His Deal, Her Heart

avish engagement party to finally cauterize the wound, to watch h

s wasn't just glittering anymore; it was groaning, its support

econd, Mark's survival instincts kicked in. He shoved her, his futur

t even l

ooted to the spot, staring u

, yanking me back as the world exploded in a crash of metal an

and said, "That was an attempt on my

y father, his voice choked with despair. Our family's small bu

just saved my life, loo

evoid of emotion. "I control your family

pte

cent of money and lilies. It was a cloying combination that clung to the

ike glow over the city's elite. I stood near a marble column, the cheap polyester of my dress feelin

ys, was fixed on

he sharp, handsome planes of his face, the face I had doodled in the margins of my notebooks for a decade. He laughed, a deep, rumbling sound that I could feel in my

Ten years of hoping, of waiting, of tailoring my life around the orbit

shouldn't have come. Sophie had told me not to. "Clara, it's self-flagellation," she'd said over the phone, her voice laced with concern. "He's getting married.

size too small for his blustering personality, stepped up to a small podium. He tappe

ght, we celebrate not just the engagement of my son, Mark

clutch. I could feel the worn edges of the fabr

"And with Chloe by his side, a woman of grace and impeccable standing, I know

et mine. There was no recognition, no flicker of shared history. Just a blank, polite indifference before he moved on, his sm

forced smiles. I slipped behind a large potted palm, the fronds tickling my cheek, and found myself in a small, shadowed

I heard the voice

rterly reports are a disaster." It was my uncle, hi

ed. My father. My heart stopped. "I sunk everything we had

sh whisper. "I got a tip. They're pulling out. We're talk

y thing we had. The thought of my father, a man who had worked his fingers to the bone his entire life, losing it all was unbearable. The

eemed grotesque, a cruel parody of a life I would never have. Financial ruin was no lon

the crowd as the massive fixture swayed, its crystals chiming like frantic, discordant bells. Most

ot a frayed wire or a rusted chain, but the clean, sharp edge of a deliberately cut support cable

It was a delibera

ghter-it all faded into a low, distorted hum. The chand

Mark and Chloe stood, frozen in a tableau of beautiful,

the plummeting mass of crystal and steel to the two women in its path. He didn't hesitate. With a desperate cry,

t even l

t. There was only the roar of the falling fixture and the cold, stark certainty that this was the end. This w

ible speed. An arm, hard as iron, wrapped around my waist. I was lifted off

the plush carpet, shielding me completely. The sound that followed was cataclysmic. A deafening, explosive crash

allic smell of pulverized crystal. For a moment, there was only the ri

floor, gasping for air, my mind a complete blank.

jaw tight. But it was his eyes that held me captive. They were the color of a storm-tossed sea, cold and intelligent a

s a distant, unimportant blur. The man who had defined my world for a decade

the eyes of the stran

ice a low, calm baritone that cu

e. The world had just ended and begun again in the space of ten second

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