Chapter One
1056 Words
What if both Deidra and Caitlyn choose you tomorrow, Niles? What then?”
The question cut cleanly through the laughter.
Conversation died at once. Crystal glasses stilled midair, and the easy warmth of the gathering drained into heavy silence.
Niles leaned back in his chair, unfazed.
“That,” he said smoothly, “is a difficult choice.”
He swirled the golden champagne in his glass before continuing.
“Deidra has been by my side for years. She’s loyal, devoted, dependable. Choosing her wouldn’t exactly be a tragedy.” A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Though she can be a little clingy. Overbearing, sometimes.”
A few of the men chuckled.
Niles tipped back the rest of his champagne.
“But Caitlyn…” His expression shifted, thoughtful now. “The more time I spend with her, the more I appreciate her upbringing. She carries herself well. Old money, polished, elegant.” His gaze unfocused slightly, as though picturing her. “And there’s something refreshing about her innocence. That soft, demure charm.”
He exhaled slowly.
“I’ll have to think carefully before tomorrow.”
Outside the study doors, Deidra stood frozen.
It felt as though eight years of love had shattered all at once.
She and Niles had once been inseparable. Their bond had begun long before romance—before desire or courtship had ever complicated things. They had been children together, neighbors who climbed into the old treehouse behind her family’s estate to tell ghost stories beneath blankets and lantern light. They had laughed until their stomachs hurt. Shared secrets. Shared dreams.
Somewhere along the way, affection had deepened into something quieter. More dangerous.
Love.
And Deidra had loved him openly.
Everyone knew it.
She had used her family’s connections to help him build his company when he was struggling for investors. She had spent sleepless nights writing software for his projects without asking for payment. Nearly every evening, she brought him meals herself because she knew he forgot to eat when he worked.
Niles had always insisted they keep their relationship private until the Selection Ball.
The Selection Ball.
The single most important event in their world.
Every influential family attended. Alliances were forged there through marriage, fortunes merged, bloodlines strengthened. The future of entire dynasties could shift in a single evening.
For women like Deidra, the Ball decided everything.
A good match secured safety and status.
A cruel one could ruin a life.
And rejection?
Rejection was catastrophic.
Her fingers tightened around the necklace resting against her throat—the silver pendant Niles had given her on the first anniversary of their relationship.
She suddenly felt foolish for ever treasuring it.
Because she already knew Caitlyn intended to choose him.
She had seen the woman leaving his estate only moments earlier.
When Deidra had first arrived tonight, she had been almost breathless with happiness. Hidden inside her coat pocket was her family’s heirloom ring, one she had planned to give Niles before the Ball began. A private promise before the public ceremony.
Tomorrow, she had thought, they would finally choose one another openly.
Tomorrow, they would finally belong to each other.
But as she approached the front entrance, the doors had swung open.
Caitlyn emerged.
Petite. Beautiful. Perfectly composed.
“Oh, Deidra,” Caitlyn said lightly, touching the corner of her lipstick. “Hi.”
Deidra stopped short. “What are you doing here?”
“Niles invited me over.” Caitlyn smiled innocently. “We were talking.”
Her gaze glittered with amusement.
“Private matters.”
Then she stepped closer, brushing imaginary lint from Deidra’s sleeve with mocking familiarity.
“I plan to choose him tomorrow,” she said softly. “If you choose him too… who do you think he’ll pick?”
Deidra said nothing.
Because deep down, she already knew.
Over the past few months, Niles had canceled plans again and again. Their conversations had dwindled into brief texts and rushed meetings at work. Meanwhile, he had become inseparable from Caitlyn after securing a major partnership with her father, one of the wealthiest businessmen in the country.
There had been galas.
Vacations.
Photographs splashed across magazines and social media.
Once, desperate just to see him, Deidra had begged him to spend time with her.
He told her she needed to stop distracting him from building his future.
And because she loved him, she had believed him.
Now Caitlyn stood before her wearing the satisfied smile of a woman who already knew she had won.
“You really shouldn’t choose him tomorrow,” Caitlyn said gently. “Unless you want to spend the next five years ruined.”
The laws of the Selection Ball were absolute.
A woman could choose any suitor she desired before the evening ended. If she failed to choose, any unpaired man could claim her instead.
But if multiple women chose the same man, the decision belonged solely to him.
The rejected woman would be barred from marriage and childbirth for five years.
Five years marked as unwanted.
Unchosen.
Damaged.
Many families cast aside daughters who failed at the Ball. Some never recovered socially.
And Deidra suddenly understood exactly how fragile her future truly was.
Still, despite everything, part of her wanted to hear him deny it.
She wanted him to see her standing there and laugh at the misunderstanding. To pull her close and reassure her that none of this mattered.
That she mattered.
So she walked toward the study.
Inside, laughter rang through the room. Glasses clinked. Men joked excitedly about the upcoming Ball and the beautiful women who would attend.
Then someone asked the question.
Deidra or Caitlyn?
And she waited outside the door, barely breathing.
Waiting for him to choose her.
Instead, she heard herself reduced to clingy. Annoying.
While Caitlyn was praised as elegant, desirable, irresistible.
Something inside Deidra went still.
Not shattered.
Not broken.
Simply dead.
Niles spoke about the two women as though he were deciding between items on a menu rather than human hearts.
And in that moment, the boy she had loved since childhood ceased to exist.
Quietly, Deidra turned away from the door.
The heirloom ring dug painfully into her palm as she stepped out into the cold night, clutching it like a prayer for a life that no longer existed.
- Writer
