My Love, Her Leverage

My Love, Her Leverage

Shen Xiyan

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My ribeye was getting cold as I sat alone at Vince's Steakhouse, waiting for Nicole on our one-year anniversary. I' d booked her favorite corner booth, even checking myself out of the hospital despite cracked ribs, all for her. Then her text came: "Stuck in chem lab. Won't make it. Raincheck?" My heart sank. But just as I was about to signal for the check, a group was led past my table. My world stopped. It was Nicole, in the dress I bought her, laughing with her college roommate and her high school sweetheart, Luis-the one who' d ghosted her when her life fell apart. I watched, frozen, as her roommate quipped about me being "a sweet, dumb rich kid" wrapped around Nicole's finger. Nicole just shrugged, saying, "Can we not talk about him? He's ruining my mood." The woman I loved called me an inconvenience, while celebrating "new beginnings" with the man who' d abandoned her. I swallowed the bitter truth: I wasn't her boyfriend; I was a transaction. A debt repaid with her time. The pain was worse than any broken bone. Why was I always the fallback, the savior, never the choice? The next morning, her call came, a soft apology, promising to meet. A foolish part of me hoped, until Luis sat beside her at the coffee shop. This wasn't an apology; it was a shakedown for half a million dollars. And that' s when I finally said, "No."

Introduction

My ribeye was getting cold as I sat alone at Vince's Steakhouse, waiting for Nicole on our one-year anniversary.

I' d booked her favorite corner booth, even checking myself out of the hospital despite cracked ribs, all for her.

Then her text came: "Stuck in chem lab. Won't make it. Raincheck?" My heart sank.

But just as I was about to signal for the check, a group was led past my table.

My world stopped.

It was Nicole, in the dress I bought her, laughing with her college roommate and her high school sweetheart, Luis-the one who' d ghosted her when her life fell apart.

I watched, frozen, as her roommate quipped about me being "a sweet, dumb rich kid" wrapped around Nicole's finger.

Nicole just shrugged, saying, "Can we not talk about him? He's ruining my mood."

The woman I loved called me an inconvenience, while celebrating "new beginnings" with the man who' d abandoned her.

I swallowed the bitter truth: I wasn't her boyfriend; I was a transaction.

A debt repaid with her time. The pain was worse than any broken bone.

Why was I always the fallback, the savior, never the choice?

The next morning, her call came, a soft apology, promising to meet.

A foolish part of me hoped, until Luis sat beside her at the coffee shop.

This wasn't an apology; it was a shakedown for half a million dollars. And that' s when I finally said, "No."

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For five years, I was the woman in the shadows, the secret partner Evander Mathews promised to marry once his company was stable. On our fifth anniversary, I waited in our Manhattan penthouse with chilled wine, only for him to leave abruptly for what he called a "merger emergency." In his haste, he left his wall safe open. Inside, I found a marriage contract signed three days ago. The groom was Evander, but the bride was my sister, Daneen. Then came the message that shattered my world—a photo of their hands intertwined and a text from my sister. "Sister, thank you for borrowing him for five years. But he is home now." I looked at the rows of white silk dresses in my closet and finally understood the truth. I was never his lover; I was a living memorial, a placeholder he had curated to look and smell exactly like the sister who had spent our childhood abusing me. He knew about the scars on my back, yet he was choosing the woman who gave them to me. When Evander sent his assistant the next morning to pay me off with a diamond necklace, he expected me to disappear. He thought the girl he had kept hidden for half a decade would never have the courage to step into the light. He was wrong. I grabbed the fabric scissors, hacked off the long hair he adored, and dialed a number I had kept hidden for years. "I’m ready to collect that favor," I said to the man on the other end. "Get me into the gala tonight. I’m going to show them exactly what they tried to bury."

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