Running From My Billionaire Fiancé

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Mind your own damn business! There, are you happy now? She's got herself a new dog!

My fianc, sobbing in the middle of his own party.

For eight years he'd screamed that he wanted out of this engagement.

Until I actually let go.

The music cut off. His trust-fund friends just stared at him.

Three days before that, I found out I was the fake heiress.

For eight years I ran this old-money prince's life.

No smoking.

Midnight curfew.

Three nights a week he came home to me. And he had to ask for it.

Every time I pulled the leash too tight, he'd snarl the same thing. "I'm calling off this goddamn engagement one of these days."

Now the real daughter is coming home.

So I cut my losses. I let go of every last piece of him.

Stopped asking where he was. Stopped holding him to the schedule.

I thought he'd throw a party for his own freedom.

Instead he came home, took a fistful of my shirt, and cried with his eyes gone red.

"...I'm sorry. Please. Go back to running my life."

Chapter 1

"Vivienne. You just wait. I'm calling off this goddamn engagement."

He'd been shouting that for eight years.

Not long after, he was on the floor on his knees, a fistful of my shirt in his hand, crying.

"I'm sorry. Please. Go back to running my life."

And three days before all of it, I found out I wasn't a Sutton.

"Vivi. Ash is out with Reid and the guys again."

The music in the bar was loud enough to feel in my teeth.

Zoey was tattling on him. I was somewhere else entirely.

I took her phone.

In the video, Ash wore a wine-red shirt, the loud kind, and slouched against a low-slung sports car like standing up straight was beneath him. A cigarette burned red between his fingers.

Trust-fund boys all around him. Every one of them with a girl in his lap.

I watched to the end. Calm. Handed the phone back. Calm.

"He's fine. Let him."

"What's wrong with you?" Zoey pressed the back of her hand to my forehead. "No fever."

She grinned at her own joke before she got to it.

"You're not the real Vivienne Sutton, are you?"

I let that sit there. Set her phone down on the bar.

"Zozo." I gave her a look. "Do you want me to prove it? I'll start with what you did when you were six."

Then I picked up my bag and walked out.

I couldn't really blame her. Our families arranged the engagement the year I turned eight, and by the time we were grown I ran every part of Asher Sheridan's life.

Once, I had the right to.

Now I wasn't sure anymore.

Because I might not be his fiance much longer.

Three days ago I found out my parents were not my parents.

I'd been swapped at birth.

Any day now, Elodie would be found and brought home.

It isn't hard to guess what happens to the fake one.

I'd been the Sutton girl and the Sheridan heir's fiance, and I'd used both.

Half the city was waiting to watch me fall.

Ash most of all.

The day he was old enough to sign his own name, I gave him three rules.

Rule one. No smoking, no drinking, no fighting, no running around with those friends of his.

Rule two. No nights out. Home before midnight.

Rule three. Three nights a week, he comes home and stays. If he wants more than that, he asks for it.

Almost nobody in our set knows this.

The Sheridan heir was born with a bad heart.

That's what rule one is really for. No smoke. No liquor. Nothing that makes his pulse climb.

That's why his family carries him around like something that chips.

That's why I run his life.

I never took his threat seriously.

The old man could adore me all he liked. He was never going to let his grandson marry a woman who brought nothing to the business.

The engagement was already dead. It just didn't know it yet.

And when the truth came out, when everyone learned what I was, Ash would be first in line to put a foot on my neck.

So I cut my losses. I stopped managing him. All of it, all at once.

I didn't go looking for him that night. I went home early.

I'd barely gotten my shoes off when the front door opened.

I looked up.

Our eyes met. He tried to look away, and then made himself hold it, like looking away would cost him something.

He lifted his chin. Pitched his voice too loud for the room.

"That's right, Vivienne. I was out screwing around with Reid tonight. I smoked. I drank."

Chapter 2

I didn't fight him the way I used to.

I just said, "Mm," and stood up to go to my room.

"Vivienne"

Two steps and he had my wrist.

Black eyes locked on mine. Something restless working its way into his voice.

"You heard me. I smoked. I drank."

"I know." I held his gaze. My voice stayed level. "You don't have to report to me. As long as you had fun."

"Fine, Vivienne." One corner of his mouth went up. He was so sure of himself. "I know you're still mad."

"Not going with you to the dinner was my fault."

"You haven't spoken to me in three days."

"No, that's not"

"You can be on top tonight."

Button by button, his shirt came open.

He has a good body. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, everything under the skin hard and useful. I'd spent enough nights climbing it.

He took my wrist and pressed my hand flat against his stomach.

Then he turned his face away, chin high, and the rim of his ear went pink.

"Your lucky night. Touch whatever you want."

I checked the date.

It was one of the three nights.

Every single time before, I'd been the one who brought it up.

Tonight he was practically vibrating with it.

"Ash. I'm not in the mood."

I dropped the sentence and got to my room as fast as my legs would go.

I woke up around noon.

For the first time in living memory, Ash hadn't gone anywhere.

He was sprawled across the couch, scrolling his phone with the studied boredom of a man who has never once had to be anywhere.

He saw me come out. Put the phone away. Cleared his throat.

"Vivienne. You said everything in your closet was old. I'm free today. I'll take you shopping."

"No thanks. I'm seeing Zoey."

I didn't even think about it.

"Seriously, Vivienne. How long are you going to stay mad?"

He was across the room in a second, hand around my wrist, a line between his brows.

His lips pressed thin. Impatience leaking through.

"I'm giving you a way to climb down. Or are you planning to run to my grandfather about me again?"

So that was it. That was what all this was.

I'd done exactly that more times than I could count.

"Relax. Relax." I waved both hands. "I won't. You were right, I overstepped. For years."

"All three rules are void. Do whatever you want. I'm not going to be involved."

"I mean it." He didn't look convinced, so I raised three fingers. "I swear."

I counted the days in my head.

The moment the real daughter walked through that door, I stopped being a Sutton.

And a woman who isn't a Sutton has no business running the Sheridan heir's life.

"Vivienne, you" He stared at me. His eyes started to shine, red creeping into the rims.

His chest rose and fell and wouldn't stop.

In the end he turned his face away, cold, voice gone flat and hard.

"Fine. Whatever you want."

Then the door slammed hard enough to rattle the frame.

What.

What was he even angry about?

I met Zoey at a coffee shop.

I told her about my parents. About the swap.

She sat there for a long moment before it landed.

"So you think the engagement's off. That's why you stopped running his life?"

Chapter 3

"But have you actually thought about it? He's got you in there somewhere. He's not going to end it that easily."

"He doesn't like me." I pulled my mouth to one side. "Three nights ago I heard him say it. Out loud, in his own voice."

"That's when I found out how much he hates being engaged to me."

Eight years. Pretending I felt nothing for him would be a lie.

The night I found out I wasn't a Sutton, the only thing I wanted was to find Ash. Get his arms around me. Hold the shaking down.

Instead I ended up outside a VIP booth at his club, listening to him talk to his friends.

"Ash. Are you really going to let Vivienne run you for the rest of your life?"

"Everybody says you're whipped. One woman with her hand around your throat."

"Don't tell me you actually like her."

"Not a chance." No pause. Nothing to think about. "I could fall for anybody on this earth. It would never be her."

"She's got a decent face and that's about it. She's not my type."

"If the old man hadn't shoved this engagement down my throat, she'd never have gotten a leash on me."

My hand was on the door. I'd already pushed it open an inch.

I let it swing back so quietly the latch never caught.

The paint came away under my thumbnail in a little curl.

Whatever I'd been letting myself imagine about him died there.

I walked out of the club very calmly. Then I walked home. It took a long time.

I never pushed the door open to ask him.

Some answers only count when a man says them in front of his own friends.

I could ask him a hundred times. He'd say the same three words. Not a chance.

"That came out of his mouth." I looked at Zoey. My lips were pressed thin. "He can't wait to be rid of me."

Zoey opened her mouth. Whatever was in her eyes, she swallowed it. She said nothing.

So I told her what I was actually afraid of.

I've always cared too much about how things look.

When it comes out that I'm not a Sutton, and then the Sheridans drop me, every single person in our set will be laughing.

So I'm ending it first. Before the real daughter comes home.

With nobody managing him, Ash didn't come home for days.

There was a time when midnight would pass and I'd blow up his phone, or get in a car and go find him myself.

That night I was going to bed when one of his guys sent me a video.

Diego: [ Vivienne. Ash is buying company tonight. You want to come handle him?]

I opened it.

Ash on a low couch, boneless, unbothered. A wide-eyed little thing standing over him.

My throat closed. He'd taken me at my word. That fast.

Me: [Fine. Understood.]

I put the phone face down. Another video came through.

Ash with an arm around her waist, pressing his black card into her hands.

"My fiance doesn't manage me anymore. Show me everything you've got."

My eyes went hot. I blocked Diego and deleted the thread.

Then I put the phone face down on the pillow and lay there with my eyes open until the ceiling turned gray.

The apartment was never mine. His family bought it for the two of us, for after the wedding.

There's no reason to sleep in a house built for a marriage that isn't happening.

I found a place I liked and went to sign the lease.

Coming out of the elevator, I ran into Desmond, a guy who'd been a year ahead of me in school.

We were laughing about something on the way out.

Then, at the gate, a shape I knew.

Ash. Staring at us. At Desmond. At me.

Disbelief and fury and something underneath both of them that wasn't steady.

His eyes settled on my face. The rims had gone red. His jaw barely moved.

"Vivienne. Who is that guy? Did you forget you have a fianc?

"Not for much longer," I said, so quietly it was almost nothing.

His pupils shrank. He crossed the space between us and took my shoulders. His thumbs went into my collarbones hard enough that I'd be counting the marks in the morning.

Chapter 4

His breathing came fast. Water rose in his eyes, and behind it something furious.

"Vivienne. Are you seriously throwing me away for that man?"

My lips parted. Before I got a syllable out, he hauled me into his car.

His mouth came down on mine. Then his teeth closed on my earlobe.

"Vivienne. We grew up together. Who the hell is he?"

"Get off." I shoved him. His mouth landed on my collarbone instead.

"You're telling me to get off?"

His hand found the outside of my thigh.

His mouth stopped where my neck met my shoulder. Didn't move. Just breathed.

Somewhere out on the pavement a pair of footsteps went past the car and kept going.

When he finally spoke his voice was almost pleasant.

"Get out of this car and I'll kiss you where he can watch."

Later that night he came out dressed to be looked at, shirt open, eight hard ridges on display.

"Vivienne. Inspect the merchandise."

He caught my fingers and spread them flat against his stomach.

"I didn't touch anyone that night. You blocked Diego, so I drove back. All night. I drove back."

"You care about me. Don't stand there and pretend you don't."

My hand stayed flat on him half a second longer than I meant it to. I heard myself swallow.

Maybe he did care. Maybe I'd been wrong.

I lifted my hand and pushed him off. "You still smell like liquor. Go wash again."

He opened his mouth to argue. Then he went.

While he was in the shower, the tablet on the couch lit up.

I picked it up. It was the group chat with his friends.

Reid: [Ash, we ran him down for you. He was a year ahead of her in school.]

Reid: [You're this bothered about the guy? You've actually fallen for her.]

Ash: [Nobody's fallen for anybody. I just don't like watching her shop around.]

Ash: [I don't want a woman who plays both sides.]

Ash: [Once I've got Vivienne trained, once she's completely in love with me, I'm dumping her.]

And behind it, this.

I laughed at myself. Quietly. Nobody heard it.

I was still holding the tablet when he came up behind me, damp and warm.

His breath moved down my neck. His voice had gone low and rough.

"Vivienne. It's been a long time."

I got a hand between us and pushed him back.

"Don't touch me. I don't want to."

He swore under his breath. His brows drew together.

"You won't let me touch you. What is this, are you keeping yourself pure for Desmond?"

I thought about the words on that screen and stopped wanting to explain anything.

The engagement was ending either way.

At least this way I'd look like the one who walked. At least I wouldn't look like wreckage.

"Yes," I said. "From now on I stay out of your family's business."

"You stay out of mine. We each do what we like."

"No." His eyes were red with it. "Vivienne. Either you cut him off, or we're done."

"Sure." I agreed with him, easily, the way you agree with a child. "I'll get both families in a room tomorrow."

Then I put my chin down, held the tears where they were, and slammed the door behind me.

Chapter 5

When I came back, the living room looked like it had been robbed.

Ash sat on the couch with his arms crossed, chin up, waiting for me.

"Vivienne. You wanted out of the engagement."

"So pack your things and get out of my house."

"All those new clothes in your room. I'm sick of looking at them."

"You leave me, you think Desmond can afford any of it on a paycheck?"

"He couldn't," I said. "And I'd still want him. I'd just feel sorry he couldn't."

Then I walked past him into the bedroom and dragged out my suitcase.

I picked my clothes up off the floor. Folded each one. Laid it in.

"No. Vivienne. Are you serious?"

He was across the room and both his hands were on my suitcase, and the pressure drove the color out of his fingertips.

His breathing came apart. Water rose in his eyes and turned the whites pink.

"You're really ending it for him?"

"You order him around. Is it as good as ordering me around?"

"What's so good about him? What did I do wrong?"

He stared at me. And then his knees hit the floor.

His face had gone white. He was shaking.

"Vivienne. I'm sorry. I won't disobey you again. Ever."

"You're not allowed to go."

One hand had a fistful of my shirt. The other was pressed flat over his chest, and his face was doing something it couldn't hold.

"Vivienne. It hurts. Please."

His lips were trembling. Nobody acts that well.

That heart.

Eight years, and I never let him forget it for a single day.

And the moment I said I was leaving, I let go of that too.

He went down. I called 911.

They took him behind the doors of the emergency room. I stood outside them and argued with myself until the doors opened.

Because I was leaving.

Because he came apart like that.

Because maybe.

They kept him a few days. I went back to the apartment for a change of clothes and brought them to him.

I was reaching for the handle of his hospital room door when I heard them inside.

"Ash, that's cold-blooded. Checking yourself into a hospital so she can't leave you."

"I'm not attached to her. I just want Vivienne completely in love with me. Then I dump her, hard."

"Say what you want, playing the martyr works."

My hand was still on the handle