Fiancé Locked Me Out in Rain for Influencer; He Regretted It

To test my fianc Clifford Delgado's true character, I hid the fact that I was the sole daughter of a Manhattan financial dynasty and went on a budget backpacking trip with him through the Colorado backcountry.

In my past life, our secondhand SUV broke down in the middle of the remote wilderness, in a downpour.

I had just picked up the only sleeping bag in the car when Brenda Fox, the influencer we'd shared the ride with barely hours before, spoke up in a mild little voice.

"Clifford, honey, she told me she only got hold of this junk car by hanging off her big brother."

"Does trash like that even deserve to use the only warm sleeping bag we've got?"

My fianc didn't say a word. He shoved me out of the car and locked the doors.

He handed the only waterproof, insulated sleeping bag to Brenda.

He said I was dirty, that I needed to be washed clean by the rain.

I stood outside the car in the freezing downpour, waiting for the next round of rescue.

I froze to death out there under the endless sheets of rain, and the swollen flash flood swept my body away. Not even bones left behind.

And he took my accident-insurance payout and bought that influencer a spacious apartment, paid in full, and the two of them tangled up together day after day.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment the car broke down, back at the moment Brenda was about to frame me.

Clifford had his arm around Brenda, looking at me with heartbroken reproach.

"You're not clean anymore. Get out and wash yourself off."

Watching the two of them scheme against me with those looks on their faces, I let out a cold laugh.

I lifted my leg and kicked them both hard out of the car, then reached back and sealed the doors shut.

Unhurried, I unscrewed my thermos.

"I'm not clean? The ones I can't stand to look at are you two. Get out there and wash yourselves off good!"

......

"Cecilia Swanson! Have you lost your mind! Open this door right now!"

Wind whipped fat raindrops against the SUV's windshield, hammering it hard.

Clifford stood shivering in the downpour, both feet planted in water that came up to his ankles.

He clawed at the crack of the window with both hands, his eyes bloodshot and bulging.

"Brenda isn't strong. She can't take the cold rain out here!"

"You're healthy. Get out and hike to find help!"

I sat in the warm driver's seat and looked, cold-eyed, at the face that had left me without so much as a bone in my past life.

Last time, it was in this same godforsaken wilderness.

After the car broke down, Clifford handed the only waterproof, insulated sleeping bag, without a second's hesitation, to an influencer he'd shared the ride with for less than two hours.

He made an excuse about scouting the road ahead, then locked the doors behind him.

And he left me to freeze to death in the downpour and the cold.

In the end my body was even washed into the ravine by the swollen flash flood. Not a scrap of bone left.

Meanwhile he took the fat payout from the accident insurance I'd bought and used it to buy that scheming little snake, Brenda Fox, a spacious apartment, paid in full.

The two of them tangled together day after day, treading over my bones.

And now he actually wanted to run the same play again?

"She's not strong? Then let her run five kilometers in the rain and work up a sweat."

I unscrewed the stainless steel thermos in my hand.

"Guaranteed to warm her right up!"

"You vicious woman! Are you trying to kill Brenda!"

Clifford's face twisted with rage as he pounded on the door.

"I order you to open this door right now! Or the second we're back I'm calling off the engagement!"

I lowered the window, leaving a gap two fingers wide.

The scalding water poured straight through it and splashed into the standing water at their feet.

It hissed, and dirty water sprayed everywhere.

"Ah!"

Brenda shrieked in fright and stumbled back.

"Get away. Don't dirty my car."

I threw the words at them coldly and reached to roll the window back up.

"Cecilia Swanson, you dare throw that at me!"

Clifford kicked the door hard and jabbed a finger at my face, cursing at the top of his lungs.

"Fine, you throw your weight around at home, but this is life and death right now!"

"Brenda is so delicate. If she catches her death out here, can you carry that on your conscience!"

I couldn't help the cold laugh that escaped me.

"Delicate? Back at the campsite, when everyone was grabbing at the roast, she put away half a leg of lamb by herself."

"So how come the moment it's time to stand in the rain, she can't take the cold?"

Brenda's eyes went red and brimming, wronged, the instant she heard it.

Then her knees buckled and she dropped straight into the knee-deep mud puddle.

"Help! Murder!"

She screamed herself hoarse, wailing toward a hiking group struggling along not far off.

"This woman stole our car and she's going to leave us out here to freeze to death!"

Several men in weatherproof jackets stopped in their tracks at once.

They exchanged a glance, yanked out their trekking poles, and closed in, bristling.

"What's going on here? Somebody stealing a car in broad daylight?"

The scar-faced hiker in the lead pointed his trekking pole at me through the window.

"Don't be scared, sweetheart. We've got your back today!"

Brenda cried prettily, tears streaking her face, and pointed at me in accusation.

"That car was clearly rented by my boyfriend. She insisted on taking it, and then she scalded us with boiling water!"

"We just wanted to share the ride, and she's ready to kill us to shut us up!"

Clifford caught on instantly and pulled Brenda protectively against him.

"Please, help us out! This woman's insane. She's trying to kill us for money!"

The moment the scar-faced man heard it, he flew into a rage.

"What a cruel piece of work! Get out here, now!"

He swung the heavy solid aluminum trekking pole and slammed it into the SUV's windshield.

A huge crack rang out.

Spiderweb fractures raced across the surface of the glass in an instant.

"You dare smash my car?"

My eyes went cold, and I was just reaching for the latch on the passenger side.

The scar-faced man let out a roar and struck again.

The reinforced glass finally gave and shattered with a crash.

Wind and pouring rain surged in, flooding the warm cabin.

The scar-faced man thrust his hand through the broken hole and yanked out the car key.

"Get out here, you!"

He wrenched the driver's door open, grabbed me by the collar, and dragged me bodily out.

My feet slipped, and I went down into the knee-deep, freezing water.

The bone-deep cold and wet cut straight through my jacket.

Seeing this, Clifford scrambled into the passenger seat.

Frantically, he raked the waterproof sleeping bag and jacket from the back seat all onto himself.

"Brother, this woman has a heart like a viper. Just leave her out here in the wilderness to fend for herself!"

He rolled down the window and shouted to the scar-faced man.

"Once the rain stops, the wild animals will take care of her soon enough!"

Brenda climbed into the back seat too, poking her head out to smile at me in triumph.

"Sis, you just sit here and reflect on what you've done. We'll call the police for you."

The hikers actually nodded along, as if it all made perfect sense.

"A vicious woman like that deserves to freeze out here!"

The scar-faced man spat on the ground.

"Let's go! Get in the car, forget about her!"

Just as they were about to shut the doors and drive off in style

Two blinding high beams suddenly tore through the sheets of rain.

A heavy tracked rescue tow truck crushed through the deep puddles and came roaring closer.

"You people up front, what are you doing! Get out of the way!"

The truck's arrival cut short the hikers' attempt to abandon me in an instant.

Clifford's face changed. He clenched his jaw hard.

He grabbed Brenda by the arm and jumped straight out of the SUV.

"Hurry! Get on that truck!"

He cursed under his breath and scrambled toward the rescue vehicle.

"Driver! Our car broke down, take us down to the supply lodge, quick!"

Brenda stuck close behind him, not daring to look back once.

By the time I reached the supply lodge, the lobby was packed with stranded travelers.

I shook the rain off myself and headed straight for the back courtyard where the luggage was stored.

The moment I lifted the heavy windproof door curtain, I saw Clifford crouched furtively in the corner.

He had a pair of folding scissors in his hand and was stabbing away like a madman at my hiking pack.

Inside it were my spare waterproof sleeping bag and my high-calorie rations.

"What do you think you're doing?"

My voice came out cold.

Clifford jolted so hard the scissors dropped straight to the floor.

He turned and saw it was me, and instead of looking guilty, he straightened his back.

"What am I doing? I'm serving justice, that's what!"

He stomped viciously on the pile of shredded sleeping-bag stuffing.

"A selfish, poisonous woman like you doesn't deserve any of this stuff!"

"Since you wanted to leave me and Brenda out there to drown, now you can find out for yourself what it's like to go cold and hungry!"

I looked at the mess all over the floor and let out a cold laugh.

"Did you forget every single thing in that pack was bought with my money?"

"So what!"

Clifford lifted his chin, righteous as ever.

"As my fiance, your money is my money!"

"Me using my own money to help the weak and the poorthat's doing a good deed!"

His bandit logic was honestly something to behold.

Just then, a shrill wail broke out from the front room.

I turned and walked back into the lobby to find Brenda slumped on the floor by the stove in the middle of the lodge.

Her arm was scraped raw against the rough wall, streaked with lines of blood, and she looked like a complete wreck.

"Kind people, please, someone judge this for me!"

Brenda was sobbing her heart out, limping over to bow her head to the travelers around her.

"That woman, Cecilia Swanson, she's insane!"

"Not only did she lose her mind and hit people on the road, she wants to keep every last bit of the warm supplies for herself!"

The dozens of stranded travelers in the lodge set down their instant ramen cups and quickly crowded around.

"How did this girl get hurt so badly?"

"Who's got no shame at allgrabbing supplies in weather like this, that's as good as killing someone!"

Hearing everyone talk, Brenda cried harder.

"She even said she's rich and powerful, that even if she got us killed, we'd have died for nothing!"

The moment she said it, the crowd flared up.

A few hot-tempered guys knocked over the folding metal chairs.

"That's outrageous! Does she think there's no law anymore!"

"A killer like that should be reported to the police and hauled off right now!"

The moment I stepped into the lobby, Brenda spun and pointed at me, shrieking.

"That's her! She's here!"

Dozens of furious eyes snapped toward me at once.

The crowd surged forward, forcing me back until I hit the cold corner of the wall.

An older woman rushed up and spat right onto my jacket.

"So young and already this rotten. How can anyone be this vicious!"

"Right! Look at her, all dressed up like somebody, and she's a killer!"

I raised a hand, faced the shouting crowd head-on, and made my voice cold.

"Sir, pull the security footage from the back courtyard."

"Let's see exactly who was destroying the supplies!"

The words dropped a brief silence over the room.

Clifford, who had just slipped out from the back, burst in loudly.

"Don't stand there bluffing!"

"The cameras out back broke ages ago. You think I don't know that?"

He lunged, trying to clamp a hand over my mouth.

"Don't listen to this snake, everyone. She's just trying to stall!"

I looked at him, cornered and thrashing like a rat, and let a mocking curve pull at my lips.

"Is that so? You're sure the cameras are broken?"

The way I looked at him crawled under his skin, and he lost it completely.

"Shut your mouth!"

He raised his hand, and the slap was already coming for my face.

Bang. The lodge's heavy solid-wood door was kicked open from the outside.

Wind and driving rain roared into the lobby.

My real childhood sweetheart, Sebastian Gilbert, one of Manhattan's top young heirs, strode in soaked through.

Behind him came more than a dozen broad-shouldered bodyguards, all in matching black suits.

"Let's see who dares touch her!"

Sebastian closed the distance in one stride and drove a fist straight into the bridge of Clifford's nose.

Clifford let out a piercing scream and was knocked clear into the fireplace pile beside him.

The scalding cinders had him rolling on the ground.

Sebastian swept his gaze around the room, his eyes cold as a blade.

"Anyone who touches a single hair on her head today doesn't walk out of this rainforest!"

The dozen men in black forced the travelers who'd been raising hell back a good five meters.

The whole lobby went dead silent in an instant, nothing left but Clifford wailing by the fire.

Sebastian pulled off his custom waterproof coat, still warm from his body.

He crossed to me in long strides and wrapped it snugly around me.

"Cecilia, I'm sorry. I got here too late."

His eyes were full of ache as he reached to wipe the rain from my face.

I shook my head to tell him I was fine.

Over in the corner, Brenda saw all this, whipped out her phone, and started streaming live to the whole internet.

"Everyone, look at this!"

Brenda swung the camera toward Sebastian and the bodyguards with their batons, sobbing like her heart was tearing apart.

"The rich are throwing their weight around!"

"They brought gangsters here to kill me and shut me up, just so they could steal my fianc!"

She thrust her arm, streaked with blood, right up to the lens.

"I'm just an ordinary girl with no one to protect me. What did I ever do wrong?"

"Do poor people's lives not count as lives?"

Her little speech set the internet on fire in an instant.

Hundreds of thousands of viewers poured into the stream.

The comments scrolled past in a frantic blur.

"So arrogant! They have to be exposed!"

"So money means you can hit whoever you want? Call the police! Call them now!"

"That woman is obviously some kept mistress, dragging her sugar daddy over to lord it over the real girlfriend!"

The travelers at the lodge had been scared out of their wits by the bodyguards.

Now, with millions of people online backing them up, their nerve came flooding back.

One after another they raised their phones and started filming me and Sebastian like mad.

"Get it on camera! Post it online!"

"Let the whole country see the ugly faces of these rich pigs!"

Sebastian's brow furrowed, and he yanked his tie loose in irritation.

Nothing disgusted him more than a gutter shrew making a scene like this.

He pulled a gold-embossed checkbook straight from his inner pocket.

"Shut up!"

He drew out his pen and scratched down a string of numbers.

"Take the money and get out of this lodge right now."

Brenda let out a shriek and slammed the check down onto the floor.

"I'm not going anywhere!"

"You think you can buy off my dignity with a few filthy dollars?"

"Even if you beat me to death today, I'll make the whole internet see what you two really are!"

Her righteous little tirade set the comments ablaze all over again.

"You go, Brenda! Never bow to the rich!"

"Take down the villains! Throw these two scumbags in prison!"

The situation was seconds from spinning completely out of control.

I raised my hand and gently pressed it over Sebastian's, stopping him before he could write another check.

"Sebastian, throwing money at people like this won't work."

Slow and gentle, but leaving no room for argument, I drew him behind me.

Then I stepped forward on my own and planted myself in front of the live stream camera at the very center.

Clifford, clutching his bleeding nose, backed up two full steps, wary all over his face.

"Cecilia, what trick are you trying to pull now?"

I ignored him and pulled the key to the SUV out of my pants pocket.

I hooked the key around my finger and gave it a couple of lazy spins.

"You all want the truth, don't you?"

"As it happens, I've got a complete chain of evidence right here in my hand."

I let my cold gaze sweep over Clifford and Brenda, over those two chalk-white faces.

Then, in front of dozens of cameras, I forced the metal back cover off the car key.