The Twenty-Billion-Dollar Sacrifice

The ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton was buzzing. Sophia Harper was announcing her engagement to Liam.

I walked in.

I was dressed in black. I looked like a wraith, but my eyes were dry.

Liam went pale. "Elena."

I walked to the stage and handed him the divorce certificate.

"Congratulations," I said.

"Elena, we can fix this," he whispered, seeing the dead look in my eyes.

"Liam, get her out!" Sophia screeched.

Suddenly, the doors banged open.

Marcus Foley, the billionaire patriarch, strode in. Security guards flanked him.

Sophia's eyes lit up. "Mr. Foley! I'm Sophia Harper! I'm a huge fan!" She thought he was there to invest.

Marcus walked right past her. He stopped in front of me.

He looked at my bandage, my pale skin. His eyes filled with tears. He held out his arm.

I took it.

"Mr. Foley," Liam stammered. "You should know, this woman... she's unstable. She's just a surgeon..."

Marcus laughed, a cold, terrifying sound. "Just a surgeon? You fool."

"He's not an investor, Liam," I said, my voice ringing in the silence.

"He's my father."

Sophia gasped. "Foley? But... you're poor! You lived in a studio!"

"I gave up twenty billion dollars to be with a man I thought was worthy," I said, looking Liam in the eye. "I was wrong."

The reporters went wild. The narrative flipped in a second. The poor, crazy ex-girlfriend was actually the heiress to the Foley empire. And Liam Turner was the idiot who threw her away.