Marry Her I Am Busy Succeeding

Fifteen years. Thats how long I spent locked in a one-sided war for the boy next door, twisting myself into a human Swiss Army knife just to make him look at me. From dominating state math leagues to playing the piano until my fingers bled, from a grueling double major at Yale to finally holding that Harvard MBA offer letter in my hands. I did it all for him.

But when I stood on the porch of my familys estate, dragging my suitcase behind me, Pete Carmichael did exactly what he had done a thousand times before. He bypassed my outstretched hand, didn't even glance at my Ivy League sweatshirt, and walked straight toward my younger sister, Maddie, who was standing behind me clutching her sketchpad.

"Have you been waiting long, Maddie?" he asked, his voice soft.

The echo of a phrase hed said years agoI only like Maddiefelt like a rusted nail driving into my fingertips, making them numb. My best friend, who had driven me from the airport, silently offered me a tissue. I waved it away. Watching the broad stretch of his back as he took my sisters bag, a sudden, breathy laugh escaped my lips.

This is it? I thought. This is the man I spent my entire youth chasing?

His white button-down was impeccably pressed, the line of his jaw as sharp and aristocratic as ever. But the longer I stared, the more hollow the whole picture felt. He was like a vintage fashion magazine Id found in a dusty waiting room. The cover was still gorgeous, but the content inside was hopelessly out of date.

"Am I pivoting too fast?" I murmured later, idly stabbing the tapioca pearls at the bottom of my boba tea.

My best friend pulled me into a fierce side-hug. "Oh, honey. Its not that you changed too fast. Its that you outgrew him miles ago."

Maddie and I stepped out of the black town car at the exact same time.

Without any warning, the heel of Maddies Jimmy Choo gave way, and she pitched forward.

Pete, our golden-boy neighbor, didn't even blink. He lunged forward, catching her firmly by the waist. Leaning into his chest, Maddie peeked over his shoulder and shot me a silent, mocking smile.

It was a look dripping with arrogant triumph.

Around us, the estate staff lowered their heads, hiding knowing smirks. They knew the script. They were waiting for my cue. This was the part where I was supposed to march over, yank Maddie away, and scream about how she was faking it, how she was a manipulative little brat trying to steal the man I loved. Then, Pete would scowl, scold me for being a toxic, jealous shrew, and I would run off in spectacular, tearful hysterics.

But I just stood there. Seconds ticked by. I didn't move a muscle.

For years, I had ground myself into dust trying to earn a single scrap of Petes validation. I had thrown myself into academia, launched a tech startup from a dorm room, built a massive digital footprint. I had navigated the cutthroat maneuvering of Silicon Valley boardrooms and held my own in rooms full of heavy-hitting politicians.

Standing here now, watching my twenty-three-year-old sister fake a trip on a perfectly flat driveway?

It was just comical.

"Glad you didn't hurt yourself," I said. My voice was entirely flat. I turned to the housekeeper, handing over a meticulously wrapped box. "Please let Mr. and Mrs. Carmichael know my parents sent this for them."

Maddies triumphant smile faltered. Pete shot me a sharp, scrutinizing frown.

When we walked into the Carmichaels' lavish dining room, the mahogany table was set beautifully. But there were only four chairs. Pete, his parents, and Maddie. That was four.

Maddie let out a breathy, exaggerated giggle. "Oh my god, Vic, I am so sorry. I totally forgot to tell everyone you were coming back today. They didn't prep a seat for you."

"Why are you even explaining yourself to her?" Petes voice was ice. He looked at me with open disdain. "Vicky, Maddie didn't do it on purpose. Just go to the kitchen and grab yourself a stool. Theres no need to terrorize her over a chair."

There it is, I thought. The universal constant. Pete would always, without hesitation or logic, throw himself in front of Maddie like she was taking enemy fire.

Yet, the strange part was the profound silence in my own chest. My heart wasn't racing. My throat wasn't tight. I felt nothing. I couldn't even fathom the girl I used to be, the girl who would have gone to war over this boy.

"Pete," I said softly, "I haven't even said a word."

He stiffened, momentarily thrown off guard. In the past, my eyes would already be red. Id be shouting, calling Maddie a two-faced snake.

"Vic, you're mad." Maddies eyes instantly welled with practiced tears. She stepped forward, grabbing my wrist. "Please don't be mad. I'll go get you a chair right now."

She made a pathetic little move toward the kitchen, but Pete caught her arm, pulling her back. He glared down at me from his towering height.

"You're in the Carmichael house now, Vicky. This isn't your little kingdom where you get to throw your weight around. If you can't be civil and get your own chair, then you can leave before dinner is served."

A maid by the doorway failed to muffle a snicker. I caught the whispered exchange between two staff members: "Just watch. Miss High-and-Mighty will drag a chair out here herself." "Oh, for sure. Shed swallow broken glass if it meant sitting across from him."

"That won't be necessary," I said, a genuine, light laugh escaping me.

I adjusted the strap of my bag on my shoulder. "I only stopped by to drop off the gift from my parents. I wasn't planning on staying for dinner anyway. I actually have somewhere to be. Enjoy your evening."

Petes eyes narrowed, searching my face. He looked at me as if I were a stranger.

I didn't give him the satisfaction of looking back. I turned on my heel and walked out the heavy oak doors, my stride long and unbroken.

From the foyer, I heard Maddie shrink against Pete. "Why is she in such a rush? Is she does she just hate me so much that she can't even stand to be in the same room?"

Pete watched through the window as I got into my car. I could see the slight furrow between his brows.

"Don't let it get to you," I heard him murmur to her. "She spent a few years away and thinks shes learned how to play hard to get. Its just a new tactic."

Maddie chewed her lip. "Its working, though. Shes acting so cold. Are you are you ever going to"

Pete stroked her hair, cutting her off. "I told you. Youre the only one I want."

I genuinely did have somewhere to be.

My co-founder and I were running an internet-based tech firm, and the workload was astronomical. I had a dinner scheduled with a major enterprise client.

As my driver navigated the evening traffic, my phone buzzed. It was a text from my partner, Val:

[Heard you finally touched down in the States. Got a massive surprise waiting for you~]

I fired off a quick, noncommittal emoji. If I had known what her definition of a "surprise" was in that moment, I would have burned the company to the ground to stop it.

I truly had zero intention of ever crossing paths with Pete Carmichael again. But a few days later, my grandfathers milestone birthday arrived. Given our families' generational ties, the Carmichaels were obviously on the guest list.

But when I walked into the ballroom of the country club, holding a priceless antique gift for my grandfather, it didn't look like an eightieth birthday party.

It looked like a proposal.

Pete was down on one knee. As I walked in, his eyes flicked to me. A slow, mocking smirk touched his lips. With agonizing deliberation, he slid a massive diamond onto Maddies trembling finger.

"Yes!"

My parents were the first to stand and cheer, clapping rapturously.

I stood by the ice sculpture, totally lost. "Isn't today Grandpas birthday?" I asked a passing aunt.

"It is, sweetheart!" my dad said, suddenly appearing at my elbow. "But your grandfather insisted. He said he wanted a double celebration today."

I frowned, looking between my cheering parents and the newly engaged couple on the stage. "You guys were in this much of a rush to get them engaged? I honestly thought tonight was just"

"Ahem," my dad coughed, leaning in close. "Look, we kept it from you because we didn't want you causing a scene. You haven't heard the news, have you? Pete just got tapped as the new Regional Director for Vanguard Tech."

Vanguard?!

I froze.

That that was my company. The startup Val and I had built from the ground up.

"A son-in-law of his caliber is one in a million," my dad continued, oblivious to my shock. "Of course we wanted to lock him down with Maddie. Look, Vic, we know how much you care about the boy. But you can't force love. Hes never felt that way about you, and its been years. Its time to stop making a fool of yourself. Be a good girl and let it go, okay?"

I didn't say a word. I just looked down at my phone and frantically texted Val.

[Your little "surprise." Please tell me it is NOT Pete Carmichael?!]

She replied almost instantly with a tongue-out selfie.

[We all know youve been pining for him for over a decade! I handled the regional hiring while you were in transit. As the new director, he reports directly to YOU. Youre welcome, boss. Now you get to spend every waking minute with him. ]

I pressed the heel of my hand hard against my forehead, staving off a migraine.

Whispers began to drift through the ballroom, aimed squarely at my back.

"Look isn't that Petes resident stalker, Vicky?"

"Oh my god, it is! I can't believe she actually showed her face tonight."

"Look at how devastated she looks holding her head. Yikes. I almost feel bad for her. Almost."

The buzzing of their petty gossip made my headache worse. I needed quiet. I slipped out of the ballroom and headed down the hall toward a private lounge to call Val and fix this colossal HR disaster.

After a ten-minute call explaining, in graphic detail, that I would rather swallow a live grenade than date Pete, I opened the lounge door to head back.

A hand shot out of the shadows, wrapping like a vice around my wrist.

Before I could blink, I was yanked hard into the dimly lit stairwell.

"Pete!" I gasped. My wrist throbbed.

He shoved me back, letting go. He stood between me and the door, his posture rigid, his face carved out of ice.

"You saw what happened out there today," he said, his voice a low, threatening rumble.

I rubbed my wrist, glaring at him through the dim emergency lighting.

"I am officially engaged to Maddie now," he continued. "Its time you find someone to marry, too. Give it up."

"Marry?" I let out a dry, incredulous laugh. "I don't have time for that right now."

"Are you really going to keep playing this desperate game?"

I stopped rubbing my wrist. I stared at him, my mind short-circuiting as I finally realized what he was implying. He actually thought I was still trying to orchestrate my life around him.

"Pete, let me be very clear. I'm not getting married because my company is entering a massive growth phase. I'm busy."

He stared at me in the heavy silence. Then, a dark, cynical smile broke across his face.

"Don't you think thats a pathetic excuse, Vicky?"

I blinked. "Excuse me?"

"The CEO of Vanguard Tech is a woman around your age," he sneered, quoting the very corporate lore I had created. "And even a woman of her magnitude isn't using 'career' as an excuse to die alone. Who exactly are you trying to fool?"

For a second, I was completely speechless.

It was my own fault, really. I had spent fifteen years building a reputation as a textbook romantic martyr. I had been so notoriously obsessed with him that now, when I finally had an epiphany and moved on, literally no one believed me. Not even my own business partner.

"Let me tell you how this works, Vicky," he said, taking a slow, menacing step toward me.

He leaned in, his cologne suffocating the small space. "I never loved you. And now that I have a ring on your sisters finger, I am certainly never going to love you. If you keep stalking me, youre only going to make me sick to my stomach. Unless"

His eyes darkened, dropping to my lips. "Unless your goal is to be my mistress?"

In that claustrophobic stairwell, a profound sense of clarity washed over me. I looked at the man standing in front of me.

He was arrogant. He was vulgar. He was aggressively mediocre.

Why in the world had I spent the best years of my life treating this guy like he was the center of the universe? Why had I let him tear my relationship with my sister to shreds?

I let out a sharp, genuine bark of laughter.

Without a word, I shoved both hands hard against his chest, knocking him out of my way. I pushed open the heavy fire door and walked out.

Val texted me that she was on her way to the club to apologize in person.

I sat at a secluded table near the edge of the ballroom, sipping a glass of sparkling water, enjoying the peace.

Then, a sharp whistle cut through the music.

Before I could react, seven or eight menPetes frat brothers and country club sycophantsslid into the booths and chairs around me, boxing me in.

"Well, well, if it isn't her royal highness," one of them drawled, swirling bourbon in a heavy crystal glass. "Can't believe you actually showed up to watch Pete put a ring on someone else."

"We were taking bets, honestly," another laughed. "Thought youd be at home drowning in a bathtub of Pinot Noir."

"Guess shes still holding out hope." A clammy hand suddenly reached out, snapping the thin silk strap of my dress.

I flinched, my blood running cold. I slapped his hand away violently.

"Ooh, feisty!" The first guy leaned in. "Studying abroad gave you some teeth, huh? Whatever happened to the girl who used to beg us to put in a good word for her with the boss?"

My stomach turned. It was true. During my darkest, most pathetic years, I hadn't just worshipped Pete; I had catered to his entire orbit. Maddie had been the effortless, talented golden child. To compensate, I had bribed these overgrown frat boys. I memorized their favorite liquors, bought them VIP tickets to games, bought them designer watches for Christmasall just to buy their loyalty, hoping theyd convince Pete to give me a chance.

Looking at their flushed, entitled faces now, I felt a wave of profound nausea. I truly had been blind.

"Look, Vic," the guy next to me said, dropping his voice into a patronizing register. "Pete is off the market. You lost to your sister. It is what it is."

He leaned closer. The stench of stale tobacco and expensive whiskey hit my face. "But that doesn't mean your life is over."

"If you take care of us tonight," he whispered, a vile smile spreading across his face, "well talk to Pete. Well make sure he keeps you around for extracurriculars. What do you say?"

My skin crawled. I pushed against the table to stand up, but a hand shot out, gripping my jaw painfully tight.

"Don't be shy, princess. Were good at keeping secrets."

"Hey? Pete!" someone suddenly called out.

I wrenched my face away and saw Pete walking down the corridor right past our alcove.

"Pete!" I stood up abruptly, but the man beside me grabbed my waist and forcefully yanked me back down onto the velvet sofa.

Pete stopped. He looked over. He had absolutely heard what they just said to me.

"Pete! Tell your friends to back off!" I demanded, my voice shaking with rage, not fear.

A flicker of panic crossed the mens faces. They glanced at each other, suddenly unsure if they had crossed a line with the newly minted fianc.

But Pete just looked at me. His expression was completely blank. He wrapped his arm securely around Maddies waist, turned his back to me, and kept walking.

Pete

"Hey, calm down, princess," the man sneered, pulling me tighter against his chest, his fingers digging into my ribs. "How do you still not get it? In Petes world, Maddie comes first. Then us. Then his dog. Then you."

My face hardened into stone.

"So," he murmured, his breath hot against my ear, "be a good girl. Entertain us, and well convince him to let you be his favorite little pet."

"Yeah," another laughed. "We won't tell Maddie."

My fingers curled around the stem of my crystal water glass. I squeezed. Harder.

Crack.

The glass shattered in my grip, shards raining onto the table, water pooling over the velvet.

The men froze, staring at the jagged glass in my palm.

"Who exactly," I whispered, the silence around us suddenly deafening, "do you think you are touching?"

Before he could even blink, I pivoted my hips, driving a closed fist with all my weight directly into the mans temple.

When I said I twisted myself into a Swiss Army knife to compete with Maddie, I didn't just mean academics. I meant everything.

Including Muay Thai.

The mans head snapped back with a sickening crack, blood instantly spraying from his nose as he went down.

"You bitch!"

Another guy lunged, swinging a heavy glass liquor bottle. It smashed against my hairline.

The world tilted. A sharp ringing pierced my ears, but years of muscle memory kicked in. I dug my heels into the carpet, grounding myself. As a third guy lunged to tackle me, I sidestepped, grabbed him by the back of his collar, and slammed his face squarely into the mahogany table.

I stood over them, chest heaving, blood trickling down the side of my face.

"You think you can break me?" I looked down at the men groaning on the floor. "Youre out of your league."

Smack!

The sharp sting of a slap exploded against my cheek. I stumbled back, catching the edge of the sofa to stay upright.

Pete stood there, his face twisted in fury.

"I put a ring on Maddies finger and you pull a stunt like this?!" he roared.

My parents had rushed over, drawn by the shattered glass. When my mother saw the bloodied men on the floor, her face turned purple. She shoved me hard in the chest.

"What is wrong with you?!" she screamed. "Just because your sister gets engaged today, you have to destroy the entire event?! Its your grandfathers birthday! When are you going to grow the hell up?!"

The gathered crowd hadn't heard the repulsive things those men had whispered to me. They only saw me, the jilted, crazy sister, standing over bleeding guests.

"Shes twenty-five acting like a toddler," an aunt muttered loudly. "Pete doesn't want her. Throwing a violent tantrum isn't going to change that."

Maddie stepped forward, her eyes brimming with spectacular, cinematic tears.

"Vic," she choked out, her voice trembling. "If you really if you really can't handle this Ill give you the ring. Just please, stop hurting people."

She made a dramatic show of trying to pull the massive diamond off her finger.

Pete caught her hand, stopping her.

"Vicky, do you have zero self-respect?" Pete sneered, looking at me with pure disgust. "I am engaged, and youre throwing a riot. You want me that badly?"

He pulled Maddie flush against his side. "You want a shot with me? Fine. You make sure Maddie is perfectly happy first. You serve her. Then, maybe, Ill consider keeping you around."

"Pete?" Maddie looked up at him, her eyes wide.

Pete laughed, a dark, cruel sound. "She won't leave us alone anyway, babe. Might as well make use of her. But Im only accepting her if she learns her place beneath you."

A flash of genuine thrill danced in Maddies eyes before she hid it behind her tears.

Pete looked back at me. "Do we have an understanding?"

I slowly reached up and touched the cheek where my mother had slapped me. I didn't yell. I didn't cry.

I took one step forward.

SMACK.

I drove my hand across Petes face with enough force to snap his head violently to the side.

My mother lunged, grabbing my arm. "Are you insane?!"

Maddie screamed, a piercing, theatrical sound. "Vic! If you want to hit someone, hit me! Don't touch him!"

"Hit you?" I laughed, shaking my arm free from my mother's grip. "Youre a side character. Youre not worth bruising my knuckles over."

"You!"

"Pete Carmichael," I said, my voice cutting through the chaos like a scythe. "As the CEO of Vanguard Tech, I am officially terminating your employment. Don't bother showing up for onboarding on Monday."

He froze. "Vanguard?"

Then, he scoffed, rubbing his reddening jaw. "You think you can just invent a fantasy where you work at Vanguard just to feel powerful? God, youre pathetic."

Maddie looked at me with profound pity. "Vic have you lost your mind? This is my fault. I should have told him to propose in private. The shock has completely broken you."

My mother glared at me. "Vanguard is a Fortune 500 company. If you're going to lie, at least make it believable!"

Laughter rippled through the crowd.

"Okay, shes actually psychotic," someone whispered loudly. "She stalked him so hard shes hallucinating that they work together. Vanguards hiring process is impossible. Ive been rejected three times."

Right then, Petes phone rang.

I glanced at the screen. It was Vals name.

Petes arrogant sneer vanished. He cleared his throat and answered, his voice instantly dropping into a tone of deep, reverent respect.

"Yes, ma'am? You're outside? Of course, Ill come escort you in personally."

He hung up the phone and glared at the security guards. "Get her out of here. Drag her out if you have to. The COO is outside and I will not let this psycho ruin my introduction."

Two security guards immediately grabbed my arms.

A murmur of excitement swept the room. "The COO of Vanguard is here? Oh my god."

"Pete is already bringing in tech billionaires. Hes incredible."

"Hurry up, get the crazy sister out the back door!"

But before the guards could move me, the double doors at the end of the hall swung open.

"Vic!"

Vals voice echoed through the marble foyer.

Pete blinked, adjusting his suit jacket. "Ms. Cruz? Who are you calling"

Val blew right past him without a glance. she marched straight toward me.

"Vic! Oh my god, this is a massive screw-up!"

The security guards holding my arms went rigid. They dropped their hands as if they had touched hot coals.