His Ninety-Nine Betrayals, My Freedom

My fiancé, a Navy SEAL Commander, postponed our wedding 99 times for my manipulative sister. For our 100th attempt, I put my foot down. This date, or no date.

He called two weeks before the wedding to cancel again. But this time, he threatened my career to force my compliance.

Then I overheard the truth. He was planning to marry my sister-a "temporary" arrangement to get her into an exclusive therapy program.

After he divorced her, he'd come back to me. I was his "certainty." His backup plan.

My own mother supported it, slapping me when I refused to play along.

"You will be a proper wife," she hissed.

I had spent five years as a placeholder, my life put on hold for their drama. I was done waiting.

I hung up the phone, canceled the wedding permanently, and volunteered for a three-year, off-the-grid assignment. But first, I took my wedding dress and a pair of scissors.

Chapter 1

The email flashed on my screen, its subject line a stark, brutal echo of ninety-nine others: "Wedding Postponement - Urgent." My gaze flickered to the date-our wedding day, now just two weeks away. It wasn't just a delay; it was the final, crushing blow to a life I'd built on borrowed time and someone else's whims.

I squeezed my eyes shut. This wasn't how aerospace engineers planned for launch. There were no redundancies, no backup systems for dreams. There was just a tradition, a "tight-knit unit" rule that had become a chokehold: Bryce's entire Navy SEAL team had to be at every team member's wedding.

It was a point of pride for them, a testament to their brotherhood. For me, it had become a recurring nightmare.

"Amelie? Are you okay?" My colleague, Dr. Aris Thorne, leaned over my cubicle wall, his brow furrowed with concern. He knew the drill. Everyone at the facility knew the drill. My endless, perpetually delayed wedding had become a running joke, a whispered cautionary tale.

I forced a smile that felt like shattered glass in my mouth. "Just another glitch in the system, Aris. Nothing a little re-calibration can't fix."

He didn't look convinced. "Seriously, Riggs. This is... a lot."

It was a lot. It had always been a lot. Ninety-nine times, the wedding had been postponed. Ninety-nine times, the reason had been Kendall. My older sister, Kendall, a master manipulator who wielded her diagnosed anxiety and depression like a weapon, always found a way to hijack my spotlight.

Every time Bryce and I set a new date, every time my heart dared to hope, Kendall would conjure a crisis. A panic attack that required her to be hospitalized just days before the ceremony. A sudden, debilitating bout of depression that made her "unable to cope" with my happiness. A dramatic breakup that sent her spiraling, demanding all our attention.

And Bryce, my fiancé, the charismatic Navy SEAL Commander I was supposed to marry, always fell for it. Every single time. He saw himself as her