After I Chose the CEO's Brother, He Regretted It

Aurora's POV

The invitation arrived on a Tuesday morning, delivered by Samuel's driver. My hands trembled as I opened the cream-colored envelope, recognizing his distinctive handwriting immediately.

[Aurora, I would like you to accompany me to the Hamilton Industries business dinner this Saturday evening. Please be ready by seven. - Samuel]

I read the note three times, my heart hammering against my ribs. After three years of shadows and secrets, he was finally asking me to appear at his side publicly. The significance wasn't lost on me, the Hamilton Industries dinner was one of the most prestigious events in the city's business calendar. Everyone who mattered would be there.

He's going to announce us. The thought sent electricity through my veins. Three years. Three years of waiting, and it's finally happening.

I pressed the invitation to my chest, closing my eyes as hope bloomed in my chest like a flower that had been waiting too long for sunlight. Today marked exactly three years since our agreement began. Three years since the day that shattered my world and rebuilt it in the strangest way possible.

Three years ago...

I was twenty, standing in my childhood bedroom, adjusting the elegant navy blue dress. Today was supposed to be our engagement party, the formal announcement to society that Samuel Nelson and I would be married.

"Aurora, sweetheart, the car is here!" Dad's voice floated up the stairs.

We'd been planning this engagement announcement for weeks, and the wedding was set for the following spring.

The phone call came as I was putting on my grandmother's pearl earrings.

"Aurora." Samuel's voice was strained, "I need to see you before the party."

"Of course! I can't wait to see everyone's faces when we—"

"Not about the party." The sharpness in his tone made my stomach clench. "Meet me in the garden. Now."

I found him standing by the rose bushes where he'd first kissed me two years earlier. But the man facing me wasn't the Samuel who'd held my face so tenderly that spring evening.

"I can't get engaged to you today," he said without preamble.

The words hit me like ice water. "What?"

"I'm getting engaged to Stella Adams instead."

Stella Adams. The name fell between us like a stone thrown into still water, creating ripples that would never stop. I knew her, everyone at the university did. She was beautiful in that effortless way that made other girls hate themselves, and she came from old money.

"I don't understand." My voice sounded small. "Samuel, we're supposed to announce our engagement tonight."

He said, "She saved my life, Aurora. During that hiking trip last year, when the rockslide happened, she risked everything to pull me to safety."

The hiking trip. I remembered him coming back different somehow, distracted. I'd attributed it to stress from work.

"I owe her my life," he continued, his eyes refusing to meet mine. "And now her father wants to marry her off to Harrison Burke, that disgusting old man who's been married three times already. She came to me for help."

"So you're going to get engaged to her?" The hysteria crept into my voice despite my efforts to stay calm. "Samuel, you love me. We were going to announce our engagement to the world tonight."

Finally, he looked at me, and I saw something that made my knees weak, guilt, yes, but also resolve

"I'm sorry, Aurora. I truly am."

"What about me? What about my feelings?"

"I know this is cruel. I know I'm destroying everything between us." He stepped closer. "But I have a proposition."

"Three years," he said quietly. "Give me three years to repay my debt to her, to make sure she's safe from her father's machinations. Her father's control over the family trust expires in three years. Once she has her independence, I can walk away. At the end of three years, I'll end the engagement and we can be together properly."

I stared at him, wondering if I was hearing correctly. "You want me to wait for you while you're engaged to someone else?"

"I'll take care of you. You'll want for nothing. And when it's over—"

"When it's over, I'll be your second choice!" The words exploded out of me. "I'll be the woman you came back to after you finished playing hero with someone else!"

"Aurora!"

"Get out." I turned away from him, "Get out of my sight."

He left without another word. Two hours later, I watched from my bedroom window as cars that should have been arriving for our engagement party instead drove toward the Adams estate. By evening, the society pages were already buzzing about the surprise engagement of Samuel Nelson and Stella Adams.

That night, I cried for a long time. Samuel kept calling me non-stop. After I refused to answer, he persistently kept calling until I finally picked up, and then he wouldn't stop explaining. In the end, I still agreed to his proposal. He promised me over the phone that this was just to repay a life-saving debt of gratitude. I only needed to wait three years for him, and after three years, he would leave Stella, come back to me, and get engaged to me.

I had no choice; I really loved him, and I was willing to wait three years for him. When my father found out, he called me foolish, saying how could I trust the words of such a person. But I was stubborn and even reduced contact with my father.

The memory faded as I looked again at the invitation in my hands. That's over now. Tonight would be different. Tonight, Samuel would break off his engagement to Stella and introduce me as his true love.

I spent the afternoon choosing the perfect dress, a deep emerald green that made my auburn hair look like flame and complemented the jade earrings Samuel had given me for my birthday. He'll remember these earrings, I thought, fastening them carefully. He'll remember how he said green was my color.

The anticipation was almost unbearable. I changed my shoes three times, redid my makeup twice, and practiced my smile in the mirror until my face hurt.

I arrived exactly the Hamilton ballroom on time, scanning the crowd for Samuel's familiar silhouette. When I spotted him near the bar, my heart skipped with the same girlish excitement I'd felt three years ago.

I started toward him, my smile bright with three years of pent-up hope and love. This was our moment. This was when everything would finally—

A woman appeared beside him.

Stella.