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Marcus called both our families together on short notice, claiming he had something important to announce.

My parents drove up from Surrey, full of hopeful expectations.

What Marcus announced, in front of everyone, was that he wanted to end our engagement.

My father shot to his feet, his palm flat on the table.

"What did you just say? We've already confirmed the venue. The invitations have gone out. And now you want to call it off?"

"Vera is beautiful and accomplished. Our family has given ground again and again. What exactly have we done to you?"

Patricia Kingsley, Marcus's mother, looked genuinely startled. She leaned over and murmured to her son.

"You're the one who insisted on marrying Vera. Your father and I dipped into our retirement fund for this. What on earth are you playing at now?"

Marcus didn't spare my father a glance. He was too busy explaining himself to his mother.

"Mum, I've thought it through. I was wrong before — I wasn't thinking about what was fair to you and Dad."

"Someone like Vera — she always wants more and more. She doesn't deserve to be part of our family."

His mother still looked uncertain. Marcus pressed on.

"Don't worry, Mum. I've already found someone better. She's not asking for any settlement. No jewellery, nothing. She's offering to bring her own car."

Gerald Kingsley, Marcus's father, chimed in from the corner.

"Really? Ha! That's my son. I always said he'd land on his feet."

"I've been biting my tongue for too long. I'm finally able to say it — I never liked this Vera girl. A woman who does nothing but calculate what she can squeeze out of you? Even if you'd married her, you'd have had no peace."

I snapped back to myself.

I looked up at Marcus, my eyes stinging.

"Engagement settlements are standard. I asked for £38,000 — barely anything. And that's 'squeezing you dry'?"

"You go off chasing someone else, then choose this moment — at a family gathering — to humiliate me? What is wrong with you?"

Marcus and I had been together since university. For years, he'd been warm and attentive. The perfect boyfriend.

Then our parents met, and the moment wedding negotiations began, he changed.

He asked me to understand that he'd just graduated and had no money. He asked me to be sympathetic to his parents, who'd worked so hard their whole lives. There were always reasons why my expectations were unreasonable.

We'd argued over money more times than I could count. In the end, my parents were the ones who kept lowering their expectations — and we'd scraped our way to the edge of an actual wedding.

I had believed we'd weathered everything. That the hard part was behind us.

I hadn't known he'd been resenting me the whole time.

He'd even cheated.

Patricia rolled her eyes at me.

"Watch your language."

"You weren't married yet. You can't call it cheating."

"You're allowed to explore your options when you're job hunting, aren't you? Marriage is a lifelong commitment. A little comparison shopping is perfectly natural."

She turned to my parents with an expression of practiced reasonableness.

"When two young people fall out of love, forcing them to marry won't make them happy. We have to respect their choices."

"Here's what I propose: lunch is on us. And then, when you get a moment, if you could return the settlement and the jewellery—"

My parents were decent people. Even pushed this far, they couldn't bring themselves to say anything ugly.

I stepped in front of them, eyes burning.

"Your son cheated, and you have the nerve to demand your money back?"

At the mention of money, Patricia's composure cracked instantly.

"You see? You see? I told them from the start — that family is only after our money."

The room fractured into noise.

Then the private dining room door swung open.

Reid Calloway — the same friend who'd been "flirting" at last night's party — stepped in, looking even more polished today, wearing a wrap dress that floated around his ankles.

He walked directly to Marcus and took his arm, voice honeyed and sweet.

"Darling," he said to me, "you had something this good and didn't know how to hold onto it. I suppose that just means I get to look after him now."