Mia's POV
The dress weighs a thousand pounds.
It's white silk and hand-sewn lace and costs more than Mia's car. A designer from some place in Paris made it specifically for her. It has a train that requires someone to carry it and a bodice so tight she can barely breathe. She looks like a princess in a fairy tale.
She feels like a fraud.
There's a knock on the bridal suite door. Rosie walks in and immediately starts crying.
"Oh baby," Rosie says, pulling her into a hug that's careful not to wreck the dress. "You look so beautiful. So grown up."
Mia holds onto Rosie like she might disappear. Rosie is the only person here from her real life. Everyone else is Adrian's people. Strangers in expensive clothes who keep looking at Mia like she's a stain on their designer shoes.
"I'm terrified," Mia whispers.
"I know, baby. But you're going to walk out there and you're going to be brave. That's what you do. You survive."
"This doesn't feel like surviving. This feels like drowning."
Rosie pulls back and looks at Mia directly. "Listen to me. Whatever happens in that room, whatever you have to pretend, you remember who you are. You're Mia Chen. You're stronger than anyone in this building. Including that man you're about to marry."
"He's not going to help me survive this."
"Maybe not at first," Rosie says. "But people change. Give him a chance to be better than you think he is."
A woman in a headset appears at the door. "Five minutes, Miss Chen."
Mia's stomach drops.
She walks to the ceremony space on shaking legs. The room is beautiful in that cold, expensive way everything about Adrian's life is beautiful. White flowers everywhere. Crystal chandeliers. Two hundred people she doesn't know. Every single one of them watching to see if she'll mess up. To see if she'll trip or cry or prove that she doesn't belong here.
Rosie sits in the front row and squeezes her hand as Mia walks past.
The aisle is impossibly long.
Adrian stands at the altar looking like a painting. Perfect suit. Perfect hair. Perfect face. And his eyes are completely cold. Like he's standing there with a stranger instead of the girl he came to her apartment to convince to marry him.
Mia walks toward him feeling like everyone in this room can see her heart racing. Can see how much she doesn't belong. Can see the girl from foster care wearing a dress that costs more than she'll ever make in a year.
She reaches the altar and Adrian takes her hand. His grip is firm. Reassuring. But he doesn't look at her. He keeps his eyes forward like she's not there.
The officiant starts talking about love and commitment and forever. Words that feel like lies in this room. They exchange vows they didn't write and don't mean. Adrian's voice is steady and controlled. Mia's voice shakes on every word.
"You may kiss the bride," the officiant says.
Adrian turns to her. For one second their eyes meet and she sees something in his expression. Something that might be regret or guilt or maybe just determination to get through this.
His lips touch hers briefly. Mechanically. Like they're both actors performing a scene. The kiss lasts maybe three seconds. It's the coldest kiss of her life.
Cameras flash. The crowd applauds. They're married now. That's all it takes. A kiss that means nothing and vows nobody believes and signatures on papers they both signed under duress.
At the reception, Mia stands next to Adrian while people congratulate them. Everyone says the right things. "Beautiful ceremony." "You look stunning." "Adrian is so lucky." Nobody means any of it. Everyone is thinking about the leaked contract. Everyone knows this is a business arrangement wearing a white dress.
Then she appears.
The woman walks into the reception wearing a white dress. Not quite wedding white but close enough to make a statement. She's stunning in the way that comes from generations of money. Blonde hair. Perfect makeup. Confidence that says she owns the room.
She walks straight to Adrian and kisses his cheek. Not a quick social kiss. A long kiss that lasts too long and makes everyone uncomfortable.
"Darling," she says. Her voice is honey and poison. "I'm so happy to see you. It's been far too long."
Adrian steps back slightly. "Clarissa. I didn't know you were coming."
"I wouldn't miss your wedding," she says. She turns to Mia with a smile that shows all her teeth. "I'm Clarissa Montgomery. Adrian's ex-fiancée."
Mia's heart stops.
Ex-fiancée.
Adrian was engaged to this woman. This perfect, beautiful, powerful woman who clearly still has some kind of hold on him.
"Congratulations on the wedding," Clarissa continues, extending her hand. Mia shakes it and Clarissa's grip is tight. Possessive. "We were together for three years before a little misunderstanding. Adrian got confused for a while but I'm sure you understand. These contract marriages are just temporary arrangements, right? Something for the tabloids. Something to manage the inheritance."
Mia doesn't know what to say. Doesn't know how to respond to someone who's telling her that her marriage is temporary and meaningless while Adrian stands right there saying nothing.
"I'm sure you're a lovely girl," Clarissa says, patting Mia's hand like she's a child. "Adrian has always liked to collect broken things. He probably thinks he's saving you. How sweet."
She turns back to Adrian. "When she's gone, let's talk. There's no reason we can't pick up where we left off. Real history is better than whatever this is, don't you think?"
Clarissa walks away before Mia can respond. Before Adrian can defend her. Before anyone acknowledges that she just walked into Mia's wedding and tried to destroy it with words that cut deeper than any knife.
Mia excuses herself to the bathroom.
She locks herself in a stall and tries not to fall apart. Her dress is too tight. The room is too bright. Everything feels like it's closing in on her.
Adrian was engaged to someone who looks like that. Someone who's sophisticated and rich and from his world. Someone who belongs in that mansion the way Mia never will.
Adrian was engaged to someone and now he's married to her and apparently the plan is that after one year, he goes back to Clarissa.
Clarissa who clearly still loves him.
Clarissa who clearly plans to take him back.
When Mia comes out of the bathroom, Adrian is waiting by the door. He looks furious.
"I'm sorry about Clarissa," he says.
"Who is she really?"
Adrian's jaw clenches. "Someone from my past that I'm not interested in anymore."
"She seems interested in you."
"That's not my problem."
"It's my problem," Mia says. Her voice is shaking. "She walked up to me at our wedding and told me this was temporary. Told me she's waiting for you. Told me you collect broken things."
Adrian steps closer. "Clarissa says a lot of things. Don't listen to her."
"Why shouldn't I? She was your fiancée. She knows you. She knows your world. And she made it very clear that I'm just a placeholder until she gets you back."
"You're not a placeholder."
"Then what am I?"
Adrian doesn't answer because he doesn't have a good answer. He's not sure what she is. An obligation. A contract. A girl who somehow got under his skin even though he never wanted her to.
"We should get back to the reception," Adrian says finally.
But Mia has seen what happens after one year. She's seen what Adrian goes back to. And it's not her. It will never be her.
She's always known this was temporary. But seeing it in Clarissa's smile made it real.
Made her realize that no matter how much Adrian says he wants to protect her, no matter how much he convinced her to believe in this marriage, the truth is simple.
She's a one-year problem with an expiration date.
And when the year ends, Adrian goes back to his real life.
He goes back to Clarissa.
He goes back to the people and the world and the life that Mia will never be part of.