Too Late For Regret: The True Heiress

"Simply breathtaking, Miss Beaumont." The manager of the Vera Wang boutique clasped her hands together, her voice a reverent hush. "You are the most beautiful bride I have ever seen. This gown... it was made for you."

Stella Beaumont stared at her reflection in the floor-to-ceiling mirror. The woman looking back was a stranger, encased in a million dollars' worth of ivory silk and hand-sewn pearls. The dress was perfect. Her figure was perfect.

A muffled, insistent vibration cut through the syrupy compliments. It came from her clutch on the velvet settee. Her private phone.

Stella's brow tightened. A knot of ice formed in her stomach. She gave a curt nod to the sales assistant. "My bag."

The assistant scurried to retrieve it. The screen lit up with the name: Kaylynn Graves. Her best friend.

She answered, her voice flat. "Kaylynn."

"Stella, you need to listen to me, and you need to stay calm!" Kaylynn's voice was a ragged whisper, stretched thin with a mixture of tears and fury.

In the mirror's reflection, Stella saw the manager and the assistant exchange an uneasy glance, their reflections beginning a discreet retreat toward the door.

"Stay," Stella commanded without looking at them. Her gaze was locked on her own reflection. The women froze in place.

"I'm at a cafe on the Upper East Side," Kaylynn rushed on, her words tumbling over each other. "Across from NY Premier Women's Health. I saw his car, Stella. Ethan's Aston Martin."

The air in Stella's lungs turned to glass. The hand holding the phone grew rigid, her knuckles turning white.

"He just walked out," Kaylynn's voice cracked. "He was... he was holding the door for someone. He was helping her down the steps so carefully. It's her, Stella. It's Isabelle Beaumont."

A sharp chime announced an incoming message. A photo. With a thumb that felt disconnected from her body, Stella navigated to the text.

The image loaded, crisp and damningly clear.

Ethan, her fiancé, was looking down at Isabelle, her frail, perfect stepsister. His expression wasn't one of polite concern; it was a look of profound, tender devotion. His hand, the same hand that was supposed to place a ring on her finger in three weeks, was resting gently, possessively, on Isabelle's lower abdomen. The clinic's elegant gold lettering was perfectly framed behind them.

The fawning voices of the staff, the hum of the air conditioning, the distant traffic on Fifth Avenue-it all dissolved into a roaring silence. The only sound was the frantic, panicked thumping of her own heart against her ribs, a wild bird trapped in a cage of bone.

Two years. Two years of swallowing insults from his family. Two years of being treated like a back-country savage they were generously polishing into a society wife. Three years of an engagement that was nothing more than a business transaction. All of it, culminating in this single, perfect, humiliating photograph.

She lifted her head. The woman in the mirror was no longer a hollow shell. A dangerous light sparked in the depths of her eyes.

A collective gasp echoed in the room.

Stella's hands shot up to the bodice of the gown. She dug her fingers into the delicate French lace, the tiny pearls biting into her skin. And then she pulled.

The sound of tearing fabric was like a scream. Rrrriiiip.

A jagged gash appeared, running from the sweetheart neckline down to her waist. The manager shrieked, a hand flying to her mouth.

Stella didn't stop. She was a machine of destruction. Her hands worked furiously, tearing at the voluminous skirt, shredding the layers of tulle and silk organza. She ripped the veil from her hair, tearing it in two. Ivory fabric and shimmering pearls scattered across the plush carpet, a pristine snowfall of her ruined future.

"Miss Beaumont!" the manager stammered, her face ashen. "That... that's a custom..."

"Shut up," Stella's voice cut through the air, sharp and cold as a shard of ice. "Send the bill to Ethan Carlisle."

She stepped out of the wreckage of the gown, leaving it in a heap on the floor. With methodical, unnervingly calm movements, she pulled on her own clothes-a simple black dress that felt like armor.

Her other phone, the one for work, began to ring. Ethan's office line.

She glanced at the screen, her lip curling in disgust. She declined the call, then blocked the number. A moment later, it rang again, this time from his personal cell. He was persistent.

This time, she answered. Her voice was a placid lake. "What is it?"

Ethan's tone was weary, tinged with the familiar edge of impatience he reserved only for her. "Stella, Isabelle is back in New York."

A bitter, silent laugh caught in her throat. Oh, I know.

"She's not well," he continued. "The doctors say she needs absolute rest. No stress, no excitement." He paused, gathering himself for the final blow. "Our wedding... I think we should postpone it."

Stella listened to the lie, to the pathetic, cowardly excuse.

A slow, cruel smile spread across her lips. She looked at the carnage of the dress on the floor, then back at her own reflection.

"Okay," she said, her voice impossibly sweet.