He Clipped My Wings To Keep Me
My best friend, however, was living a different reality. She married into the Beaumont familyold money, private jets, the kind of wealth that whispers rather than shouts. She was their princess.
If she texted, "My boss looked at me wrong today," the company would be acquired and liquidated by noon the next day.
While I was standing in a bodega in Queens, arguing with the owner over fifty cents for bruised produce, my best friend received a Hamptons beachfront estate worth millions just because her husband missed the clock striking twelve on her birthday.
Their fairy-tale romance was viral fodder. #RelationshipGoals trended every time she posted. The world watched with envy.
I watched too. But I wasnt jealous. Not really.
Until the day Declan and I were scheduled to go to City Hall for the tenth time to finally sign the papers. And for the tenth time, he vanished. Something about "old debts" and "guys from the neighborhood" coming to collect.
At that exact moment, Siennas Instagram updated.
He says the debt he owed her is finally paid. From this moment on, I am his only love.
The photo showed her hand interlaced with the heir to the Beaumont empire. And on the mans index finger sat a ring.
A ring I had designed.
1
"Lady, are you buying the scallions or not? Youre holding up the line."
"I just... I buy here every day," I said, my voice tight. "Cant you knock off the fifty cents?"
"Nora, look at you. You dress like youre somebody, but you haggle like a beggar. Careful, or that man of yours is gonna trade you in."
Shame, hot and prickling, climbed up my neck. I grabbed the scallions, waving my hand dismissively. "Forget it. Keep the change."
As I walked away, I heard the mutter behind me. "Broke as a joke but acts like a queen. Probably stole that dress."
My grip tightened on the plastic bag. It was the bodega owner who had overcharged me, but I was the one being villainized. I wanted to scream.
But then I remembered the date.
Let it go, I told myself. Today is the day. City Hall. Finally.
I was generous today. I was happy.
My phone buzzed. My smile collapsed before I even answered.
"Nora... I cant make it. We have to reschedule."
Declans voice was breathless, rushing through a litany of excuses. He said hed run into some heavy hitters from his past, guys he owed money to. He had to lay low for a day or two.
"Stay safe, babe. Ill make it up to you. Ill cook that pasta you like when I get back."
His voice dissolved into static and wind.
I stood on the cracked pavement, the noise of the city fading into a dull roar. The disappointment I had swallowed so many times beforeforced down like dry breadsuddenly swelled in my throat, choking me. My hands went cold.
"Nora? You there?"
"Declan," I said, my voice sounding hollow, like it was coming from someone else. "This is the tenth time. Ten times youve left me standing at the altar because of some street beef."
"I know, Im sorry... Nora, Im useless. I know I am. I cant give you the life you deserve. Im trash."
"I promise, Ill be back tonight."
The line went dead before I could respond.
Simultaneously, a notification slid down my screen: Vivi_Sienna just posted a photo.
Sienna was my "ride or die." We had a pact: whenever she posted, I was the first like, the first comment. I was the Maid of Honor in spirit, if not in proximity.
I opened the app.
There she was, holding a marriage license, beaming, nestled into a mans chest. The backdrop was the glittering skyline of Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, viewed from a penthouse that probably cost more than my entire lifetime of earnings.
The caption: My puppy has paid his debts to that woman. Finally, hes just mine. <3
The comments were in a frenzy.
Omg, finally! True love wins!
Ive followed this saga for years. He treats you like a queen!
If it wasnt for that evil woman getting in the way, they would have been together ages ago.
I was about to double-tap out of habit when my eyes locked onto the man in the photo.
Specifically, his hand.
The world went silent. The traffic, the shouting pedestriansit all just stopped.
Impossible.
I zoomed in. My fingers trembled so hard the screen blurred. I zoomed closer.
On the ring, barely visible, was an engraving: The Little Prince and the initials DB.
My blood turned to slush.
I had designed that ring. It was a custom commission. The Little Prince and the Rose. Because when Declan proposedwith a ring pop, back thenhe had said, "Nora, there are a million roses in the world, but I only want you."
I had saved for months to have that silver band made. There was only one in existence.
In my shock, my thumb slipped. I liked the photo.
Before I could undo it, Siennas name flashed on my incoming call screen.
"Nora! You finally remembered your bestie!" Her voice was champagne bubbles and sugar. "My boyfriend... oh wait, my husband finally agreed to sign the papers. I am officially Mrs. Beaumont."
I forced the muscles in my face to work. "Congratulations. You got what you wanted."
"Nora, you sound weird. Did Declan upset you again? I swear, Ill fly back and kick his"
"No," I cut her off. "Just a cold. Sore throat."
She didnt push. She launched into her usual monologue about the Beaumont heir. She told me how last week, he heard her mention the elevator was jittery, so he walked down forty flights of stairs with her, abandoning a multi-million dollar merger meeting just to hold her hand. How he tracked her cycle and stocked the Bentley with heating pads and chocolate.
"Oh!" she chirped. "Declan told me you guys were supposed to go to City Hall today too. Lucky bastard, locking you down."
"Anyway, Im coming to see you tonight. We need to celebrate. Drinks on me."
She hung up before I could say no.
I stood on the corner, feeling the wind cut through my coat. My heart felt like it had been sliced open, cold air rushing into the wound.
The crosswalk signal changed. Walk. Dont Walk. Walk.
I stepped off the curb. A motorcycle roared past, cutting the corner, splashing a wave of gutter sludge all over me.
I froze. My white dressmy "City Hall" dresswas ruined. Brown, oily water dripped from my hair, my face, my hem.
It looked exactly like my relationship with Declan. Spotted, dirty, ruined.
"Watch where you're going, psycho!" the rider yelled.
The dam broke. I didn't cry; I wailed. I stood in the middle of a Queens intersection and sobbed.
"Hey! Watch your mouth!" I screamed back, wiping sludge and tears from my eyes. "Are you in a rush to die? You think you're tough on that piece of junk bike?"
My voice cracked, but the rage was pure. I sounded feral.
"You crazy b" The rider started, but he saw the look in my eyes. I looked like I had nothing left to lose. Because I didn't.
"Come on! Hit me! Do it!"
They muttered curses and sped off, unnerved by my hysteria.
I walked home, dripping. I didn't shower. I sat on the sagging sofa in my ruined dress and scrolled through Siennas Instagram.
Ten years. We had been friends for ten years.
I scrolled back to high school. There was a photo of the three of us. We looked so young. Declan was holding my hand, but his eyes... his eyes were locked on Sienna, who was making a funny face at the camera. The look on his face was pure adoration.
It was like a knife twisting in my gut.
I was the idiot. The third wheel who didn't know she was the third wheel.
We were supposed to go to college together. But the day the SAT scores came back, I had tanked. Me, the valedictorian. I had fallen asleep during the exam.
Sienna had cried when she found out. She wanted to march to the school board. I refused. I remembered falling asleep. It was my fault.
She went off to a prestigious university and met her "True Love," the Beaumont heir.
I stayed behind. My mother tried to marry me off to a landlord twice my age to settle her gambling debts.
Declan saved me. He showed up with ten thousand dollarsmoney he said he borrowed from loan sharksand bought my freedom.
I remember my mother counting the bills, licking her thumb, not even looking at me as I lay on the floor, bruised and broken.
Declan took me away. We lived a fugitive life, running from his "debts."
He was good to me. If I craved sweets at 2 AM, hed take his beat-up bike and find them. If we fought, he always apologized first.
The only thing missing was the marriage license. Every time we tried, disaster struck. A storm. A breakdown. A "vengeful creditor."
He told me the debt was the reason. He was protecting me.
I scrolled further down Siennas feed. September 15th.
Nora, the guy I like finally confessed! she had told me over the phone, weeping.
But he says he owes a debt to another woman. He says he has to pay her back before he can be with me honorably. What do I do?
I had been so angry on her behalf. I told her that man was trash for stringing her along. I even cursed the "other woman" for being an obstacle.
Sienna had laughed then. A strange, dark laugh. "Nora, you are so silly. But I think he really loves me. He flew ten hours just to see me."
That was the same day as my two-year anniversary with Declan. He had stood me up. Said he had a job interview out of state.
It was all there. The breadcrumbs were boulders, and I had been blind.
Sienna posted photos of the "Beaumont Heir," but never his face. A jawline. A hand. A clavicle.
I pieced it together. The scar on the thumb. The shape of the ear.
Declan was the Beaumont heir.
My mechanic boyfriend, the "school failure," was the Prince of New York.
I laughed. A dry, hacking sound in the empty apartment.
I pulled a hidden pack of cigarettes from a shoebox. Declan hated girls who smoked. I didn't like it either, but sometimes the stress of poverty was too much, and I needed the nicotine to breathe.
I lit one, coughing as the smoke hit my lungs.
I wasn't a difficult person. If he had just said, "I don't love you," I would have walked away.
I picked up my phone and dialed a number I hadn't used in years.
"Mr. Grant? Does your sister still need the bone marrow transplant?"
"She does," a deep, steady voice answered.
"I'll do it. But I have a condition."
"Name it."
"Send me to school. Abroad. Cover my tuition."
"Done."
When Declan finally came home, the tears were dry on my face. The apartment smelled like stale smoke.
He frowned, sweeping the cigarette butts into a pile. He gently took the unlit one from my fingers. He didn't scold me. He just pulled me into a hug.
I looked up at the flickering ceiling light. "Declan, the bulb needs changing."
"Mmm," he hummed against my hair.
I had asked him last week. He forgot.
It wasn't just the light that was broken.
He was so busy lately. Living two lives must be exhausting.
I pulled away. He looked handsome, even in his faded denim jacket. High cheekbones, deep eyes. The poverty was a costume, and he wore it well.
"Still mad at me?" He smiled, that charming, lopsided grin that used to make my knees weak. He nuzzled my neck.
"Declan," I said calmly. "You're dirty."
He froze. Panic flickered in his eyes before he saw the mud on my dress. He relaxed, visibly relieved.
"Right. The mud. I'll wash it for you, okay? I'll make it pristine."
He was so good at playing the role. He hand-washed my cheap underwear. He ate spicy food he hated because I loved it.
I couldn't reconcile this man with the one on the yacht with Sienna.
When Sienna arrived an hour later, Declan was hanging my laundry.
She burst in with a six-pack of beer. Declans face went cold. "Nora is allergic to alcohol. Watch yourself, Sienna."
"Oh, shut up. Nora can drink you under the table. We used to work at that dive bar together, remember? I saved your little Nora once. You should be thanking me."
She remembered.
We were the tragic heroines of our own story back then. Her father was a gambler; my mother was a monster. We bonded over our emptiness.
One night, I was cornered in the bar. She stood in front of me, terrified but screaming that shed called the cops. The owner made us drink a bottle of whiskey each to leave. She almost died of alcohol poisoning.
That girl... that brave girl... how did she become this?
Why did it have to be her?
Sienna pushed past him. "Nora! Lets get wasted!"
Declan started to intervene, but I shook my head.
He mouthed, Be careful. Its your time of the month.
My heart spasmed. Pain, sharp and physical. I wished he was just a villain. It would be easier if he didn't care. But he cared in the details, while destroying me in the macro.
Sienna got drunk fast. She slumped onto my lap, mumbling about our old promises.
"Nora... we said we'd marry brothers... so we'd never be apart... live in the same house..."
I stroked her hair.
We did marry the same man, didn't we?
She fell asleep, her face flushed and innocent. My fingers traced the delicate line of her throat.
I could hurt her. It would be so easy.
Why? Why you? Why him? The two people I loved most in the world.
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