Seventeen Years Of Love Betrayed

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I spent seven years with Gavin Sterling without any legal title to my name. It was only after I begged and pleaded that he finally promised to marry me.

But the day before our wedding, I came home to hear a woman's moans coming from the bathroom.

Your little fiance is back, let me go, she panted.

Gavin groaned. "What's the rush? Let's finish this first."

Their tangled silhouettes were pressed against the frosted glass of the bathroom door. The sounds of their pleasure felt like a knife piercing my heart.

I stood there, trembling, as I confronted him. "Why?"

He walked out, his neck covered in hickeys, buttoning his shirt with total indifference.

"You're perfect, Sienna. But the thought of being controlled by you for the rest of my life is just... dull."

"Since we haven't signed the papers yet, I figured I'd have one last bit of fun. Just let me relax."

I froze, tears staining my face. The wedding I had dreamed of a thousand times shattered into pieces right then and there.

After cleaning himself up, Gavin licked his lips, still savoring the moment.

"That girl knows how to let go. She has so many tricks, it's actually quite fun."

I clenched my fists so hard my nails drew blood. My eyes were burning red.

Seeing my expression, Gavin pinched my cheek and chuckled.

"Can't handle this much?"

"What if I told you I was with her last week while I was taking you to pick out your wedding dress? Would you cry then?"

I stood paralyzed, my mind going completely blank.

No wonder...

Last week, we were at the bridal boutique, but Gavin had been glued to his phone the whole time.

He told me there was an emergency at the office. I felt bad for how hard he worked and told him to go take care of it.

"I was actually trying to think of an excuse to leave. But you just assumed it was work. You were so sweet, I almost felt bad for you."

"But you can't really blame me. Every dress looked the same on you anyway. We've been together so long, I'm bored of looking at you."

"On the other hand, she kept sending me photos in black stockings. That little minx really knows how to get under my skin."

He spoke with growing excitement, even pulling out his phone to show me the photos.

"Look at this. No man could resist that!"

A wave of nausea hit me. I leaned against the wall and started gagging.

Gavin handed me a glass of water and patted my back with a sigh.

"Don't overreact. It's not like I don't love you. If you want it, the position of Mrs. Sterling is always yours."

"I've only known her for a few days. It's just for fun. You and I have known each other for seventeen years. But seriously, you should learn a thing or two from her."

I couldn't take it anymore. I slapped him across the face, my whole body shaking.

"You're disgusting! The wedding is off!"

Gavin didn't even get angry. He wiped the corner of his mouth and smirked.

"Cancel the wedding? Sienna Quinn, do you really have the guts?"

I froze, unable to find a comeback.

Gavin was right. I didn't have the courage to cancel it.

Marrying Gavin was my grandmother's dying wish.

I clenched my fists. The grief was so overwhelming that the world started spinning around me.

Gavin instinctively grabbed my waist, his voice softening slightly.

"Honey, you're being too sensitive. It's my fault for making you feel insecure."

I shoved him away with all my might.

"Get away from me!"

Feeling insulted, Gavin's face darkened with annoyance.

"I've already humbled myself to apologize. Are you still going to throw a tantrum?"

"Don't be so petty. I'm just playing around with others. You're my real love."

He put his arm around the other woman and walked away without looking back.

The moment the door slammed shut, I lost it. I smashed every piece of wedding decor I had carefully prepared.

Just this morning, I thought I was the luckiest woman in the world.

Now, these beautiful things were nothing but a cruel joke.

I don't remember how I ended up by the riverbank.

The freezing water surrounded me. I remembered how Gavin had saved me after my parents abandoned me.

The orphanage was poor, so he worked odd jobs to support me. He even entered underground boxing matches and got beaten to a pulp just to earn extra cash.

When my grandmother finally found me, nine-year-old Gavin held my hand so tight he refused to let go.

"I found her. We're going to stay together forever!"

Even my grandmother joked, "You're so good to our Sienna. You'll have to marry her when you grow up!"

The young boy nodded firmly. "That's exactly what I plan to do!"

I didn't understand. How could the boy who promised to stay with me forever break his word so easily?

I didn't die. A kind stranger found me and rushed me to the hospital.

When I woke up, the news was everywhere. Gavin had just bought the "Eternal Heart" diamond for his mistress.

In the news clip, Gavin was smiling arrogantly at the cameras.

"It was only three million dollars."

"She's performing the duties my fiance won't, so she deserves the compensation."

People found out which hospital I was in. Paparazzi swarmed my room.

"Miss Quinn, how can you be so generous as to let your fianc buy a diamond for another woman?"

"You two certainly have an interesting dynamic. One day you're inseparable, and the next you're in an open relationship!"

The malice from the crowd felt like it was suffocating me.

I tried to call Gavin, but my hands were shaking so much I couldn't hit the right buttons.

My breathing became shallow and rapid. An asthma attack hit me, and I collapsed on the floor, twitching.

The paparazzi, afraid of getting into trouble, muttered about my bad luck and fled the scene.

When I woke up, Gavin was touching my feverish forehead, but his voice was cold as ice.

"It's bad enough you tried to jump in a river. Now you let the press scare you into an asthma attack."

"Be a good girl, Sienna. I just promised to take her to see the Northern Lights."

I stared at him in shock.

I was literally dying, and all he cared about was taking another woman on a trip.

This wasn't the first time the press had triggered my asthma.

Six years ago, Gavin was the rising star of the Manhattan elite. He caught the eye of the city's "it-girl," Jillian Pierce.

Jillian found out about me and hired a mob of reporters to ambush me at a gala.

"Mr. Sterling is so successful. Don't you think you're beneath his status now?"

"Gavin deserves someone better."

The cameras were shoved in my face, and I had a massive asthma attack.

Gavin didn't hesitate. He stood in front of me like a shield.

He glared at the lead reporter. "You'll never work in this city again."

He stayed by my side for three days and nights without sleeping.

When I finally opened my eyes, Gavin was sitting by the bed, his eyes bloodshot, clutching my hand.

"You scared me to death, Sienna. I can't imagine living without you."

That was the first time I ever saw him cry.

For the next month, Gavin went on a rampage against the Pierce family's businesses.

He stole their projects, poached their talent, and nearly killed himself working.

People warned him that the Pierces were dangerous and he shouldn't push them so hard.

But he just looked into the cameras and said one thing.

"You can mess with me, but you don't touch her."

A month later, the Pierce family filed for bankruptcy.

The arrogant socialite Jillian Pierce was forced to kneel in front of me and apologize.

After that, no one dared to say a single unkind word to me.

Gavin took me everywhere, holding my hand and smiling.

"This is my fiance. I have to hold on tight so I don't lose her."

He protected me so well that I thought it would last forever.

But six years is a long time. Long enough for a fairy tale to become a punchline.

The wedding was postponed because of my illness. Gavin ignored my IV drip and dragged me out of the hospital.

When the needle was ripped out, blood dripped onto the floor, but he didn't even notice.

Maybe he just didn't care.

He took me to a strange house.

The door was opened by a woman even younger than the last one.

She ignored me and pulled Gavin into a deep kiss.

"You said you'd stay. You ran off to find your fiance right in the middle of things~"

Inside, the floor was covered in discarded clothes. The heavy scent in the air told me exactly what they had been doing.

I stood there like I'd been struck by lightning.

The woman smirked and tossed a pair of stained stockings at me.

"Could you wash these for me, sweetie? We got a little messy."

"Shut up."

Gavin snapped, but there was no real anger in his voice. He even helped the woman fasten her bra.

She stuck her tongue out at me, her eyes full of provocation.

My heart was in tatters. I lost control and stormed through the house, smashing everything that belonged to them.

"Get out! Make her leave!"

Gavin frowned, about to argue.

But when he saw my pale face and my blood-stained hands, he finally told the woman to go.

She stomped her foot, refusing to move.

Gavin's voice dropped an octave. "Get out. I won't say it twice."

He took some gauze and gently wrapped my hand.

Looking at his profile, I felt dazed. So... he still loved me, right?

I couldn't let go of seventeen years of history. I hugged him, my voice cracking.

"Just love me, okay? Only me."

Gavin's expression was unreadable. After a long silence, he nodded.

"Okay."

With that promise, I wiped my tears. I pretended nothing happened and went home to prepare for the wedding.

Jewelry, furniture... I ordered everything like a madwoman, watching our house turn into my dream home.

I told myself that the more things I bought, the more it proved our love was real.

But on the wedding day, a single photo destroyed my world.

Naked photos of Gavin in bed were trending all over social media...

In my wedding dress, I looked like a clown. I fled under the pitiful and mocking glares of the guests.

The wedding didn't happen. In a fit of rage, I printed out those photos and plastered them everywhere.

I held a press conference to denounce Gavin's betrayal.

I screamed into the microphones.

"Gavin Sterling, you betrayed me! I hope you rot in hell!"

But Gavin simply produced a psychiatric report.

He looked sincere and heartbroken in front of the cameras.

"My fiance is ill. I failed to take proper care of her."

Gavin turned himself into a devoted, long-suffering husband. I became the irrational, crazy woman.

"Sienna, you're really not being a good girl."

He stopped hiding it. He cycled through mistresses one after another.

He even paid the paparazzi to send me the most disgusting photos, trampling on my dignity.

It lasted until I went back to my hometown.

I opened the door to my grandmother's house and found Gavin in her bed with a total stranger.

All the humiliation and anger I'd bottled up for weeks finally exploded.

My eyes turned red. I lunged at them, grabbing a vase and smashing it toward them.

"Gavin! you bastard!"

A shard of glass cut Gavin's face. In his rage, he called the doctors from the mental institution.

I screamed, struggled, and fought, but Gavin just stood there, watching calmly as they dragged me away.

"You're very sick. You need proper treatment."

Under Gavin's orders, the doctors used heavy sedation and therapy to tear at my remaining sanity.

They fed me handfuls of white pills.

Even in my dreams, Gavin was coldly abandoning me.

I couldn't take it anymore. I broke a cup and used a shard to carve Gavin's name into my arm, stroke by stroke.

Blood stained the floor and blurred my vision.

Word eventually got back to Gavin.

He looked at my arm, then at my skeletal body. For a moment, he looked almost regretful.

"I didn't want to make things hard for you. You should have just let it go."

"I told you, if you think it's unfair, you can find another man too."

I suddenly remembered when we were kids.

He saw a love letter someone gave me and tore it to shreds, his eyes red with jealousy.

Back then, if I even spoke to another boy, he wouldn't eat for days.

Now, he was the one pushing me into the arms of others.

I didn't cry or scream. I just nodded numbly.

Gavin looked at my submissive behavior and smiled with satisfaction.

"If you had been this sensible from the start, you wouldn't have suffered so much."

He stayed to feed me my medicine and wash my body. He was kind and attentive. It felt like we were back in the early days of our relationship.

But the dream only lasted two days. Gavin's phone rang, and he rushed to leave.

"Work emergency. I have to go."

He was lying.

I saw the caller IDDJillian Pierce.

Jillian Pierce, the woman who had bullied me years ago.

But when she stood before me now, she seemed like a different person. She was timid and weak. She even bowed to me.

"Miss Quinn, I was wrong before. I shouldn't have targeted you."

"My family is bankrupt. I couldn't survive, so I begged Gavin to give me a job."

My blood ran cold. I stared at Gavin.

"What is this? You made the woman who bullied me into your mistress?"

Gavin leaned back casually.

"The once-mighty princess of Manhattan is now kneeling at my feet begging for scraps. Isn't that satisfying?"

"Keeping her around to crush her pride is the best punishment. You didn't think I actually liked her, did you?"

"I did this for you. I'm getting revenge for what she did to you."

I believed him.

That night, I invited him to dinner to try and fix things. Gavin frowned and said he was busy with work.

But then I saw him at a street stall, eating tacos with Jillian.

Gavin hated cilantro, yet he ate it until he nearly gagged just because Jillian told him to try it.

On Valentine's Day, Gavin and Jillian dominated the headlines.

Gavin gave her company stock, a penthouse downtown, and his favorite luxury cars as gifts.

He even took her to the private island he had promised me, watching the sunrise over the ocean.

Everything I had waited seven years for, he gave to her.

The promises were kept, but the woman had changed.

I didn't feel a piercing pain in my heart anymore. Just a profound, icy numbness.

I had been with him for seven years, through poverty and wealth, only to end up as a joke.

Then I saw their wedding photos on my feed.

"Official. The one true love of my life."

In that moment, every bit of my strength left me. I was hollowed out by the cold.

I turned off my phone and leaned back on the sofa, letting the tears fall silently.

Gavin, if this is your choice, I'm out.

As I was packing to leave, I got a call from the hospital.

"Is this Sienna Quinn? Your test results are back. You're pregnant."

Pregnant?

I froze. My suitcase hit the floor with a loud thud.

This baby couldn't have come at a worse time.

At the hospital, I was sitting on a bench in a daze when I heard a familiar voice down the hall.

"Careful. Don't hurt the baby."

I looked up. My heart squeezed painfully.

Gavin was carefully supporting Jillian. He was being more tender than I'd ever seen him.

Jillian leaned into him, her small baby bump visible. She looked radiant.

When Gavin saw me, he stopped dead in his tracks. A look of disgust washed over his face.

"Sienna? Are you stalking me?"

I didn't say a word, clenching my fists.

The hospital intercom paged:

"Sienna Quinn, please report to the clinic for your scheduled termination procedure."