You Wanted Me as Your Mistress, So I Became His Bride

NORA'S POV

The cake was heavier than it looked.

Three layers of dark chocolate, raspberry filling, and thirty candles I'd pressed in one by one at two in the morning because Nathan always said store-bought cakes tasted like cardboard. I carried it through the ballroom at the Caldwell estate with both hands, smiling at people I barely knew, waiting for the lights to dim.

Instead, Vivian Caldwell tapped a champagne flute with a silver spoon.

"Before we sing," Nathan's mother said, her voice carrying easily over the string quartet, "I have a gift for my son that's been a long time coming."

She turned toward the front of the room. Nathan stood there in the navy suit I'd steamed for him that afternoon, right after he'd zipped me into this green silk dress and kissed my shoulder.

*Tonight we finally settle our future,* he'd said. *Wear this. I want you to look perfect.*

Vivian opened a small velvet box.

"I'm thrilled to announce the engagement of my son, Nathan, to Sloane Mercer."

The applause hit like a wave. A tall blonde in white stepped forward, already holding out her left hand, as if she'd rehearsed it.

Nathan took the ring from his mother. He didn't look for me. He slid it onto Sloane's finger, and the room cheered louder.

Someone next to me said, "Oh, they're gorgeous together."

I didn't smile for him. I'd been smiling for him for three years.

I set the cake down on the nearest table, hard enough that two candles tipped sideways. A few heads turned. Then a few more.

Nathan finally looked at me.

"Nathan," I said, clearly enough that the people around me went quiet. "Then who am I?"

---

He had my elbow before the whispering could spread, steering me through a side door into the service corridor. It smelled like floor polish and catering trays. The noise of the party dulled to a hum behind the wall.

"Nora, keep your voice down."

"Keep my voice down?" I pulled my arm free. "You picked out my dress today. You told me tonight was about *our* future."

"It is." He dragged a hand through his hair. "Listen to me. Sloane's father is putting forty million into the company. Forty. You know how bad last quarter was. This is a business arrangement, that's all."

"You put a ring on her hand in front of two hundred people."

"Because that's what the deal needs to look like." He stepped closer and lowered his voice, the way he did when he wanted me to feel like we were on the same side. "It's paperwork. You're the one I love. You know that."

I stared at him. A month ago, that tone would have worked.

"Okay," I said. "So after you're engaged, what am I? When I come to your office, when your mother hosts Thanksgiving, when someone asks who I am. What do I say?"

"Nothing changes. Everything stays the way it is."

"Everything stays the way it is," I repeated. "With your fiancée living in your house."

He hesitated. Then he made it worse.

"I've been thinking about that, actually. I'll get you a new place. Somewhere quieter, more private. Downtown, maybe, closer to your work. You'd like that."

The air in the corridor seemed to go very still.

He wasn't asking me to wait. He wasn't promising this would end. He'd already planned where to put me, somewhere out of sight, where nobody important would ever have to see me.

"A private apartment," I said slowly.

"Nora, don't look at me like that. I'm trying to take care of you."

"No. You're trying to keep me."

---

The door swung open behind him. Vivian stood there in pearls, her expression perfectly pleasant.

"There you are. Nora, the catering staff is swamped. Would you mind going back to the kitchen and helping them cut the cake? You did make it, after all." She smiled. "Let's not make tonight awkward for Sloane. It's her first night as part of this family."

Sloane appeared at her shoulder and slipped her arm through Nathan's like it already belonged there.

"It's fine, Vivian." Her voice was sweet and soft. "I don't mind Nathan looking after people from before. I think it's kind, honestly."

People from before.

Three years of my life, and I'd just been filed away like an old receipt.

I didn't answer either of them. I walked past all three and pushed back through the door into the ballroom.

The guests had started to drift toward the cake table, waiting for the candles. When they saw me, the conversations thinned. I could feel Nathan right behind me and Vivian behind him.

I reached into my clutch and pulled out my key ring. Nathan's house key was the silver one, the one he'd given me on our first anniversary with a bow tied around it. I worked it free and set it down beside the cake, next to the fallen candles.

"Since everyone's here," I said, "I want to clear something up so nobody gets confused. Nathan and I are broken up. As of tonight."

The silence was total. Even the quartet had stopped.

"Nora," Nathan said through his teeth.

I turned to face him. "And if anyone's wondering why I was invited to this party as his girlfriend, why he helped me choose this dress four hours ago, I think Nathan should be the one to explain that. Not me."

Sloane's smile slipped. Vivian's face went white under her makeup.

Nathan reached for my wrist. "Stop. We'll talk about this at home."

I stepped back, out of his reach.

"I don't have a home with you anymore," I said. "Go take care of your fiancée first."

---

Nobody stopped me on the way out. The valet brought my car around, and I drove until the lights of the estate disappeared behind the trees.

My phone buzzed on the passenger seat. Nathan. I let it ring out. It started again. I turned it face down.

At a red light, I pulled it back up and scrolled past his missed calls to a name I hadn't called in weeks.

My grandfather answered on the second ring. "Nora? It's late. Is something wrong?"

"No," I said, and my voice came out steadier than I expected. "Grandpa, the offer from the Vale family. The marriage proposal. Is it still on the table?"

There was a long pause. "You turned that down. You told me you were going to marry the Caldwell boy."

"I was wrong about him."

Another pause, quieter this time. "What did he do?"

"I'll tell you later. I just need to know if the Vales are still willing to talk."

"Ed Vale asked about you again last week," he said carefully. "But Nora, this isn't something you decide in one night out of anger."

"I'm not angry," I said, and found that it was mostly true. "I'm awake. And I don't want to hear it through his family or through lawyers. I want to meet Adrian himself. Tomorrow."

"Adrian doesn't usually take meetings he didn't ask for."

"Then tell him I asked."

I heard him exhale, the sound he made when he'd stopped arguing. "I'll call his grandfather in the morning."

"Thank you."

The light turned green. My phone lit up again before I'd even set it down, a text this time.

**Nathan:** Don't make a scene. I'll pick you up tomorrow morning and we'll fix this.

Not *I'm sorry.* Not *I'll call it off.* Just a schedule, as if I were one more appointment he could move around.

I typed with one thumb at the next stop sign.

**Me:** Don't bother. I have a more important date tomorrow.

I hit send, dropped the phone into the cupholder, and drove on without looking back at the screen.