My Escape: A Marriage of Convenience

Adler when his family lost everything, helping him buil

nika, the ex who abandoned him the second his money was gone. I realize

l at a party, he instinctively saved her, leaving me to be crushed. He le

but his actions screamed that I was disposable. His lov

done. So when his sister begged me to help her escape an arranged marriage to a monstro

pte

deep shudder that ran

g on his back. "Are you o

ry muscle in his body was coiled tight. We' d been together for five years, lived together

rained. He didn't turn to look at me.

aspirin?" My mind raced through possibilities. The pressure of his company, Monroe Tech, was immense. He had single-handedly resu

e gentle but firm. He shifted away f

wider than the few inches of mattress between us. I lay there in the dark, listening to the sound of

ease in the room was making it impossible to rest. I padded barefoot into the living room, retrieved my laptop from m

k to the door

ttural moan. It wasn't a sound of pain.

y ribs. I froze, hidden in

said h

nik

cissistic socialite who had abandoned him the second his family' s fortune evaporated. The woman who was no

rembling, and peered throug

yes closed, one hand moving under the sheets. His face was a mask of de

his voice thick with a raw,

as in our bed, the bed we shared, and he was fantasiz

nsuming passion. With me, it was warm, comfortable, and steady. He was a perfect boyfriend on the surface-attent

ve. I was his comfort. I was the stable ground he stoo

y, a creeping ice that settled deep in my bones. I felt

phone on the nightsta

e phone, his voice groggy but instantly alert

nd closest friend. He was also the onl

e. "I just saw Annika' s latest post. She's at that new club dow

hand through his hair.

Annika when she 'tripped.' You left Hazel standing alone on that yacht when the engine caugh

told me he was just making sure everyone got

d," Adler said, his voic

ut debt and a broken heart. Hazel stood by you. H

I held my breath, my entire fu

wo words were devoid of all emotion. "H

," Cory stated, his voi

it was everything. It almost destroyed me. I can' t go back t

tling? That' s cruel, Adler. She deserves

dler insisted, but his

going to lose her. And when you do, you're

is tone. "She loves me." He paused. "Even if she did, it

ne wen

ical. I stumbled into the living room, the city lights outs

' t care

waiting

arbor is just a place a ship waits before

ed lies I had mistaken for a life. Our first meeting was at a university party. I was a quiet graphic design student, dragge

e walk

oom that made everything else fade into the background. He wore a simple black t-sh

ly, hopelessl

d whispered, rolling her eyes.

nstantly, and he rejected them all with a polite but unbreakable coolness. I was just another fac

ika Mors

r pursuit of him. She chased him for months, a vibrant, demanding force of n

date her; he

re. He lifted her up, spinning her around as if she were the center of his universe. He bought her a car for her birthday, pa

by a quiet, se

s father was caught in a massive embezzlemen

She told him she couldn't be with a "charity c

apartment, and refused to see anyone. Charley was frantic. She begged

side his door. I slipped notes of enc

. He looked gaunt, his eyes hollow.

" he asked, his voi

, unable

hy

years of silent adoration

weary sigh. "Do y

ded a

o let me in. "Let's be together.

so in love, I didn't care. I thought my devotion could heal him. I thought m

s first small tech startup. When Monroe Tech finally took off, he became the man he was always meant to be: powerful, succes

as kind. He was my best friend's b

n. I thought I had

still festering underneath. And the moment Annika returned to the

s phone, smiling at a text, and I' d see her name flash on the screen. He started goin

ion, a sick, twisted game of power and revenge. He wanted to show her that he was now the one in control, the one with the money. But a

ment, the pieces of my life clicked into pl

me. He wasn't trying to hurt me. In his mind, he was being good to me. But his version of "good" was a cage bui

of me. He loved that I was easy, th

placeholder for the one he could

with a pain so deep it felt like it had physically carved a hole in my chest.

h. It was never ev

room and stared at my face in the mirror. The wom

en another. I didn't sob. The pain was too prof

itute anymore. I would

ke a block of ice. I would leave. I would disappear from

n the counter. A

he marriage contract. I have to marry that m

iness alliance. Charley was supposed to marry the heir, Christian Mccall-a man rumored to be disfigured and cruel, a recluse

rrifying, sparked in t

an esca

fingers typing a message t

I'll handle it. You wo

wi