He Chose Her Lies Over My Love

“I agree to marry Killian Arrows.”

The words dropped like stones in the silence of the penthouse boardroom.

My grandmother, Victoria Valcruz didn’t even look up. The gold spoon clinked gently against porcelain as she sipped her tea elegantly.

“You are bluffing aren’t you?” she said, finally glancing at me, her voice cold. “The cameras will love it. The press will worship the fairytale. You will wear the ring, play the rich wife. But behind closed doors?”

She finally met my eyes.

“You will be nothing but a baby making machine…a mere surrogate who carries the heir. Nothing more nothing less.”

“I know and I accept.” I replied calmly.

She tilted her head, something close to disgust passing through her expression. “So that’s it. You will warm the bed of a killer just to buy your name into a legacy that never wanted you?”

I met her gaze unfazed. “Wasn’t it you who once suggested marrying me off to that eighty-year-old real estate mogul whose last wife mysteriously drowned in a champagne tub?

I am making it easy for you…selling off myself to the highest bidder.”

Killian Arrows, Mafia King of Spain, the once Wall Street’s crown prince had walked out of federal prison just three weeks ago. The photos of his release had made front pages around the world: the sharp suit, the cold eyes, the silver cuffs.

They called him the Devil in Dior.

And now… he would call me wife.

His family wanted a marriage to maintain their bloodline but my father’s beloved daughter Jessica refused, crying like there was no tomorrow.

She always had the luxury of saying no unlike me.

Victoria finally leaned back in her chair. “You are that desperate for attention? Trying to prove your worth.”

“No.” I said. “I am doing this because you need the Arrows Empire. And I am the daughter no one noticed until you needed a name to sign on the dotted line.”

She studied me, cold and calculating.

“This could work.” she murmured. “A noble sacrifice. The media will adore it and soon the Valcruz shares will recover. Yes... very well.”

“I want compensation.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”

“I want half of your private estates, thirty percent of Valcruz shares and fifty million dollars as compensation.”

Victoria’s mouth twitched, just slightly. “That would make you richer than your uncles combined!”

“I am not asking.” I said getting up. “ Even if you don’t recognize me, I am still the legitimate daughter and Jessica is an illegitimate bastard my father brought home. “

My voice cracked but didn’t falter.

“If I am going to chain my body and soul to a man who may never love me, just to save your crumbling empire, I will be paid… for every year you made me invisible.”

“You ungrateful brat-”

“Ungrateful?” I let out a breathless laugh, one that sounded far too close to a sob.

“I was raised in the servant’s quarters scrubbing dirty floors on my knees while Jessica wore diamonds to parties. Don’t talk to me about gratitude.”

I turned to leave, then paused.

“One more thing,” I said, my voice bitter and choked. “Reassign Xander to Jessica.”

“The bodyguard?” she asked. “The one you shielded with your own body when your father tried to whip him? The man for whom you once refused to eat for four days until his punishment was lifted?”

She gave a short amused laugh. “I thought you were in love with him even when he used you like a tissue.”

My throat tightened as unshed tears glistened in my eyes.

“I thought that too.” With that I left.

Three days ago, a drunken night led me to Xander’s bedroom and the next thing I knew was we were sharing a searing kiss as I confessed my undying love to him.

And then, in one of the most vulnerable moments of my life, I gave him everything-my love, my soul…my virginity only to wake up in an icy cold bed the next morning.

Xander stood near the mirror, his back towards me already dressed in his tailored suit, adjusting his cufflinks like nothing happened….Composed. Emotionless.

“Now that you are up, get dressed and leave. You are not supposed to be in my room.” His voice cut the silence like a knife.

That was it.

No worry

No words of love or asking me if I was in pain from yesterday.

I sat up slowly, heart pounding as I felt my entire world crumbling. “Xander…I told you I love-”

“Love?” He turned slowly, his muscles taut and eyes detached. “Yestertday was a drunken mistake, Miss Athena Valcruz so I would advise you not to throw a tantrum over it.”

The cold words cut deeper than any wounds making me look at Xander in horror.

My knees buckled slightly as I rose, each step toward him like walking barefoot on shattered glass.

“Was it all nothing to you?” I asked, reaching out but he wouldn’t even look at me.

“You stayed by my side for three years. You wiped my tears when I had no one else. You remembered my birthday when even my own family didn’t-”

“I did all of that because it was my job. I am your bodyguard. Nothing more.”

His eyes met mine sharp, distant… unrecognizable.

“Don’t romanticize this. I never saw you as anything but a responsibility. A duty I was assigned and paid to protect.”

My breath caught.

“And the way you dress… the way you act…” he added, his words turning to knives as he looked at me in disdain. “don’t pretend last night was some sacred moment. You flirt like it’s second nature, Athena. It’s not like you were a goddamn virgin to begin with..”

I reeled.

The air punched out of my lungs.

Without warning, he grabbed my wrist, his grip bruising as he dragged me to the door like I was dirt beneath his boots.

“Don’t confuse attention for affection, Athena.” he said with quiet cruelty. “That’s where women like you always go wrong.”

And then the door slammed shut.

And I was left completely shattered, sobbing on the floor that morning, utterly used and discarded.

Everyone had chosen to abandon me so this time I would be the one to decide my future.

I will leave the father who loved his ‘illegitimate child’, the man who used me and the family who never once considered me their own.

This time, I would be the one to walk away.