She Joked About Runaway Marriage, I Meant It

The light in the storage room was broken, and there were no windows. I lasted until morning. When the housekeeper came to unlock the door, she flinched at the sight of me, my eyes bloodshot.

"Sir, are you alright?"

I shook my head, my voice dry and raw. "Emma, where's my phone?"

Emma Lloyd pointed at the coffee table. "Ms. Langley made me cook you some breakfast before she left for her flight last night. She said you should stay off your phone for a few days."

I spotted it tossed on the couch and walked straight past the table to grab it. The second it powered on, the screen flooded with missed calls and texts.

I opened a link my college roommate had sent. The number-one trending topic was a marriage certificate that Victoria had posted alongside a childhood photo.

"Childhood sweethearts. Dreams do come true. @RacerSpencerCalloway."

The comments were all congratulations.

"An heiress and the hottest racer in the sport, and they grew up together? I'm obsessed!"

"Wishing her man a championship win! Go make us proud!"

The second trending topic was a male teacher admitting he'd used an AI face swap out of jealousy. In the video, my face and Spencer's had been switched. I was the one who caught the bouquet and proposed to Victoria.

"Shameless. This guy faked a video to frame the groom yesterday and almost got him disqualified by the organizers."

"I'm going to be sick. This is a teacher? What school does he work at? Someone get him away from students."

My head rang like a bell. My vision went dark and I nearly lost my footing.

The phone rang again. It was the school's administration office.

"Mr. Mercer, your involvement in a domestic scandal has caused serious reputational damage. The school has decided to terminate your employment."

"I didn't—"

The line went dead. I was about to call back when Victoria's number flashed on the screen.

"You used my verified account to twist everything around. I just got fired because of you!"

"Isn't that perfect?" Victoria's voice was husky, almost lazy. "It's not like I can't provide for us both. You don't need to work. Just stay home and be with me.

"Besides, we're 26. Don't you think it's time we started a family?"

I was shaking so hard my chest heaved with every breath. It took a long time before I could find my voice. "You make me sick, Victoria."

I hung up and put my fist through the glass coffee table. Then the hospital called.

By the time I got there, Grandma had already been wheeled into the operating room. The doctor held out a consent form for me to sign.

"The patient experienced a severe emotional episode that caused a cerebral aneurysm to rupture. She's in shock. There's a specialized inhibitor that costs 50,000 dollars per injection. Would you like to proceed?

"The window is three minutes. If you want to use it, we need payment now."

"Use it." I didn't hesitate. "Whatever it costs, as long as it saves my grandmother."

My hands were shaking so badly I could barely sign the consent form. The second I did, I sprinted for the payment counter.

"Payment failed."

Online banking had blocked the transaction for exceeding the limit. I fumbled for my wallet, hands shaking so badly I dropped the card twice before I could pull it out.

"PIN is 062746."

Even my voice trembled when I handed the card over.

"Payment failed."

"Sir, this card has been frozen."

I stared, then realized it was the supplementary card Victoria had given me. When had she frozen it? There was no time to think. I pulled out my own debit card, the one my salary went into, and repeated the PIN.

The nurse's face fell. "Sir, this card has insufficient funds."

"That's impossible."

The room tilted. Four years of paychecks had gone into that account. There should have been over 70,000 dollars in there.

The phone rang, and it was Victoria.

"Spencer won, so I went a little overboard celebrating. My card got flagged for too many charges, so I put some of it on yours. The watch was the big one.

"Just think of it as your gift to Spencer."

"Victoria, that's my grandmother's life on the line!"

The scream tore out of me. My heart was slamming against my ribs.

Victoria scoffed. "Don't be so dramatic. I'll pay you back ten times over when I get home. Bye."

The nurse looked at me with pity and shook her head. "I'm very sorry."

Every ounce of strength drained from my body. All I could do was stand there and watch as they wheeled Grandma out of the operating room, a white sheet pulled over her face.

…

"Vic, you're really not coming to my victory party?"

Spencer reached over and pinched Victoria's cheek. "That's cold."

Victoria didn't pull away. She smiled and raised an eyebrow. "I got someone to do the AI face-swap so you could compete without any drama, and I posted a fake marriage certificate for us online. That's still not enough?

"My boyfriend's still mad at home. I need to smooth things over before he runs off and I have nobody left to come home to.

"I'm on tonight's flight. I'll be back in time for our 5th anniversary tomorrow, and we can go get the license then."

But when she rushed through the front door, no one was in the living room. The breakfast on the table had gone completely cold.