Chapter 2: He Had Canceled Our Wedding Twenty-Three Days Ago

Audrey clicked onto the stage in her heels and took a microphone from a passing server.

“Everyone, welcome to Miles’s last night of freedom.”

She pointed at me, her smile bright and cruel.

“Tonight’s main event is helping him get rid of an old possession that just won’t go away.”

The betting page on the screen switched to an auction catalog.

Item One: The wedding dress I had sewn myself.

Item Two: The letters I had written over the past three years.

Item Three: The engagement ring Miles had given me, then taken back.

Every item started at one dollar.

I stared at the headline at the top of the screen.

“His last night of freedom?”

“What happened to our marriage license?”

Miles wouldn’t meet my eyes.

Audrey laughed.

“You seriously don’t know?”

She pulled a folded paper from her handbag and held it out.

It was a confirmation slip from the county clerk’s office. Appointment Canceled. Miles’s name was printed clearly under “Applicant.” The date of cancellation was twenty-three days ago.

The paper trembled in my hand.

Twenty-three days ago, I was standing under the scaffolding at the Carrington estate, helping him review the restoration budget. He’d come up behind me, wrapped his arms around my waist, and whispered that once the roof was fixed, we’d have the wedding of our dreams right there.

So he’d already canceled our appointment before he ever said those words.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, my voice tight.

Miles finally lost his patience.

“Because the Winthrop merger agreement wasn’t signed yet. If you’d made a scene, everyone would have thought the Carrington family was in financial trouble.”

“So you just kept letting me pay for the repairs? You let me keep planning the wedding?”

“I’ll pay you back for what you put in.”

He said it as if he were settling a dinner tab.

Audrey looped her arm through his.

“Don’t make it sound so transactional, Miles. We just wanted to see how a small-town schoolteacher would react when she found out she wasn't really marrying into the Carrington family after all.”

“And the betting money is all going to charity,” she added with a smirk. “It’s practically noble.”

I looked at Miles.

“You wanted to watch, too?”

He was silent for two beats, then took the microphone.

“One dollar opening bid.”

The room erupted in applause.

In that moment, I finally understood. This wasn't an impulsive decision. This wasn't a misunderstanding.

When he needed my money and my silence, I was his fiancée.

The second the Winthrops were willing to bail him out, I became an old possession to be auctioned off for their amusement.