, tossed on the side of the road, and nobody would even glance twice."

"Kenneth will never want you again!"

My screams, my cries for help, Kenneth heard none of it.

He kept his back to me the entire time, until Eleanor walked to his side.

"Betty, think about what you've done."

"Tomorrow, I'll let you out."

Kenneth disappeared, and the door slammed shut. The last sliver of light vanished with him.

Thirteen years ago, he brought the only light my life had ever known.

Thirteen years later, he took it all away.

I crawled across the floor and reached for the forgotten phone, dialing the number I knew by heart.

"Mom, I want to come home."

On the other end, alarms blared.

I lay on the ground and sank into the dark again.

The next morning, Kenneth arrived at the Syndicate to find his men scattered across the entrance, sprawled out on the ground.

"What the hell happened?"

Kenneth was livid.

"S-someone came looking for trouble. They took her, they took Betty!"

His breath stopped. His fingertips wouldn't stop trembling. Kenneth tore through the building and reached the cellar door.

She was gone.

A pool of blood stained the floor, so stark it made his stomach lurch. Kenneth screamed until his throat cracked.

"Where did all this blood come from?!"