At My Engagement Party, My Fiancé Told Me He'd Been Cheating

At her lavish engagement party, Charlotte Ashford learns that her fiancé Connor has been cheating for three years with Sophia, the sister she loved most. When their betrayal unearths old lies, stolen memories, and the truth behind her parents' final moments, Charlotte cuts them out, rebuilds her life, and leaves Connor to face the regret he thought she would never make him feel. Chapter 1 I was standing in the most expensive ballroom in Boston. My mother's voice echoed in my head. "The Harrises spared no expense, sweetheart. Every single flower was flown in from Holland. Every girl in this city would kill to be in your place." A chill ran through me. Like I'd been dropped into ice water. I thought back to the day Connor went for his suit fitting. He'd frowned. He'd said the one I'd picked out looked dated. Sophia had stood next to him, smiling as she fixed his tie. "That's much better." No wonder his mouth had curved into a smile. He acted like nothing had happened. He opened the ring box. Applause erupted in the ballroom. My mother's eyes filled with tears. The Harris elders nodded their approval. Sophia was the first one in the crowd to clap. I looked at her and felt my stomach turn. Connor held the ring out for a long moment. When I didn't move, he frowned and pushed it toward me again. I extended my hand. The applause swelled. Then I snapped the ring box shut. The applause died. Everyone stared. Connor forced a smile. "Charlotte's just being playful." He lowered his voice. "Stop." I laughed. I laughed until I almost cried. I was the one making a scene? Fine. He wanted a scene. I picked up the ring box and threw it straight at his face. "You bastard. Get out!" Connor glared at me. "Do you have any idea what kind of event this is? Every important name in Boston is in this room." I cut him off. "The engagement is off." I took a deep breath and walked off the stage. Chaos broke out behind me. Connor stood there, face dark, frozen. No one moved. Only Sophia ran after me. "Charlotte." She caught me in the hallway and grabbed my hand. Her voice was frantic. "Charlotte, what happened? You're scaring me." "Did Connor do something? Tell me. I'll tear him a new one." She said it so naturally. So naturally that for a split second I almost remembered the Sophia from years ago. The one who used to stand in front of me on the playground and tell the bullies if they hit me, she'd hit them back twice as hard. But what came to mind instead was last week. Sophia on my couch, legs crossed, voice low and teasing. "Charlotte, have you ever met a guy you just can't get out of bed for?" I came back to myself and pulled my hand away. I looked down at her, and saw the bruise on her collarbone. Something stabbed at me all over again. Connor wouldn't sleep with me. He said he wanted to wait until after the engagement. I'd thought it was love. I'd thought it was respect. Charlotte, you idiot. I gave her a thin smile. "This guy you can't get out of bed for… It's Connor. Isn't it." Sophia's hand flew to her mouth. "He told you? That's why you just..." Her voice cut off. She blinked, and tears spilled out. "I had no idea he was going to just say it." Her voice broke. "I didn't mean for this, Charlotte. I never wanted to hurt you, I swear." "Sophia. Do I look stupid to you?" Her face went pale. "Aren't you exhausted from the act?" She bit her lip. She looked up at me and grabbed my shoulders. I flinched back on instinct. There was a sharp tearing sound. She fell, taking my dress down with her. The dress ripped. My shoulder was bare. I heard footsteps rushing toward us. Connor's eyes lingered on my bare shoulder for one second. Then he bent down to help Sophia up, his voice cold. "Charlotte. That's enough." The guests had spilled out of the ballroom into the hallway. My mother pushed to the front of the crowd, white-faced. She didn't say a word. She just walked over and draped her shawl around my shoulders. The Harris elders frowned at me. Connor pushed past me and pulled Sophia behind him. "I'm the one who went after her," he said. "Don't take it out on her." "If you have to take it out on someone, take it out on me. Don't push your own sister like this." Sophia hid against his chest, crying without a sound. And just like that, every face in the hallway turned. Like I was the crazy one. Throwing a tantrum at my own engagement party. No one noticed that the torn gown was the one my mother had worn on her own engagement night. The one my father had commissioned, finding the tailor himself. It was a record of how much they'd loved each other. It was my mother's wish for my happiness. Chapter 2 "This is a major event for both our families. Making a scene only hurts you. People will just see a shrew." "Charlotte. However jealous you are of your sister, have some dignity." Connor's voice carried a faint threat. His family stood behind him, frowning at me. Their disapproval was obvious. All he wanted was to protect Sophia. He wanted everyone in this room to believe I was a jealous, unhinged woman. I opened my mouth. Sophia's wounded eyes swept across the crowd, soft and pitiful. The next second, her knees gave out. She dropped to the floor in front of me. "Charlotte, it's all my fault. Hit me. Scream at me. Do whatever you want. Just don't say you don't want me anymore." She was sobbing so hard her whole body shook. Her hand was clamped tight around the hem of my dress. I couldn't step back. I couldn't pull away. Connor tried to lift her up. She just kept shaking her head. My mother walked toward Sophia, disbelief on her face. "Sophia. Did you really do this to Charlotte?" "I wasn't trying to take anything from her, Aunt Eleanor. You know I wouldn't dare. But things have gone this far now. And no one is more torn up about it than I am." Sophia's eyes were red and swollen. Tears still streaked her face. She looked like a frightened doe. My mother couldn't take it. She grabbed Sophia's shoulders. "Why, Sophia?" "Haven't we been good to you?" Sophia's mother was my mother's sister. She'd married badly, lived miserably, and died young. Sophia came to live with us when she was eight. From that day on, she had everything I had. When she was thirteen, she got sick. My mother donated her own bone marrow. Watching my mother's face, I couldn't hold it in. "You weren't trying to take anything? Name one thing you haven't taken from me over the years." Her private school tuition. Her allowance. Her summer in Paris. The rent on her Cambridge apartment. "Enough!" Connor half-pulled Sophia behind him, glaring at us both. "How can you do this to her in front of all these people." He'd dropped any pretense of respect. He looked my mother in the eye, cold. "Mrs. Ashford. I understand you favor your own daughter. But don't take it this far." "If I hadn't felt sorry for her, none of this would have—" My mother stood there, trembling, her finger swinging back and forth between them. "You... you two." She couldn't finish. She swayed and crumpled to the floor. "Mom? Mom. Someone call an ambulance." I dropped to my knees beside her. My hands shook as I grabbed her wrist. The crowd erupted into noise. Someone was calling 911. Her lips moved, but no sound came out. Her mouth was shaping the words I'm sorry. Tears blurred my vision. I'd been so wrong about everyone. How could she be the one apologizing. I wiped my eyes and looked toward the door. Please. Please hurry. But there was no stretcher. There was Connor, holding Sophia in his arms, his face soft with concern as he whispered to her. "It's okay. None of this is your fault." Chapter 3 Once my mother was admitted, I drove back to the Back Bay townhouse alone. I'd picked the dining table out myself. Connor had wanted something big. Easier for entertaining, he'd said. In the closet was the nightgown for our wedding night. Tags still on it. I looked away and headed upstairs. My suitcase was open on the bedroom floor. I started throwing things in. I moved fast. I couldn't slow down. The second I slowed down, every memory we'd made in this house would come flooding back. Connor walked in. "Charlotte." I didn't stop. He set a folder down in front of me. "Equity transfer. Take a look." "My family talked it over. This is what we're offering you. As compensation." I glanced up at him. "It's worth a billion." He winced slightly, like the number physically hurt him to say. "For Sophia. For your mother. I think this should cover it." "And we're going to be husband and wife soon anyway. It makes sense to tie the two families together financially." That stopped my hands. He sighed. "Sophia is not going to threaten your position. You're my wife. The only wife. Sophia, from now on, is just my sister-in-law." "So stop coming at her." When he said sister-in-law, his face twisted as if the word itself cost him. Like treating Sophia as family was some great sacrifice on his part. Honestly, I wasn't blind. I'd sensed something. I pulled my phone out from under the pillow. I scrolled through my photos and opened one. The Boston Symphony charity gala. Sophia in the Harris family's private box. A Cartier diamond necklace on her throat. Connor had given me the exact same one. "Five years. You gave me six gifts." I held his eyes. "Connor. Did she get every single one too?" Connor glanced at the photo. He shrugged. "Charlotte. It's our world. You know how it works. This kind of thing is normal." He stood up. His voice was sharper now. "Plenty of wives know how to handle this with grace. The fact that I'm offering you this much is more than most men in my position would." I gave him a thin smile. "Too bad. I'm not that kind of wife." I remembered the day Connor came to ask my father for my hand. I'd snuck halfway down the staircase to listen. He'd said, "I'll be good to Charlotte for the rest of her life." I'd buried my face in my hands, spinning around my room. But my father was gone. And Connor wasn't the same guy either. He watched me, and seemed surprised that my face hadn't softened. "You really want to call it off?" He let out a small laugh, like the idea was absurd. "Come on. This marriage was arranged by your father before he died." "He put your hand in mine. He wouldn't want you to call it off." How dare he. How dare he bring up my father. How dare he use my father's name to force me into this disgusting marriage. My fists clenched. My nails dug into my palms. Something in me snapped. I grabbed a glass of water off the nightstand and threw it in his face. "Get out." "You don't get to say his name. You didn't do a single thing you promised him." Connor's pupils contracted. He slowly wiped the water off his face. "Charlotte." His voice softened. "I said get out. Are you deaf?" "You... fine." "I'm not giving up." Connor sighed like I was a child throwing a tantrum. But there was a calm certainty in his voice. "You're upset right now. Take some time. You'll come around." "I won't argue with you over such trivial matters." Chapter 4 I almost laughed in his face. I grabbed the agreement and blocked his path. "Trivial matters You mean fucking my sister so well she couldn't get out of bed counts as trivial matters?" I slapped the folder against his chest. "Take your dirty money and get out." The words were barely out of my mouth when Sophia burst in. Her voice cut the air like broken glass. "I never meant for any of this to happen. Do you have to say it like that?" I looked at her without expression. "There's no room in this house for an ungrateful slut." The tears were already falling. Reflex, at this point. She lunged forward and grabbed my arm. Her nails bit into my skin. "Charlotte, please. I was wrong, I was wrong, please don't throw me out—" The old me would have forgiven her. No matter what she'd done. Not this time. I shook her off in disgust. "Don't touch me. You're disgusting." Connor's voice sharpened. "Charlotte. Enough." Then I noticed something on Sophia's collar. A fountain pen, clipped there. My father's fountain pen. He'd used that pen for over twenty years. The lacquer was worn down in places. He'd refused to replace it. After he died, I'd wanted to keep it. But I couldn't find it. I'd thought I'd lost it during the move. I'd blamed myself for months. Sophia had even helped me tear the whole house apart looking for it. She'd told me, "Let it go, Charlotte. Uncle wouldn't want you this upset over a pen." She'd had it the whole time. "Who said you could take that." My voice cracked. I pointed at the pen. The tears were still on her face. But her hand had let go of my sleeve. Her lips started to shake. "I just wanted something to remember Dad by..." Her voice wavered. Dad. She'd lived in our house for fifteen years. Fifteen years, she'd called him "Mr. Ashford." Not once anything else. People had whispered about it. They'd assumed my father must have been hard on her. Now he was gone. And here she was. Calling him Dad. Connor stepped between us, blocking me from her. "She grew up without a father." His voice softened again. "Charlotte. Can you ease up a little?" I didn't have the energy to fight him. I just reached out. I just wanted the pen back. Sophia flinched back. But Connor was faster. He caught my wrist. "I told you to stop." Something inside me broke. I screamed at him. "She wasn't even at the hospital the night he had the heart attack! She never called him Dad while he was alive. Where the hell does she get off taking what he left for me?" The color drained from Sophia's face. Connor threw my wrist away. "She was with me that night. The entire night." "Connor." Sophia's voice cracked. She tried to clap a hand over his mouth. She was too slow. Chapter 5 After that one sentence, all three of us went dead silent. I swayed. I grabbed the edge of the table to keep from falling. So the night my father died, the night my mother and I held each other and sobbed, Connor (who said he was in a meeting) and Sophia (who said she was at school finishing a paper) had been in bed together. I walked toward them, one step at a time. Like a ghost crawling up out of hell. "What did I do to either of you. What did I do to deserve this." Connor realized what had just come out of his mouth. His composure cracked. "No, let me explain—" I closed my eyes. "Get out. Both of you. Get out." Connor came at me. "You and your family always treated Sophia like dirt. Just because she lost her parents young, you bullied her her whole life. At first, I really did just feel sorry for her. Like a sister." "Your father called me that night around ten. I didn't pick up. I figured he was just calling to lecture me about treating you right. Again. It was so fucking annoying." I still remembered sitting outside the ER, dialing Connor's number seventeen times. He hadn't picked up once. I'd been praying for my father. I'd also been terrified something had happened to Connor. And Sophia. Those weren't sobs of grief on the phone. She'd been moaning. Something inside me died. "That was the last call he ever made. And he made it to you." Connor watched the color drain from my face. Now he was starting to get it. "Charlotte, I'm sorry, I." He couldn't finish the sentence. His voice made me sick. My hand came up to slap him before I could think. Sophia threw herself between us, arms wide. "Charlotte, hit me. Don't blame Connor. It was me. I was the one who threw myself at him. I wouldn't let him leave." Her arm swung. The pen fell out of her pocket. I lunged for it. Too late. I watched the nib hit the floor and break. I dropped to my knees and wrapped it in my handkerchief. Then I stood up and slapped Sophia across the face. "Charlotte?" She stared at me, hand pressed to her cheek. She'd asked for it. I'd just given her what she asked for. Connor's face shifted. Every trace of guilt was gone. He turned on me. "Over a pen? You hit your sister over a pen?" I remembered the day of my father's funeral. Connor had held me for a long time. He'd said, "It's okay, Charlotte. I'll take care of you the way your dad would have, from now on." Sophia's voice came from behind him, wet with tears. "Connor, my face hurts so much." "Am I going to scar?" It was a tiny scratch. My fingernail had caught her cheek. But the moment Connor saw it, every ounce of concern he had went to her. "You're going to be fine. I'll take you to the best doctor in the city." He took her hand and led her out. He didn't look back. He just threw one last line over his shoulder. "You shouldn't have done that. She's been through enough already." I stood there staring at my red, stinging palm. Been through enough. I'd given her the best of everything since we were kids. The drumstick at dinner. The new pens our mother had just bought. The presents our father brought back from his trips. Whatever she wanted, I gave her. And the one thing I never could have given her, my fiancé, she'd taken too. That night I went to see my mother at the hospital, like every night. I heard a familiar voice in the stairwell. I stayed in the blind spot. I watched Connor cup Sophia's face in his hands, his thumb stroking her cheekbone. Then he kissed her. Hard. Almost punishing. "If I hadn't come to the hospital to corner you, were you just going to avoid me forever?" His voice was low. "You know I love you. So why do you keep pushing me away?" Sophia pushed him back. Her eyes were red. She sniffled. "Because she's my sister. And she loves you so much. I can't steal her happiness." Her voice trailed off. Connor gripped her shoulders. "And what about your happiness? After how she's treated you, you're still thinking about her? You're not afraid of losing me?" Sophia bit her lip. Then she threw herself against his chest and clung to him. She was shaking. "Don't. Don't leave me. Don't abandon me. Not like Mom and Dad did." Connor's arms tightened around her. "I'll never leave you." What a joke. Connor had sworn the engagement was still on. But the first time he'd shown up at the hospital, it was for her. They were holding each other one wall away from my mother's hospital bed. Telling each other they were in love. The Sophia who used to stand in the cold for three hours to get me the cupcake I liked. That Sophia was gone. The Connor who used to kneel down to fasten my shoes. That Connor was gone. I opened my email. The job offer I'd been planning to turn down was still sitting in my inbox. I sent the confirmation. It was over. It was time to leave.