LOVE ME AT THIRTY

BLURB Fifteen years. One childish promise that changes everything. Sarah has spent half her life waiting for her thirtieth birthday—the day her best friend Brian promised they’d get married if they were both still single. But when the clock strikes thirty, the man she’s secretly loved for over a decade gets down on one knee and asks for forever... only he isn't asking her. Thrown into the role of bridesmaid for the wedding that should have been hers, Sarah must swim in the wreckage of a broken pact while Brian struggles with a mistake that could cost him the only woman he’s ever truly loved. Can a love built on fifteen years of silence survive a public betrayal, or will the dream girl Sarah thought she was remain just that—a dream?

Chapters

Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

SARAH'S POV

“Oops! Looks like I ruined the big surprise!”

The words felt like shards of glass cutting their way out of my throat. I stood there, paralyzed, watching Brian. He looked stunned, his feet rooted to the floor as if the weight of the moment had finally crushed him.

For one beautiful, agonizing second, I let myself believe the look on his face was regret. I imagined him turning to me, grabbing my hands, and telling everyone it was all a cosmic mistake. But then I saw the sweat on his brow, the frantic twitch in his eyes, It wasn't regret, It was the raw, paralyzing anxiety of a man about to leap into a future he had chosen. Just not with me.

I forced my leaden legs to move as I walked up to him and smacked his shoulder with a hollow, booming laugh that echoed the emptiness in my chest. I hugged his side, my fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt one last time.

"You can do it!" I chirped, my voice sounding like a broken flute. "Don't be such a wimp, Brian. You’ve got this!"

He looked down at me, his gaze flickering with confusion or maybe sadness. "I... Sarah, I..."

Our eyes locked, and for a heartbeat, the world went silent. I had never seen him so vulnerable, so utterly terrified and it hurt to realize that I wasn’t the one providing him comfort—I was the one pushing him into the arms of another woman.

Every instinct I had screamed at me to grab him and run, to remind him of the cracked pavement and the pinky promise, Instead, I shoved him. I shoved him away from me and toward Roselyn.

"He can do it! Come on, everyone!" I yelled, my lungs burning. "Chant for him! Make him do it!"

My parents started cheering, their faces glowing with joy. Only Marcus stood still, his eyes darting between Brian, Roselyn, and me with a frown that said he saw right through my theater. I rushed to him, grabbing his arm.

"What are you doing? Chant, Marcus! Join in!"

The room became a deafening roar of encouragement. Roselyn was radiant, her face a map of pure, unadulterated hope. Brian looked at the circle of faces, took a ragged breath, and slowly sank to one knee and the velvet box snapped open.

"I... I never knew a day like this would come," he whispered, his voice thick.

"Where I’d have to face my fears like this. To finally ask." He swallowed hard.

"Roselyn... will you marry me?"

"Say yes! Say yes!" I screamed as I clapped until my palms stung, shouting louder than anyone else to drown out the sound of my soul cracking in half.

‘Please say no’, my heart wailed.

‘Please, for the love of God, say no.’

"Yes, Brian! Yes!" Roselyn cried out.

Brian let out a shaky, hysterical chuckle.

"Really? You say yes?" He sounded like a man who had just been handed a miracle but wanted to reaffirm. Roselyn chuckled as he slid the ring onto her finger, and as he stood, she threw herself into his arms.

He caught her, his hands firm on her waist, and spun her around. He kissed her hair, a gesture so tender it made me want to claw my own eyes out. I could feel the tears stinging my eyes already from immense pain.

Suddenly, a pop of a wine cork punctuated the air, my gaze moved to the sound and saw it was dad popping some champagne to celebrate the moment.

I turned my back, the first sob catching in my throat like a stone. I swiped at my eyes before the tears could fall, spinning back around with a mask of pure sunshine and I almost jolted backwards. Brian was suddenly there, blocking my path.

"Are you crying?" he asked, his voice low and suspicious.

"Tears of joy, you big dummy!" I laughed, the sound jarring and fake. "I'm just so happy someone finally agreed to take a disaster like you off the streets." I slung an arm around his neck, forcing a playful grin.

"You’ve gotta get serious now, Brian. You’re going to be a husband and a father one day." I drawled.

"Husband…Father?" He blinked, looking genuinely lost.

"Duh! Or are you just one of those guys who uses a ring to see what's under a girl's skirt?" He seethed, feeding my anger—my heartache— through my words.

The playfulness vanished from his face instantly. He reached up, firmly removing my arm from his shoulder.

"I'm not that guy, Sarah. I'm going to marry her. In fact, I want to do it in a month. I love Roselyn so much I can't wait a second longer to call her my wife."

The air left my lungs. A month. Fifteen years of waiting, and he was going to erase our future in thirty days.

"Good," I growled, my jaw tight. "That's better." I snarled at his face pushing him backwards slightly.

"Stop bickering! Can you two stop being sr each other's neck everytime?" Mom stepped in, sensing the tension.

“Sarah, you have to treat him with respect now. He's a groom."

Brian stuck his tongue out at me, hiding behind Mom’s shoulder. "Hear that? Respect me."

"In your dreams, loser," I snapped.

Mom sighed as she turned to him, worried. "A month is too fast, Brian, you might want to rethink that."

"It's perfect!" Brian insisted, rushing back to Roselyn and pulling her flush against his side.

"You don't mind, right Rosie?" He asked sweetly and she beamed and shook her head.

"See? It's fine. As long as I have you mom and Pop, and Marcus as my best man..." He turned to me, his eyes hard and challenging. "And my bridesmaid, Sarah, everything will be fine. Right, Sarah?"

I felt the blood drain from my face.

Bridesmaid…it sounded odd to my ear. It sounded pathetic.

I nodded, my neck feeling like it was made of rusted iron. "Right.”

"You see, I told you…I've got all the money to fund, so why can't I?” He boasted.

He was right, we were both filthy rich, besides our family's wealth, so money wasn't an issue.

"Look, I have to go to…the office." They all turned to me, giving me an awkward look as everywhere went silent.

"Really now Sarah, I just proposed and you're already running away" Brian growled.

"Sorry,I've got an urgent project to finish” I mumbled, feeling my throat tighten even more. If I stayed another second, I'd break into a million pieces, right here.

"Emm…don't miss me too much!"

I didn't wait for an answer before bolting for the stairs, my vision blurring into a smear of colors.

I made it into my room and slammed the door, locking it with a trembling hand as I collapsed onto the floor, the first real sob breaking out of me with such force I thought I might be sick.

I curled into a ball, my forehead pressed against the cold wood, crying until my breath came in ragged, painful hiccups.

I crawled toward my nightstand and grabbed the framed photo of us from our 25th birthday. We were laughing, his arm draped over me like he'd never let go. I clutched the glass to my chest, the sharp edges digging into my skin.

I sniffed hard, wiping my tears off as I placed the picture down. It was all over but why does it hurt so much.

I stood up, walking to my desk and pulled the drawer open. I pulled out my diary, sinking into the bed as I swiped the pages, the ink smudging as my tears hit the page.

Dear Diary,

I hit thirty today. I should be celebrating, but I feel like I'm attending my own funeral. The promise is dead. Brian didn't just break it; he stomped on the ashes. He’s getting married in a month, and the girl at the altar won't be me. It was never going to be me. I’ve spent fifteen years loving a ghost, and today, the ghost finally left.”

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I clutched the small velvet box in my hand as I stepped into the gleaming lobby of Hayes Technologies. The custom-made gold locket nestled inside represented everything I'd been hoping for—a future with Ryan, a family, the life we'd promised each other. After three years of marriage and countless disappointments, I wanted this surprise to be perfect. The receptionist smiled as I approached. "Mrs. Hayes! Ryan didn't mention you were coming by today." "It's a surprise," I said, my fingers tightening around the box. "Is he in?" "He's finishing up a meeting. You can wait in his office if you'd like." I nodded, turning toward the hallway when a familiar bark caught my attention. Diana's golden retriever, Banjo, trotted across the lobby, his tail wagging enthusiastically.

Billionaire Modern Romance

8.1

After His Mistress Killed My Son, I Ran

8.1

The doorbell rang at precisely 7:30 PM. I wiped my flour-dusted hands on my apron, glancing at the roast chicken in the oven. Dinner would be ready in twenty minutes—right on schedule, just as Carson preferred. "I'll get it!" Aiden's small voice called from the living room where he'd been coloring. Before I could stop him, he'd already bounded to the front door, his socked feet sliding across the polished hardwood. "Aiden, sweetie, wait—" I started, but the door was already swinging open. Carson stood there, his tall frame filling the doorway. But he wasn't alone. "Reese," he said, his voice carrying that particular tone of authority I'd learned to recognize—the one that meant I should pay careful attention. "I'd like you to meet Lexi Harper." The woman beside him was striking—tall and willowy with cascading blonde hair and eyes that seemed to evaluate everything they touched.

Billionaire Modern Romance

7.7

Bound By His Child

7.7

Married off to him to pay a debt that was never mine, my only purpose was to give him an heir. Year after year, my foolish heart fell harder while he shattered it without mercy. When my service ended, my debt paid, and no child to bind us, I chose freedom through divorce. But just when I thought I was free... I was bound to him again. Bound by his child.

Billionaire Modern Romance

7.1

His Christmas Present

7.1

Aria comes home expecting to make things right with her longtime boyfriend but instead she gets into the wedding arrangements of her stepsister- the groom being her ex. A single agonizing night brings her into the hands of a stranger and she wakes up hoping that she will forget all. Until she goes to a job interview and discovers that the CEO is the man she slept with. Damon. Her uncle, an older and powerful person and the ex of her boyfriend. He hires her. He wants her. And he will not allow her to walk away. Their clandestine office affair becomes a scandal that everybody is talking about. Aria attempts to be tough, yet her family is attempting to manipulate her, Damon does not want to give up, and her past is ready to destroy everything. She begins to trust him just in time to be betrayed by the missing ex of Damon which also happens to look like Aria. The truth breaks her. The pregnancy, the heartbreak, the loss, the sickness... she believes that her story is finished. Until Damon returns to her life in a manner that she could never imagine- taking everything to rescue her. Now Aria has to choose whether she can love the man who replaced her once... or leave before she is hurt again. A Christmas wedding. A stolen company. The second opportunity that she did not expect. And one last turn that alters all.

Billionaire Modern Romance

9.5

His Secret Heir In Her Arms

9.5

I returned to New York with a broken suitcase and exactly three hundred and forty-two dollars in my bank account. My mother was dying in a public hospital, and the only treatment that could save her required a fifty-thousand-dollar deposit I didn't have. While I was pleading with the billing department, I ran into my billionaire ex, Gannon Sharpe, and his cruel fiancée, Aleta. Without a second thought, Aleta slapped me so hard my lip split, kicking my belongings across the floor and calling me a gold-digging thief in front of the entire staff. I looked at Gannon, the man I once loved more than my own life, hoping for a shred of mercy. Instead, he looked at me with pure revulsion and told me I belonged in the gutter. He believed the lies his grandfather told him—that I had abandoned him after his car crash and vanished with millions. He had no idea I was the one who actually pulled him from that burning wreckage, or that I was currently skipping meals in a moldy motel just so our secret son could have formula. He called me "disgusting" and walked away, leaving me to rot. I wanted to scream that I was the genius scientist who wrote his company’s core algorithms, and that the child he didn’t know existed was shivering with a fever only blocks away. But the ironclad NDA I signed to save my family kept me silent, even as Gannon looked at me like I was something he’d stepped in. Desperate for health insurance to save my mother and son, I took a bottom-tier data entry job in the basement of Gannon’s own tower, intending to stay invisible. But when a billion-dollar error threatened to bankrupt his empire, I couldn't stop myself from hacking the system to fix the code. Now, the man who hates me is standing in my cubicle, demanding to know how a "dropout" knows his most guarded secrets. Gannon is finally digging into my past, and he’s about to find out exactly what—and who—I’ve been hiding for the last four years.

Billionaire Modern Mystery

9.1

One Night With The Wrong Brother

9.1

I thought I was waking up in the arms of Arthur, the man I loved. But as the morning light hit the Hamptons estate, the man buttoning his cuffs by the window turned around with eyes like chips of ice. It was Augustus Riddle, Arthur’s cruel younger brother, and I had just spent the night whispering confessions of love into the wrong man's ear. The night I thought was a beautiful beginning turned into a devastating nightmare. Instead of comfort, Gus treated me like a stain on his expensive carpet, scribbling a check for "services rendered" before shoving me into a dark service corridor to hide my existence from his brother. "How much does it cost to buy your silence?" He sneered, before leaving me barefoot in a torrential downpour while he drove away in a luxury Cadillac. Four years later, I am a struggling actress in Los Angeles, working double shifts as a barista just to keep the lights on. My life was finally stable until my roommate dragged me to a high-end dinner to meet her new "influential" boyfriend. The man sitting at the table, looking more arrogant and lethal than ever, was Augustus. He spent the entire night humiliating me, calling me a pathetic amateur and a social climber in front of my only friends. When I fled into the rain and collapsed on the sidewalk, skinning my knee until I bled, he watched from his car. He saw me clutching a plastic baggie containing the taped-together pieces of that four-year-old check—the only proof of my shame. He looked at me like roadkill, rolled up his window, and drove off into the dark. I couldn't understand why he was doing this. Why did he hate me enough to crush me, yet remember that I couldn't handle the smell of cigarette smoke? Why did he leave me bleeding in the street, only to send expensive medical supplies and coffee to my door the very next morning? "I'm moving out." I told my roommates, realizing that Gus Riddle didn't just want to destroy me; he wanted to haunt me. I grabbed my suitcase and walked out with eighty dollars to my name, finally ready to disappear into the city before he could burn the rest of my life to the ground.

Modern Mystery Romance

LOVE ME AT THIRTY

Chapter 3

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