I still remember Piper—just thirteen—smirking from the staircase. That’s when I learned the truth. My father had been cheating for years.
Mom and I ended up on the streets. One freezing night, we stumbled into the middle of a kidnapping. A bunch of black-clothed guys dragging a young man in to a van, Colin Marks, heir to the Marks Family, was being dragged into a van.
Mom didn’t hesitate. She jumped in, fought the men off, saved Colin—almost died doing it. Stabbed over and over.
Afterward, Colin brought us into his home, against his parents’ wishes.
Mom turned down his offer to support us. Instead, she worked as a housekeeper in the Marks’ estate. I transferred to Colin’s school. Day after day, I watched that sweet, kind boy grow into someone I couldn’t help falling for.
He loved me back. On my 20th birthday, he held my hand, knelt in front of my mom and promised he’d spend the rest of his life protecting me.
But all that started changing a year ago.
He went to karaoke with some friends. When he got back, he started talking about Piper… differently.
“She’s not who I thought she was,” he said one night. “She’s working three jobs to pay for school. Can you believe that?”
“And get this—some rich guy tried to hit on her, said he’d spoil her rotten. She stood up and slapped him across the face. What a feisty girl.”
Then he added, “I know you two never really got along. But maybe it’s because you never gave her a real chance. If you just spent some time with her, maybe you’d see how lovable she is.”
My gut was screaming at me that something was off. But I brushed it aside. Told myself I was just being paranoid. That I was overthinking things.
And then, not long after, a friend told me that Colin had bought a bracelet. Not just any bracelet—a vintage piece that once belonged to a real-life European princess. Not only did she wear it, it was apparently one of her favorites.
So naturally, I thought… maybe he bought it for my birthday.
But on the day of my birthday, Piper posted on Instagram. That exact bracelet, worth millions, was wrapped around her wrist. In the photo, a man’s hand was holding hers—fingers laced.
That night, I waited until the last birthday candle burned itself out. Colin never came home.
It was the first time he ever forgot my birthday.