Called Off the Wedding, Left Him Bankrupt novel Chapter 266

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Back when the Tremaines and the Holloways arranged their engagement, it had all been carefully negotiated by the two families’ elders. Dominic had always known about his fiancée—five years his junior—and he’d never objected to the match. In fact, he’d accepted his family’s plans as a matter of course. So when his future bride vanished without a word, it must have been quite a blow to a man whose life, up until then, had gone perfectly according to plan.

Cynthia remembered the first time Dominic mentioned that the Tremaines “owed him something.” The look in his eyes—quietly restrained, tinged with something like resentment—had hit her unexpectedly hard.

She lowered her gaze, feigning composure, but her grip on the papers in her hands tightened until they crumpled.

Juliet noticed, gave Cynthia a quick glance, and gently slipped the papers away from her clutch, placing them back on the table.

“So, even though you called off the engagement, I bet Dominic still saw you as his fiancée all these years, didn’t he?”

The question startled Cynthia. She shook her head quickly.

“That’s impossible.”

She and Dominic had barely interacted before she left the city. Most of the time, she simply watched him from afar.

Dominic and Garry Fairchild—Jocelyn’s older brother—were good friends, so every now and then Cynthia would catch a glimpse of Dominic at the Fairchilds’ house.

She’d been only fifteen or sixteen then, just old enough for her first crush.

Among all the privileged sons of wealthy families, Dominic stood out—elegant, confident, impossible to ignore. Knowing they were engaged made it all the more intoxicating; she’d fallen for him at first sight.

Her mother had always been against the Tremaines using her as some kind of pawn to curry favor with the Holloways. At first, Cynthia had resisted too. But after meeting Dominic in person, her resistance faded, replaced by a secret, girlish longing.

Juliet busied herself with the papers, but kept her voice low as she spoke to Cynthia.

“Why is it impossible?”

“In Dominic’s world, everything has always been simple—things either belong to him, or they don’t. But you broke off the engagement and created a third possibility: something that almost belonged to him, but slipped away.”

“When someone’s entire life goes smoothly, when everyone and everything seems to orbit around him, even a single unexpected change can be hard to let go of.”