A Monster of Their Making

My parents followed Grayson out.

They left me alone to face the wreckage of my own wedding.

"Poor Aurora. It's tragic—abandoned at her own wedding, and her mother just ran off with him."

"Well, what can you do? She owes the Thornes a life. I heard Dahlia's mother drowned saving her."

"That's not right. A debt is one thing, but you don't torture someone over it, do you?"

I raised a hand to my cheek, only to find it wet with tears.

When I was eight, at Martha's Vineyard, my aunt drowned saving me after I was pushed into the sea.

At the funeral, Dahlia cried that she had no mother anymore.

My mom's heart ached for her, so she brought Dahlia to live with us.

The first day she came to our house, she snatched my limited-edition designer doll.

I cried, trying to get it back, but my parents pulled me aside. "Aurora, you should let Dahlia have it."

Gradually, this became the rule: whatever Dahlia wanted, I had to surrender unconditionally.

In high school, I earned a coveted internship at a world-renowned architect's firm through my own hard work. When Dahlia found out, she threw a massive tantrum, crying that she wanted to go too.

That night, my parents came to my room. "Aurora, let Dahlia have the internship. Your resume is so impressive; you'll have other chances. Dahlia is different; she needs this more than you do."

I wanted to scream no, but my parents brought up the same old line.

"Aurora, Dahlia's mother died for you. You have to be grateful."

Just like that, I was forced to give up the internship.

I protested silently, countless times, but I was powerless.

When you owe someone a life, what right do you have to argue?

Until I met Grayson.

He was the first person to ask me what I truly wanted.

I told him I had dreamed of being an architect since I was a little girl, and he filled an entire wall of our apartment with bookshelves stacked with architectural design books.

When I spoke of my suffocating past, Grayson held my hand, his expression serious. "Aurora, you are your own person. You don't owe anyone anything."

I was terrified the first time I brought him home.

I was so worried Dahlia would set her sights on Grayson. And, of course, she did.

When my parents suggested, "Aurora, you should break up with Grayson. Dahlia really likes him," I refused for the first time in my life.

"Grayson is a person, not a thing. I won't give him up to anyone."

My mother flew into a rage and threw a crystal glass at me.

The sharp pain I braced for never came.

Grayson had stepped in front of me, the glass shattering against his arm.

Under my parents' shocked gazes, Grayson took my hand. "Mr. and Mrs. Sterling, Aurora is my fiancée. I only want her."

Back then, his eyes saw only me.

But somewhere along the way, everything changed.

"Aurora, Dahlia lost her mother at such a young age; she's had a hard life. Just let her have her way."

"She's just sensitive. What bad intentions could she possibly have? You just have it out for her."

"Aurora, can you please stop picking on her?"

I had thought marriage would be a new beginning for us.

But today, he chose Dahlia once again.

I took a deep breath, suppressing the tremor in my hands, and forced my tears back.

I had been clinging to a foolish, unrealistic hope that this wedding would actually happen.

That fantasy had just shattered.

Between Dahlia and me, they would always choose her.