Chapter 13

The saleswoman at the door saw a well-dressed stranger just standing there and stepped out to offer help.

Sonia followed the woman's gaze through the glass.

Her face froze. Her brow drew down.

Zachary watched Sonia lean in to say something to Sheldon and then disappear into the fitting room.

Sheldon walked out, looked Zachary up and down. "So. You're Sonia's ex-fiancé."

He leaned hard on "ex."

Zachary's face went cold. "What gives you the right to call her Sonia?"

Only the closest people had ever used it. This stranger — who was, to Sonia, just a forced merger — had absolutely no right.

Sheldon seemed almost amused. He arched a brow. "Why not? She's my fiancée. We're getting married soon. And she's never told me not to."

Zachary didn't wait for more. His fist snapped forward and connected with Sheldon's jaw.

Sheldon's smile vanished. He loosened his tie, ready to swing back — until he saw Sonia stepping out of the fitting room behind Zachary. He stopped himself.

Zachary didn't notice. Assuming Sheldon was a coward, he swung again.

"Zachary!" Sonia shouted from behind him.

He instinctively smoothed his jacket and turned, plastering on a soft smile.

See? She still cared. He hadn't lost.

He opened his arms, ready for her to run to him the way she always had. Then he'd apologize. Then he'd propose, right in front of this guy.

She didn't even look at him.

She rushed to Sheldon, carefully helping him up, frantic, asking if he was hurt, checking his face. Only when he shook his head did she turn — and the eyes she turned on Zachary were stranger's eyes. Cold. "What is wrong with you?"

Something in his chest cracked.

She had never looked at him that way in her life.

His own eyes filled before he could speak. "Sonia — I finally found you. You have no idea how much I've missed —"

She was too busy touching Sheldon's split lip. When her gaze snapped back to Zachary, it was hatred. "You missed me, so you flew to New York to punch my fiancé?"

At the word "fiancé," Sheldon actually puffed up.

Zachary pointed, disbelieving. "He's your fiancé? What about me? Sonia, I'm your fiancé, we grew up together, you said you'd marry no one but me — "

She cut him off. "That was before. From the moment you started forcing me to step aside for Ember, all of that stopped counting."

She didn't want to keep arguing. She held Sheldon's arm and turned to leave.

Zachary heard her say "Ember" and his eyes brightened.

She mentioned her. Which meant Ember still got under her skin. Which meant all of this — the marriage, too — was just her way of punishing him.

If she still cared, he could still win her back.

He tried to say more — but she was already walking away on Sheldon's arm, not even looking in his direction.

A few steps later, he heard Sonia scold Sheldon in a wifely voice. "Are you stupid? You just stood there and let him hit you?"

Sheldon said, in a pitiful tone, "If I hit back, what if you felt bad for him? He's obviously here to take you away. If you dumped me over it, I'd have nowhere to go cry."

"Why would I feel bad for him? He's nothing to me."

Sheldon perked up. "So you'd feel bad for me?"

Sonia rolled her eyes. Had he actually gotten punched stupid? He was being shameless.

She ignored him. Sheldon refused to let it go, leaning against her playfully, wheedling.

Zachary stood frozen, watching them.

Nothing.

She'd said he was nothing to her.

His chest seized. He crumpled, right there on the sidewalk, and couldn't stand back up.

He didn't give up. He embedded himself in Sonia's life by every means available.

She and Sheldon did a bridal fitting — Zachary ordered a matching set in her size and told the atelier to make his more expensive, more elaborate than Sheldon's.

Sheldon, of course, wouldn't back down. Prices kept climbing.

Sonia stopped it. Not by talking Zachary down — by threatening Sheldon. "If you keep playing his game with him, you sleep in the study."

It worked instantly. Sheldon stopped bidding and smiled apologetically at Zachary. "Sorry, man. Wife's orders. I'm out." Then he spun around to charm Sonia out of pretending to be mad.

Zachary's knuckles cracked. He trailed them to the next store anyway.

At the jewelers, Sheldon glanced at Sonia and murmured, "Sonia. I really want to get you this set. If he starts bidding with me, can I just a little —"

She got it instantly. She arched a brow, refusing.

Sheldon hooked a single finger through her palm.

She hated it when he did that. "A little. Don't get ridiculous."

He lit up, kissed her cheek, and went to bid against Zachary.

The Blackwoods had money, but against the Sterlings they were out of their depth. Within a few rounds, Zachary's face was visibly strained.

He couldn't outbid Sheldon.

Every time Sheldon called out a higher number, it hit him like cold water. But he refused to concede. He'd somehow turned the necklace into a proxy for Sonia herself — he had to have it.

He kept bidding.

Sonia couldn't stand it anymore. She wasn't going to watch him torch the fortune his parents had built, bid by bid.

She stood up, walked over to him, and — for the first time in weeks — actually looked at him. "Zachary."

He wiped his forehead and smiled. "Sonia, don't worry. Whatever you want, I'll win it for you."

She shook her head. Her voice was empty. "If you're buying it for Ember, go ahead. But if you're buying it for me — I'm telling you now, I don't need it, and I wouldn't accept it."

"It's not for Ember," he said, frantic. "I told her it's over. Sonia, it's you. Only you."

She didn't react. She didn't care.

She just looked at him, and, for the last time, said, "Zachary. I don't need anything from you. There's no point."

The past was the past. Nothing he did now could undo the hurt. Nothing would bring her back.