EVANGELINE
The string quartet was playing something expensive and slow. Evangeline could hear it from the hallway, drifting through the Winters estate like it was supposed to sound romantic. Like this night was supposed to be perfect.
It wasn't.
She moved through the crowded rooms searching for Adrian, her champagne glass untouched in her hand. The dress she wore cost more than most people's cars. The diamond on her finger was enormous. Everyone was smiling at her and whispering, the way people do when they think your life is a fairy tale.
Nobody knew it was falling apart.
Her father was dying. Not from sickness but from stress. She'd watched the color drain from his face that morning when the lawyers called with the latest numbers. Winters Pharmaceuticals was crumbling. Someone had sabotaged their biggest drug trial. The FDA was investigating. Investors were running.
And Adrian wasn't answering her calls.
She pushed past a group of her mother's old friends, all dressed in designer clothes that probably cost more than her father's hospital bills at this rate. Adrian needed to help her. His family had connections in finance. Investment people. People who still had money. If anyone could save her father's company, it was Adrian.
If he actually cared enough to try.
She checked her phone. Seven missed calls. All to him. All ignored.
Frustration twisted in her stomach. She'd been a good fiancée. She'd shown up to his events. She'd smiled for the cameras. She'd planned a wedding he claimed he wanted. And now when she desperately needed him, he was missing from his own engagement party.
The library was quiet. That's where she'd find him probably, hiding from the crowd the way he did. Adrian hated parties even though he always acted like he loved them. He was good at acting.
She pushed through the heavy wooden door.
The first thing she saw was the shoes. Two pairs scattered across the Persian rug. Women's heels that didn't belong to her. Men's dress shoes kicked aside like someone couldn't be bothered with them.
Then she saw them.
Adrian was half lying on the leather couch her father loved, the one where he read every Sunday morning. His shirt was unbuttoned. His hair was messy. And her cousin Natasha was on top of him, her dress hiked up, her mouth against his neck.
Evangeline couldn't move.
Natasha saw her first. She pulled back slowly, deliberately, her blonde hair falling over one shoulder. And then she smiled. Not sorry. Not even embarrassed. Just a cruel smile that said she'd been waiting for Evangeline to find them.
"Oh," Natasha said softly. "Hi, cousin."
Adrian scrambled off the couch like it was burning. He grabbed for his shirt. His face went blotchy red, the way it always did when he was scared. Not sorry. Scared.
"Eva, this isn't what it looks like."
That was the dumbest thing he could have said and he knew it. It was exactly what it looked like. His ex-fiancée's cousin was straightening her dress and laughing while he tried to button his shirt with shaking hands.
"Don't worry, Evangeline," Natasha said, walking toward the mirror to fix her hair. She looked happy. Radiant even. "I'll catch the bouquet at the wedding. I'm going to be in all the pictures."
The words hit like a slap.
Adrian's face went even worse. He tried to grab Evangeline's arm but she stepped back. "Eva, please. We need to talk about this."
"Talk about what exactly?" Her voice sounded strange, disconnected from her body. "The fact that you're sleeping with my cousin? The fact that you're doing it at our engagement party?"
"You're boring," Adrian said suddenly.
She stared at him.
He was still buttoning his shirt, still looking panicked, but his voice went sharp. Cruel. "You're boring, Evangeline. That's the problem. You care about your stupid company more than you care about anything. More than me. You never even notice when I'm around."
"So you decided to deal with it by getting with my cousin?"
"She's exciting." He gestured at Natasha like Evangeline should understand that. Like his betrayal made sense because Natasha was exciting. "You're always stressed about work. The business. Your father. It's exhausting being with someone like that."
The library door swung open.
A guest stood in the doorway. Then another. Then three more, all holding their phones up, all recording. Evangeline could see the moment they understood what they were filming. A scandal. A story. Her engagement party disaster happening live.
One man shouted something she barely heard. Words about tabloids. Words about this being gold. About calling news outlets.
Natasha stepped closer to Adrian. Territorial. Smug.
And Adrian looked away from Evangeline like she was already gone.
That's when Evangeline understood the worst part. This wasn't an accident. It wasn't a moment of weakness. Natasha had planned this. Probably Adrian too. They'd wanted to get caught. They'd wanted her to find them. They'd wanted this humiliation.
She was already losing.
"I need to go," she whispered.
Nobody stopped her as she pushed past the guests still filming. Nobody called after her. The quartet kept playing their expensive, slow song like nothing was falling apart.
She made it to her childhood bedroom and locked the door just as her phone started exploding with notifications.
Videos were already uploading. Her name was already trending. The headlines were typing themselves in real time.
FALLEN HEIRESS CAN'T KEEP HER MAN. WINTERS GIRL DUMPED AT OWN ENGAGEMENT PARTY. ADRIAN COLTON'S REAL LOVE EXPOSED.
She sat on the edge of her bed and watched her world collapse on a screen the size of her hand.
Then her father called.
She almost didn't answer.
"Evangeline?" His voice was shaky. "What's happening? The hospital has the news on. They're saying Adrian... did he really..."
"Dad, I'm so sorry."
She heard him breathing hard. Too hard. The way he'd been breathing at the hospital.
"It's going to be okay. Everything's fine. Just stay calm."
"Evangeline." Her father's voice cracked. "I can't lose the company. I can't. And if you're alone with no fiancé, no backup, people are going to circle. They're going to take everything."
"I'll fix it. I promise. I'll fix everything."
But her father's breathing was getting worse. She could hear it through the phone. Could hear the panic that had nothing to do with Adrian and everything to do with the company. The cancer research he'd spent his whole life building. The legacy he was supposed to leave her.
"Dad?"
"I love you," he gasped.
Then the phone made a strange sound. A clattering. Voices in the background. Someone shouting about getting the crash cart.
And the line went dead.