Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Mona was sorting papers in the old man's office when she saw it. The morning newspaper, casually tossed on his desk. Her hands started shaking before she even picked it up.

The society pages. A full-color photo of Samuel and Lora at some charity gala. His arm around her waist, both of them glowing with happiness. Samuel's smile, that same smile he'd once reserved for her, beamed at the camera. Lora looked radiant in a designer gown, her perfectly manicured hand resting on Samuel's chest, diamond ring prominently displayed.

"CALDWELL HEIR TO WED BENNETT HEIRESS LORA BENNETT"

Three weeks. It had only been three weeks since they'd thrown her out into the rain.

"In a romantic twist worthy of a fairy tale, Samuel Caldwell, heir to the Caldwell fortune, announced his engagement to longtime family friend Lora Bennett. The couple, who reconnected after Caldwell's separation from his previous wife, plans a spring wedding..."

Previous wife. Like she was just a footnote. A mistake to be erased.

"You okay?" The old man's voice seemed to come from far away.

Mona couldn't answer. Her legs gave out and she sank to the floor, still clutching the newspaper.

"The bride-to-be, wearing Valentino, showed off her stunning 8-carat diamond ring..."

Her ring had been 3 carats. Samuel had said anything bigger would look gaudy.

"The couple plans to honeymoon in the Maldives..."

Where they'd talked about going for their fifth anniversary.

"Mrs. Emily Caldwell expressed her joy at welcoming Ms. Bennett to the family, stating 'Lora is everything we could have hoped for in a daughter-in-law...'"

Everything Mona wasn't.

The old man gently took the paper from her trembling hands. "Maybe enough work today." His eyes were filled with concern, but Mona barely registered his presence.

But Mona couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. The room spun around her as memories crashed through her mind like shattered glass, each fragment sharp enough to draw blood.

Samuel on their wedding day, promising forever.

Samuel kissing her goodbye that last morning, knowing what was coming.

Samuel standing silent while they accused her of theft.

Samuel watching as they threw her out.

And now Samuel, smiling at his new bride, not a trace of guilt in his eyes.

She made it to the bathroom just in time to throw up her meager breakfast. Kneeling on the cold tile floor, she retched until there was nothing left but bitter bile and broken dreams. The taste of betrayal was acrid in her mouth as she pressed her forehead against the cool porcelain, trying to anchor herself against the waves of nausea and grief.

Memories of Samuel's proposal filled Mona's head, unwelcome but impossible to push away. After that first dinner with Emily, everything moved so fast it made her head spin. Samuel swept her into a fairy tale she wasn't prepared for, a perfectly orchestrated seduction that she now realized had been calculated from the very beginning.

"Let's get out of here," he said one Friday afternoon, showing up unexpectedly at her dorm with a bouquet of roses so large she could barely see him behind them. His eyes danced with excitement, his smile promising adventure. Before she could protest or even pack properly, they were racing toward the coast in his sleek sports car, the wind whipping through her hair as they drove, Samuel singing along to the radio with his terrible voice that somehow made her laugh despite herself.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Anywhere. Everywhere. As long as I'm with you."

They ended up in a beach town, staying in a luxury suite. Samuel ordered champagne and strawberries, feeding them to her as they watched the sunset.

"I want to give you the world," he whispered.

Looking back now, she should have seen it for what it was—love bombing, her therapist would later call it.

The proposals started a month later. Not the real one, but practice proposals. He'd drop to one knee, offering her bread sticks instead of rings. He'd wake her with fake proposals using candy rings.

"Just getting ready for the real thing," he'd say with a wink.

Emily played along, sort of. She started inviting Mona to lunch, taking her shopping. Everything was always a subtle criticism wrapped in sweet poison.

"Oh darling, that dress makes you look... interesting," she'd say. "We need to work on your style if you're going to be a Caldwell."

The real proposal came three months after they met. Samuel rented out the entire campus coffee shop where they'd first met, filling it with roses and candles. A string quartet played "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran.

He got down on one knee in the exact spot where they'd first talked. The ring was massive, too massive, really.

"Mona Smith," he said, "I've been practicing this moment since the day I met you. Will you make me the happiest man alive?"

She said yes before he could even finish asking.

Emily threw herself into wedding planning with scary intensity. Everything had to be perfect. Everything had to be worthy of the Caldwell name.

"Don't worry about the cost," Samuel said whenever Mona expressed concern. "What's mine is yours."

Looking back, there were so many red flags. The way Samuel insisted she drop her business classes. The way Emily took over every decision. The way Samuel's father barely spoke to her.

But she ignored it all. She was in love. She was finally going to belong somewhere.

The wedding was enormous, over five hundred guests, most of whom Mona had never met. Samuel looked like a prince in his tuxedo. When he said "I do," she thought her heart would burst from happiness.

That night, Emily pulled her aside. Her smile was sharp as glass.

"Welcome to the family, dear," she said. "I do hope you're ready for what that means."

Two months after the wedding, Samuel brought her papers to sign. Just routine stuff, he said. Combining their assets.

She signed without reading them carefully. Why wouldn't she? He was her husband. He loved her.

Now, sitting in that cold bathroom, Mona could see every mistake, every missed warning sign. Samuel had known exactly what he was doing. He'd found a lonely, naive girl and given her everything she'd dreamed of—love, family, belonging. Then, once he had her trapped, he'd slowly started taking it all away.

***** ****

When Mona finally emerged, the old man had a cup of tea waiting.

"You go," he said kindly. "Come back tomorrow."

She walked the streets in a daze, the newspaper's words echoing. Spring wedding. Eight carats. Joy at welcoming her.

A bridal shop window caught her eye. The dress on display was exactly what Lora would choose, sleek, modern, expensive.

She stared at her reflection in the gleaming glass, barely recognizing the woman looking back at her. Borrowed clothes hanging off her too-thin frame, fabric worn and faded where hers had once been crisp and custom-tailored. Dark circles under her eyes testified to sleepless nights on shelter cots. Her hair, once glossy and styled by expensive salons, now hung dull and limp around her hollow cheeks. Her skin, previously pampered with luxury creams, was now dry and sallow.

"Is that really me?" she whispered, touching the glass as if to confirm the reality of her transformation.

No wonder Samuel had replaced her so easily. She looked like exactly what she had become, discarded, forgotten, unwanted.

Her feet carried her to their old neighborhood. The Caldwell mansion loomed ahead, lights blazing. Cars lined the circular driveway. Another party. They were probably celebrating the engagement.

She should leave. Should run back to the shelter.

Instead, she crept closer.

Through the grand windows, she could see them all. The same crowd that had watched her humiliation, now toasting the happy couple.

Emily held court in her favorite chair, beaming as she showed off Lora's ring. Samuel stood nearby, his arm possessively around his new fiancée's waist.

They looked perfect together. Like they belonged.

Like Mona had never existed.

Music and laughter drifted through the windows. She recognized the song, it had played at her wedding too.

"To the happy couple!" Someone's voice carried outside. The crowd cheered.

Mona pressed her hands against her mouth to stifle a sob. This wasn't just replacement. This was erasure.

They weren't just taking her place. They were taking her whole life, her memories, her dreams, even the songs she'd loved, and giving them to someone else.

Through the window, she saw Lora pull Samuel onto the dance floor. They moved together perfectly, like they'd been practicing for years.

Maybe they had been.

How long had this been planned? How long had she been the only one who didn't know her marriage was a lie?

"Get away from there!"

A security guard's flashlight beam caught her. New guards. They didn't recognize the former Mrs. Caldwell in her shabby clothes.

Mona ran until her lungs burned and her legs gave out. Found herself in a small park where she and Samuel used to walk on Sunday mornings. Another memory they'd probably give to Lora now.

She collapsed onto a bench, her whole body shaking with sobs.

They were getting married. In the spring. In her church, probably. With her friends as guests. Eating her favorite foods. Dancing to her songs.

While she sat on a park bench in borrowed clothes, nothing to her name but broken dreams.

A newspaper blew past. Another copy of that same society page. The happy couple smiled up at her from the gutter where it landed.

How fitting.

She was crying so hard she almost missed the sound of approaching footsteps. Almost didn't notice the figure standing over her until a familiar voice spoke.

"Well, well. If it isn't the ex-Mrs. Caldwell."

Lora. Standing there in her designer coat, that massive ring glittering under the streetlight.

"Shouldn't you be at your engagement party?" Mona's voice was raw from crying.

"Saw you running away from the house. Thought I'd come see how the other half lives." Lora's smile was pure cruelty. "Though I suppose you're more like the bottom tenth now, aren't you?"

"What do you want, Lora?"

"Want? Oh, I have everything I want." She twisted the ring on her finger. "Your husband. Your house. Your life. What else could I possibly want?"

She reached into her purse and pulled out something that made Mona's heart stop.

The key pendant. The last gift from her father.

"Emily was going to throw this away," Lora said casually. "But I thought it might be fun to wear it to the wedding. You know, something borrowed?"

"Please," Mona whispered. "Not that. It was my father's..."

"Oh, I know." Lora's smile widened. "That's what makes it so perfect."

She dropped the necklace into a nearby trash can.

"Enjoy your new life, Mona. It suits you."

Lora walked away, her heels clicking on the pavement, leaving Mona alone with her tears and that garbage can full of memories.

The newspaper still lay in the gutter, Samuel and Lora's happiness mocking her from the dirty ground.

Spring wedding.

Eight carats.

Everything they could have hoped for.

Mona curled into herself on the bench, something inside her finally, completely breaking.

They hadn't just taken her future.

They'd stolen her past too.

And there was nothing left of Mona Smith at all.