Runaway Bride Of The Obsessive Billionaire

We were hunched over a single bowl of cheap takeout noodles in our cramped studio apartment when I started venting. Between slurps, I told him about the billionaire drama Id overheard while doing a closet clean-out that morning.

Can you even believe it? This tech mogulsome new-money pricklives in a penthouse but acts like hes slumming it for the experience. Word is, hes leading a double life. Hes got a devoted girl at home while hes out here spoiling a twenty-something socialite on the side. I stabbed at the bottom of the plastic container with my chopsticks. "The rich are truly another species. To them, loyalty is just a commodity, like a stock they can trade when they get bored."

His hand, which had been reaching for the last piece of braised egg, jerked violently. The egg tumbled onto the linoleum floor with a dull thud. I gasped, mourning the loss of our only protein, completely missing the way the blood had drained from his face, leaving him ghost-white.

The next day, I was back at it, scouting for a client. Her walk-in closet was a mountain of limited-edition labels and unworn silk.

"Your husband certainly adores you," I remarked, pulling on my white gloves to inspect a vintage Birkin.

The mistress of the housea girl who couldn't have been more than twenty-twowas curled on a velvet chaise, swirling a glass of expensive Pinot. "He says Im his little lucky charm. Every time we well, every time he stays the night, he leaves a thank you gift." She suddenly kicked off a heel. "These got a water spot on the suede. I don't want them. Hell just buy me the new seasons collection anyway."

My eyes lit up. The resale value on those shoes could net me an extra fifty bucksenough for a real steak dinner tonight. I knelt to help her slide the other one off, but as I reached for her ankle, a voice drifted down from the top of the stairsa voice so familiar it made my scalp crawl.

"Is my girl throwing away my gifts again?"

I froze. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. I looked up, slowly.

There stood Sebastian. The man who was supposed to be out delivering Uber Eats until 3:00 AM to pay our rent was standing on a gilded staircase, wearing a bespoke three-piece suit, framed by a seven-figure crystal chandelier.

01

In the split second our eyes met, a thousand accusations rushed to my throat.

But they were instantly extinguished by the girls playful pout.

"Hmph. Don't let the suit fool you," she joked, looking at me. "He acts like a gentleman, but hes a total beast behind closed doors."

Sebastian shifted his gaze away from me without a flicker of recognition. He stepped down and pulled the silk robe tighter around her shoulders, covering a cluster of faint, bruised-red marks on her collarbone.

"Madison, honey," he said, his voice a low, smooth purr. "Cover up. We have company."

It wasn't hard to imagine. The way he would have pressed his face into the crook of her neck, leaving those marks with the same devotion he used to show me.

Then, I noticed their pajamas. They were matching setsItalian silk, five thousand dollars a pop.

A few days ago, Id shown him a picture of those exact pajamas on my phone. Can you believe people spend a years rent on something to sleep in? Id laughed. I hate the rich.

He had kissed the corner of my mouth then. Joanna, one day well have that. Im going to make sure youre the wealthiest woman in the city.

Id taken it as a sweet, empty promise. I didn't realize hed already bought themjust for someone else. In that silk, he looked regal, untouchable. He looked like a stranger.

Madison giggled, playfully hitting his chest. "Youre so possessive! Last week he fired a junior analyst just for looking at me too long. He thinks hes in some Hallmark movie. Its a bit much, honestly."

She had the glowing, effortless skin of someone who had never known a day of stress. That was the source of her confidence.

I stood there, paralyzed, before forcing my voice to work. It sounded like sandpaper. "Do you do you two run the company together?"

Madison blew a bubble with her gum. "Oh, its all Sebs. He started it a few years back. He landed this massive Series A funding right after I joined as an intern. He calls me his 'Lucky Rabbits Foot.' He went all out to get me."

The words felt like a bucket of ice water over my head.

Three years ago, Sebastian told me hed used all our savings to start a business. Later, he told me it had failed spectacularly. Hed "grieved" for months, and I had worked three jobs to keep us afloat while he "found himself."

He hadn't failed. He had succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. He just didn't want me in the winners circle. The seat he promised me was already taken.

Madison looked at me with faux-concern. "Hey, are you okay? You look a little pale. If youre struggling for work, I can get you a spot in the mailroom." She patted her chest. "Besides Seb, Im basically the boss around here."

Sebastian let out a soft, condescending chuckle, pinching her nose. "Stop being a brat, Maddie. We don't just hire anyone off the street. The firm only takes Ivy League grads now."

I felt a hollow ache in my chest.

We had both graduated from a mid-tier state school. We had spent years being looked down upon by recruiters. Now that he was at the top, he was pulling up the ladder behind him, sneering at people exactly like the woman who had helped him get there.

I forced myself to look away from their flirting. I surveyed the room. This villa... I couldn't even have imagined this level of luxury in my dreams. The apartment wed shared for eight years was smaller than the bathroom I was standing in.

We had spent nearly a decade cramped on a sagging queen mattress, watching the ceiling leak every time it rained. We were "poor but happy." Or so I thought.

Why? Why was he willing to share the struggle, but not the prize?

Ten minutes later, I hauled the heavy bags of designer cast-offs toward the door. The plastic handles dug into my palms like dull knives. It hurt, but it was nothing compared to the slow-motion shattering of my soul.

Sebastian had his arm around Madison, his thumb tapping a rhythm on his phone. It was an old signal of ours.

Wait for me. Ill call you later.

I pretended not to see. I gave them a polite, professional bow and walked out into the sun.

02

Its a two-hour commute from the hills to my neighborhood. Usually, Id take the bus to save the five dollars. Today, I called an Uber.

The money Id been painstakingly saving for a weddinga wedding that was never going to happensuddenly felt like Monopoly money. Worthless.

I stared out the window as memories clawed at my brain.

In college, I was the one who noticed Sebastianthe gorgeous, brooding guy in the back of the lecture hallwas living on nothing but five-dollar meal vouchers. Id secretly applied for grants on his behalf, found him tutoring gigs, and took care of him in a dozen ways that wouldn't bruise his ego.

When he found out, hed broken down in tears and promised me the world.

Then, his mother got the diagnosis. Stage IV.

We pulled our first fifty thousand dollarsevery cent wed ever earnedout of the bank. On the way to the hospital, we were cornered in a dark alley by three guys with pipes.

I remember my voice being strangely calm. "Let him go. I have the money."

Id whispered in Sebastians ear: "This is for your moms surgery. Go. Now. I know these guys from the neighborhood. I can talk them down."

Sebastian still doesn't know.

That was the biggest lie of my life. I didn't know them. And I didn't "talk them down."

I tried to lie to myself, too. I tried to pretend that night never happened.

When the Uber dropped me off, my hands were shaking so hard I could barely turn the key. I barely made it to the bathroom before I started retching. I threw up my lunch, my dinner, and ten years of wasted trust.

I scrubbed my hands until the skin was raw. But the shame... the memory of those men... you can't wash that off.

I looked in the mirror. My skin was dull, tired. Fine lines were starting to map out the stress around my eyes. How could I compete with a girl like Madison?

I started laughing. A jagged, ugly sound that turned into heaving sobs.

He had promised me everything and gave me nothing. I had promised him nothing and gave him everything I was.

Hours later, Sebastian came home. He didn't even bother with the "delivery guy" act anymore. He walked in wearing that charcoal-gray suit, looking like he owned the building.

His first words weren't an apology. They were a demand.

"Why are you still doing these side gigs, Jo? Its embarrassing."

If it hadn't been for today, I would have died believing his lies. I looked him dead in the eye.

"The delivery job was a lie, Sebastian. But my three jobs? Those were real."

He grabbed my wrist, his grip tight and commanding. "Joanna, have I ever let you go hungry? Why are you playing the martyr now?"

I studied his face. "I wanted to save enough so you wouldn't feel pressured. So we could finally get married. Was that my mistake?"

My voice was a ghost of a whisper. "But I guess thats off the table now."

His grip faltered. He looked around our bedroomthe tiny bed where wed spent nights counting on our fingers who wed invite to our wedding, how wed decorate. Those dreams had been my oxygen.

Now, the air was gone.

"Ten years," I said. "What am I to you, Sebastian? Really?"

He rubbed his temples, looking more annoyed than guilty. "Look, I had a business dinner. I got drunk. One thing led to another with Madison, and I have to take care of her. Shes just a kid, Jo. Shes soft. She needs me."

He looked at me with a cold, piercing judgment. "And you lets be honest. Before we got together, who knows how many men youd been with? Youre tough. Youve always been able to handle yourself."

The words felt like a venomous snake biting into my heart.

I thought about our "first time." The way hed paused, sensing something was wrong, and Inot wanting to open the wound of the alleywayhad just whispered, "Do you mind? If you mind, we can stop..."

He had shaken his head then, his palm warm against my cheek. "Silly girl. I only want to protect you. I wish Id met you sooner, so you never had to hurt."

He actually thought Id just been "experienced." He mistook my trauma for a lack of purity, and used it as an excuse to betray me.

I didn't argue. I just started throwing his clothes out the door.

"Jo, don't do this..." he began, reaching for me.

SMACK.

The door burst open. Madison was standing there. She must have followed him. She looked around the ten-square-foot room with pure disgust before her hand connected with my face.

She looked at her reddened palm. Her hands were soft, pampered. Mine were calloused from the work that had funded Sebastians first prototype.

I bit my lip, refusing to cry. I looked at Sebastian. He watched my face swell with a chilling indifference. The boy who used to cry at the thought of me being hurt was dead.

"I knew something was up at the house," Madison spat. "I said those things to make you back off, but youre just a persistent little parasite, aren't you?"

She sneered. "You live in this dump, and I live in a ten-million-dollar estate. Do you really need a map to figure out who he loves more?"

Sebastians brow furrowed. He caught Madisons hand before she could swing again.

"Enough," he said, his voice deep. "Lets go home."

He picked her up in a bridal carry. She whimpered and clung to his neck, playing the role of the victim perfectly.

"Hes such a bad boy," she cooed as they left. "I can't believe you even have the stomach for a woman like that..."

03

The roar of a black Bentley echoed through the alley as it sped away from the slums.

I lay on the floor for a long time, until the chill of the linoleum seeped into my bones. My phone buzzed on the table.

Madison had sent me a link to her Instagram. She was a "lifestyle influencer" with a million followers.

In her videos, Sebastian was the perfect man. Patiently doing TikTok challenges, looking at her with a steady, adoring gaze.

Every time he told me he was on a "business trip," he was actually taking her to see blue whales in Antarctica, or kissing her under the Eiffel Tower.

And I was here. Wearing a mascot suit to hand out flyers in 90-degree heat. Sorting packages in a freezing warehouse. Checking my bank balance every night like a fool, counting down to a wedding that was a ghost.

I wondered... when he pressed her into those expensive Egyptian cotton sheets, did he ever think of the shared spicy soup we ate in this dump? Did he remember the winters we couldn't afford heat, when hed hold me tight just to keep us both from shivering?

Madisons latest post was from their company gala. Sebastian had his arm around her, speaking into a microphone.

"For the next sixty seconds, for every person who calls her 'The Boss,' Im giving out a hundred-dollar bonus. No cap."

The room erupted in cheers. Madison was radiant.

A single tear hit my screen.

Ten years, Sebastian. This is all it was worth?

The bitterness tasted like bile. I wiped my eyes until they were raw, then I looked up the company address.

19 Ocean View Drive.

I grabbed an old, yellowed envelope from under the floorboards and headed out.

The CBD was a different world. I felt the old, familiar sting of inadequacy as I stepped into the glass-and-steel lobby.

"Im here to see Sebastian," I told the receptionist.

She didn't even look up from her nails. "Do you have an appointment?"

I shook my head.

She pointed toward the exit with a polished finger. "Mr. Wayne doesn't see 'random women.' Hes very devoted to his fiance. Youre wasting your time."

Hed given Madison all the loyalty hed stolen from me.

I didn't leave. I waited for a group of couriers to walk in and slipped in behind them.

I saw the sprawling offices. Hundreds of elite employees. In this building, they made more in an hour than I made in a week. Their futures were so bright it hurt to look at them.

I stopped in front of a heavy mahogany door. The gold plaque read: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.

Through the crack in the door, I heard his voice.

Sebastian was sitting in his leather chair, Madison perched on his lap. He was rubbing her calf with a slow, possessive stroke.

"Maddie, what do I have to do to make you forgive me for that scene earlier?"

04

She tugged on his tie, giggling. "Lets have a baby. I want a little 'us' to tie you down forever."

He laughed, a low, melodic sound, and leaned in for a deep kiss. "Whatever you want, honey."

He stood up, unbuttoning his shirt as he carried her toward the private rest area behind the office.

My vision blurred. I remembered the twenty-year-old Sebastian swearing hed never love anyone but me.

Congratulations, Sebastian. You got everything you wanted. And it only cost you your soul.

I walked back to the front desk and left the yellowed envelope there. Then, I sent him a text.

Im leaving, Sebastian. Goodbye.

A second later, my phone rang.

"Jo, don't be dramatic," he said, sounding bored. "Now that you know about me and Madison, you can stop working those pathetic jobs. I bought a penthouse downtown. Its yours. Ill make sure youre taken care of."

"No," I said.

He paused. His voice softened, turning manipulative. "Im a sentimental guy, Jo. Weve been together a long time. As long as you stay in your place, Ill keep you for as long as you want."

I shook my head, though he couldn't see me.

How could I ever eat a meal he provided, knowing his lips had just been on hers? Im not interested in leftovers.

I hung up, took out my SIM card, and snapped it in half.

New number. New city. New life.

Aside from my name, Sebastian, you don't know a thing about me.

Sebastian was walking out of his office when his secretary stopped him.

"Sir, a woman left this for you."

He opened the envelope. Inside was a faded, yellowed police report from ten years ago.