The Billionaire's Contract Bride: Love Triangle

Vera's POV:

I pushed the front door open with a fluttering heart and a grin on my face.

Today was our anniversary, and I was sure Evan had planned a surprise party for me. He had tried to hide it, but over the past few weeks, I had seen him sneaking off to take calls, and watched him meet with event planners.

Today made it three years with Evan Crentford – my fiancée, the man I loved with all my heart and who claims he could not live without me.

I had practically floated home, already imagining walking through the door with a huge bouquet of flowers and a wide smile.

I took a step into the dark home, and...

POP!

The light turned on instantly, and at the same time, a shower of gold and silver ribbons exploded in my face.

I took a deep breath, and gasped.

Stumbling back as the cascade of paper and glitter rained on me. For a very brief moment, I was filled with nothing else but joy.

Evan remembered our anniversary. I thought with a smile on my face

I chuckled, brushed some confetti out of my hair and blinked as I took multiple steps inside.

"Evan -" I breathed, smiling as my vision cleared. "Oh my god, you – "

A collective gasp snapped me out of my thoughts,

"Ugh, wait, who is she?"

"What is she doing here?"

"My god, did we just waste the confetti for a random woman?"

"Somebody get her out of the home, she just ruined the surprise."

My heart beat faltered, and the wide grin on my face froze.

My vision cleared, and I stopped breathing because there were at least fifteen people standing in front of me.

Most of whom I had never seen before. Were these Evan friends?

And why were they staring at me as if I was an intruder in my own home?

My stomach twisted, as I stared at my fiancée in disbelief, "What's happening, Evan?" I asked, my voice filled with confusion,

Before he could answer, a tall blonde woman stepped up to his side and screamed at me, "Who the hell are you?"

My stomach twisted. "I-I'm Vera, Evan's fiancée,"

The room went silent, then, everyone burst into laughter.

"Oh my God, you are joking right?" one gasped,

"Fiancée, How?"

"Why would Evan go from Lyra to you?"

Heat spread through my face, my fingers curled into fists as I stared down at the man I loved.

His gaze widened as he spotted me,

"Vera?" he gasped, "What are you doing here? You are supposed to be at the office, aren't you?"

My mouth fell open as I stared at him in disbelief, "It's our anniversary, Evan. What do you mean by what am I doing here?"

Silence, then, confusion as Evan glanced down at his watch, his mind racing as he struggled to recall the date of our anniversary.

He blinked rapidly, then looked around him before his gaze snapped back towards me.

The ribbons that filled the ground stared at me as if mocking me.

"This- " I pointed out, "- is for me, right?"

Someone snorted, another chuckled,

"For you? Girl, no one knows who you are." The same blond girl hissed, "This is Lyra's surprise birthday party."

I felt the floor fall beneath me.

That was a name I actually recognized

Lyra, his ex.

The girl that had broken his heart years before, the girl that he swore to me, he now hates.

He remembered her birthday, but couldn't remember our anniversary?

My voice trembled, "Evan..." I whispered, looking down as tears threatened to prickle through my eyes, "You forgot, didn't you?"

He flinched, then looked down. The guilt I could spot in his gaze was unmistakable. He actually did forget about me and us.

"Vera, I got caught up, okay?" he whispered, "Lyra is currently going through a lot and I just wanted to do something nice to cheer her up. I had no idea you were going to come home early,"

My breath left me completely, and I had to clench my fists tighter not to fall on my knees.

The humiliation of what he had just said, hit me like a punch to the face.

He was shooing me away.

He was pushing his fiancée out as though I was nothing more than an inconvenience to him.

"I am your fiancée, Evan," I whispered, barely holding my emotion together as my body began to tremble, "I should be your number one priority, always."

He winced, "I-I know Vera, just give me a moment, once I'm done with Lyra's party, we can go for our own private dinner."

My eyes stung, but I stood my ground. I wasn't going to step aside for another woman, especially one that was an ex. I felt myself shrinking as I was stared down by over a dozen people, but I wasn't going to back down.

Evan swallowed, his gaze filled with guilt.

"Vera," he reached into his pockets and pulled out a small wrapped box, his voice softened as he stared at me, "I had our rings engraved," he said as he began to open the box, "I did not give you the rings earlier because I wanted to do this in a private moment, the right way."

He opened the box, and I stared bright-eyed at the beautiful ring he had proposed to me with. Evan had asked for mine earlier in the month, and I had given it to him, already suspecting he was going to do something like this.

My breath caught as he stepped forward and warmly smiled at me.

Before I could blink, he took my hand in his warm familiar grip, and slowly began to push the ring up my fingers.

Warm emotions swelled in my chest and I felt loved once again. I glanced up at him, my lips parting as I spoke up.

"Evan.."

He looked at me with soft eyes, still slowly pushing the rings up my finger, "I promise I'll make it up to you,"

I opened my lips, and stopped.

Because his phone was ringing.

It was loud and urgent.

Evan froze, he glanced down to reject the call, but froze the moment he saw the name on the caller ID.

I looked down and spotted it too. Lyra.

I watched the blood drain from his face as he quickly picked the call, forgetting me.

"Evan..." her loud, shrill voice filled the room, "Please help me, I'm being attacked – please!"

He didn't hesitate, my fiancée didn't even think.

"Lyra," he screamed back, "I'm coming,"

And in one swift motion, without even realizing that he was still holding my hand, he tore the ring off my finger.

Ripped it off, as though it meant nothing.

Then, without looking at me, he turned around and bolted out of the open door.

"Wait – Evan!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

But he was gone, and just like that, my fiancée was running towards another woman.

I was dumb and in love, so I made a mistake I should not have ever made. I followed him out.

I should not have grabbed my keys out of my purse with trembling hands, rushed to my car and driven blindly across the city following my fiancée with a shattered heart and a vision now clouded by humiliation.

But love made people foolish, and I was in love. And right then, as I drove, I struggled to bite back my falling tears.

Evan's car finally screeched to a stop in front of an apartment complex. I parked my car a couple of meters away from his, then, stepped out just in time to see him sprint away from the car while shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Lyra,"

Panic ripped his voice apart as his shout practically traveled through the street,

My stomach twisted, but I tore my keys away from the ignition, slammed my door close and followed after him, almost tripping over in my bid to catch up.

I reached the parking lot, and froze.

Two large men in masks stood in the middle of the parking lot. They were big, furious and armed with long metal pipes. Lyra stood behind them, one hand wrapped around a belly that was swollen, and another hand wrapped around the hand of a friend.

This felt like the perfect visage of a robbery in progress, but something was off.

I knew about images, and there was really something off about this one.

Lyra wasn't afraid, her face might have been frozen in a stiff and fearful expression, but her eyes practically screamed delight.

And the moment they shifted over to me, she smirked.

And that was when I realized she knew exactly who I was.

Evan knew I was behind him, but not once did he glance back at me. With a lunge, he placed himself between Lyra and the two men.

"Stay behind me," he barked in righteous anger, his fingers balled into a fist.

One of the men swung first, obviously not caring for any bravado from Evan. I froze, my breath catching, and I screamed,

"Evan!"

He didn't look back, though he did react.

With a grunt, he ducked under the swinging metal pipe and punched the man right on his jaw. A crack split the air, and it made my stomach churn.

The second man charged and attacked with his own pipe. Evan blocked it, this time, using his forearm. He gritted his teeth, grunted in pain, then retaliated with a kick that sent the man stumbling back and the pipe falling out of his hands.

Lyra watched all of this happen with her hand over her mouth as she sobbed, but her eyes remained dry.

Her friend whispered something to her ears, Lyra turned to face me, then, chuckled.

Rage rushed through me. Lyra was laughing while my fiancée bled for her.

And that thought sent shivers running down my spine. I stood there, frozen stiff as I suffocated on what could only be called heartbreak.

The other guy caught Evan off guard, held him by the collar and slammed him so hard on the ground that the pavement almost broke.

I gasped, my muscles clenched as I prepared to run forward, to help -

Only for someone to shove me from behind, hard.

I tried to keep my balance, but I couldn't. I fell slamming hard against the ground as I grunted in pain.

"Know your place, bitch." a female voice sneered,

My palms scraped the pavement, and pain shot up my body as I sat up, still in disbelief.

I cried out, I knew I had, and I was sure Evan had heard me, but he didn't care.

I tried to push myself up, but my elbows trembled, still scarred from the shock of the push. And all I could do was watch as Evan bared his teeth and rage pulsed off him.

With a roar, he shrugged the man off his back and delivered a brutal punch to his ribs, grounding him.

He fought like a man possessed.

Not for his fiancée, not for the woman he was about to spend the rest of his life with.

No, he fought for her, for his ex, for Lyra.

Within seconds, the two men were limping away, defeated.

Evan staggered, he wiped his blood off his cheek with his white sleeves, then slowly turned until our eyes met, and he spotted me on the floor, slightly bleeding.

Shock flickered across his face, and for a moment, I believed I spotted concern.

"Vera," he whispered under his breath,

I swallowed hard, my heart clenching as I felt the power his voice still had over me.

I wanted him to run to me, lift me up, and tell me I was all right.

But he took only one step towards me, before Lyra let out a loud dramatic cry and clutched her stomach.

"A-ah!" she screamed, "Help me, Evan, I think something's wrong."

Evan's head whipped towards her, and once again, without hesitation and without a backward glance at me, he ran to her.

I felt something within me fracture at that sight, it was sharp and final.

Lyra's friend smirked at me, then mouthed, "He knows who really matters, and that's not you."

Evan cradled Lyra's head to his chest, touching her slowly as he lifted her up and began to take her towards his car.

My scrapped palms still throbbed,

My knees still stung,

And my heart felt like it was bleeding onto the pavement too, as I watched my fiancée look at another woman as though she was the only thing that mattered in the world to him.

"Evan!" I called out as tears began to fall from my eyes,

He didn't hear me, didn't even glance back at me.

I cried,

But these were not sad, hollow tears, these were tears that fell when the truth finally sunk in.

I laid there on the ground for what felt like minutes before a sharp sound broke through my daze, it was footsteps.

Loud, heavy footsteps.

"What should we do?" A distinct voice called out, "We were not able to capture the bitch. How else are we supposed to threaten Evan?"

I froze, it was the two guys and they were back.

My eyes widened as I laid still, trying to keep myself hidden.

I failed,

"Wait, isn't that his fiancée?" One of them gasped, shock spilling into his tone.

"It really is her," The other replied, "Take her."

This time, I could no longer stay still.

With a grunt, I pushed myself to my feet, stifled my wince and immediately tried to run away.

"Catch her," the first guy shouted, and my stomach dropped as I heard the rapidly approaching sound of their footsteps.

I fumbled through my purse for my phone, and immediately called my only emergency number. It rang once.

Then, "You know I'm busy," Evan's voice echoed from the other end of the line, "Lyra is in critical condition,"

My lips parted, but before I could say anything, he had already hung up.

For a moment, I stood in disbelief, my heart pounded faster than ever as I struggled to come to terms with what had just happened.

I only started moving when the sound of their footsteps became close.

My car was parked about a hundred feet away from me, it was close, but it was an open field, and I was far too weak to run that distance.

I glanced around, sweat dripping down my brows as I looked for any place I could hide.

There – I spotted a pile of trash and immediately rushed towards it. I just managed to jump inside and hide myself when the guys rushed past me.

I closed my mouth shut and held my breath. The stink was horrendous, but it was either that or getting kidnapped, and I didn't want to lose my life.

I waited there for thirty minutes before I was sure that the guys had left.

By the time I stepped out, the night was darker, and I could hardly see my own feet.

I should have been scared, but all I could feel was rage, and the cold, empty realization that Evan had left me.

I pushed myself up to my feet, my body trembling.

And the realization hit me at that moment.

Evan no longer loved me. And as I stood there, broken, scrapped and rendered all but invisible.

I realized that tonight wasn't the night I lost him, it was just the night I could finally admit that he was gone.

With a sigh, I turned back to my car and began to walk towards it.

Intent on driving back home, and packing out.

The next few minutes were a blur.

I don't remember driving home, nor do I remember how my trembling hands were able to clench the steering wheel, or how my legs even managed to reach the pedal.

The only thing I could recall was Evan calling Lyra's voice, but not mine.

By the time I drove into the parking lot at our... no, his home, my chest felt hollow. It was like Evan had scooped every single thing out of me and left nothing else but pain behind.

My legs trembled as I stepped out of the car and began to walk straight to the home. My plan was simple: walk to the bedroom, pack my clothes and leave this nightmare of a relationship behind.

But the moment I pushed the door open, I froze, again.

This time, Lyra was sitting on the couch.

She was wrapped in a blanket, and was resting against the cushions as though this was her home. Evan sat beside her with his arms wrapped around her shoulders. Neither of them had noticed the door opening and me stepping in.

Evan held a glass of water to her lips, brushed her hair away with gentle fingers while whispering to her.

This was my fiancée, and he was comforting another woman in my home.

"I had no idea you were pregnant." Evan whispered,

Lyra lowered her lashes as her hands moved protectively over her slightly swollen body.

Pregnant?

My heart stopped beating for a moment as an absurd thought crossed my mind.

Was Evan the father?

"I'll get you some ginger ale," Evan whispered, then stood up and, without glancing at the door, he hurried towards the kitchen.

My nails dug into my palms as I watched him practically run to bring her some ginger ale.

The second Evan was out of earshot, Lyra's entire demeanor changed. Her soft, scared expression shifted into an entirely different expression, one of a sharp, mocking glare.

On the other sofa was her blonde friend and the girl leaned closer, "So... that fight earlier?" she gasped, "What really happened?"

Lyra flicked her hair over her shoulder as a triumphant smirk filled her face, "Oh please, those idiots were fools, and they were not trying to hurt me, just send a message," she replied, "Besides, I already dealt with the pregnancy situation."

Her friend blinked, then gasped, "Wait, you didn't?" she asked, staring at Lyra with wide eyes, "Did you...?"

Lyra grinned, "Yeah, I had a miscarriage last week, but Evan doesn't need to know that."

I almost choked, but kept my cool, standing as still as I could as they both aired out their affairs to the world.

"But what happens when he finds out?" The friend asked with raised brows,

Lyra laughed, it was a cold, threatening sound that sent shivers running down my spine.

"Evan? Find out? Please," she kept on chuckling, "I have that fool wrapped around my fingers. He'll believe anything I say," she glanced down and traced a finger down her exposed belly. "Honestly, all I have to do is cry, and he comes running over. The baby wasn't even his, and he was already ready to take responsibility for it."

My heart stopped, and my lungs tightened as if a weight had settled over them. Breathing became a chore, each breath forced and shallow.

Lyra wrinkled her nose, feigning exaggerated distaste. "Ugh, what's that disgusting smell?" she muttered, almost to herself. Her gaze then swept over the room and landed on me. A wicked smirk curled at the edges of her lips, like she'd just found something amusing.

She let the moment hang, relishing my discomfort, before her smile stretched wider. "Honestly, all of this is just too fun to watch," she drawled, flicking her wrist as if dismissing something trivial. "Seeing him dance around, thinking he's in control-it's almost cute," she continued, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

Her eyes flickered to her friend, who nodded in agreement, but then-almost imperceptibly-her gaze shifted toward me.My heart stopped, my lungs tightened until breathing became a chore.

Lyra's lips curled into a sneer, "Oh, I didn't even know you were there, sweetie," she whispered, "Don't look so heartbroken. Evan was always mine, you were only useful for keeping the spot warm."

I stepped forward, the disgust in me being consumed by an ever-rising rage. "You are lying," I said, my voice shaking in anger, "Evan deserves to know the truth of the woman he is leaving me for."

Lyra threw her head back and laughed, "The truth, Vera?" She chuckled. "Please go ahead, and let's see who he believes. I don't think you get it yet, I am taking your man just because I can, and nothing more."

Lyra tilted her head, her eyes glinting with malicious delight. Her voice dropped to a whisper, so laced with venom that it practically hissed. "Don't look so heartbroken. Evan was always mine. You were just... useful for keeping the spot warm."

I felt the words settle like ice in my veins, but something deep within me began to boil. I took a step forward, my disgust quickly morphing into something far more dangerous-rage. My voice trembled, not from fear, but from the force of the anger that surged within me. "You're lying," I spat, each word laced with fury. "Evan deserves to know the truth about the woman he's leaving me for."

Lyra's head tilted back in a laugh so sharp it almost seemed to slice the air. "The truth, Vera?" She chuckled, her tone dripping with mockery. "Please, go ahead, tell him. Let's see who he believes." Her smile deepened, colder now. "You still don't get it, do you? I'm taking your man-just because I can. And nothing more."

My throat tightened and for the first time in a long time, I thought about letting my fists do the talking.

"You are cruel, Lyra," I whispered, "I'm only sad that Evan is too blind to see it."

Lyra raised a brow, "And that you are far too weak to stop it."

I felt the heat rush through my veins, I held back my anger, but I wasn't going to let that go unanswered.

I took a step forward, and pointed at her. At the same time, I saw Lyra's eyes widen as her gaze darted behind me. And at that moment, her entire expression and demeanor changed,

She shifted from being smug and content, to looking like she was staring down the barrel of a gun.

It only took a moment for me to realize what was happening, and that moment was far too long .

Because before I could react, Lyra let out a large scream and crumbled hard to the floor.

"A-ah!" she screamed, "Help, Evan."

The sound of Evan running over filled the home. Lyra did not stop screaming even when he was running over.

"V-Vera pushed me!" she roared, "She pushed me. Oh my god, my baby, what will happen to my baby?"

Lyra was crying now, not just sobbing, crying, and she kept on wailing and pointing at me.

Evan dropped the mug of ginger ale with a loud crash. Without even looking at me, he rushed to Lyra's side and helped her up.

"Lyra," he called out, his voice cracked with genuine panic and pain. "What happened?" he asked, but his gaze barely brushed past me, a flash of disgust flickering in his eyes as he took in the sight of me-drenched in grime, a mess from crawling out of the trash heap, his gaze filled with anger as he looked at me. .

My lips parted, a flood of words racing up to my throat, but before I could speak, Lyra beat me to it.

"Evan. She pushed me, and I think I am losing the baby."

The words hit like a sledgehammer. A primal surge of anger, confusion, and helplessness coiled within me. "I DIDN'T TOUCH HER!" I screamed, more shocked by Lyra's acting than anything now, "Evan, she is lying to you! She's staging this, look at her!"

His eyes didn't even flicker in my direction. Not even a single, fleeting glance. He turned his back to me and started cradling her in his arms while his other hand searched his pockets for his car keys,

"Evan please, she staged all this. I did not touch her, I did not even - "

"SHUT UP!" Evan looked me in the eyes and roared,

I flinched, and the world froze around me,

Lyra kept on trying, but I wasn't going to stop until he knew exactly what happened.

"Evan, please listen to me," I continued, "Lyra is lying, she's not even pregnant anymore. She's - "

He stood, took two steps toward me, and before I could blink,

His hand struck my face.

The pain exploded like a firework behind my eyes, the jagged metal edges of the key fob and the serrated teeth of the ignition key had sliced into my skin on impact.

I staggered backward, my legs buckling beneath me as I collapsed.