The Bride He Betrayed: He Gave Her the Ring, I Gave Him Goodbye

After ninety-nine punishments under the family rule, Clara Whitmore had finally earned her freedom to choose her own marriage.

Dragging her weakened body, she hurried forward, desperate to share the news with her childhood sweetheart, Adrian Hayes.

But what she saw instead froze her in place. Adrian was down on one knee, proposing—to Sienna Mercer, the girl who had once stolen her identity.

"Sienna, marrying Clara was my responsibility… but loving you is instinct," he said.

So love had been nothing more than a cruel joke. The man who once swore he would marry no one but her had already changed his heart.

With her world collapsing around her, Clara dialed home.

"I'll agree to the marriage alliance in Kingshaven," she said.

......

For the ninety-ninth time she had refused the arranged marriage, Clara was dragged into the family hall and whipped three hundred times. Even as her skin split open and blood soaked through, she never gave in.

Tessa Monroe, Clara's best friend, snapped in frustration, "What's so great about Adrian? He's just some broke guy from the slums, obsessed with his research. He can't even afford one of your necklaces with a year's salary, and all he ever gives you is cheap, defective junk."

Clara only gave a faint smile, offering no explanation.

Adrian had been her childhood companion—the only person who had ever been kind to her back then.

She had been born into wealth, yet switched at birth by a nanny. Growing up, she had known nothing but beatings and scolding. Adrian was the only light in that darkness.

When she had nothing to eat, he spent all his money just to buy her a sandwich. He fought other boys in the slums for her, coming back bruised and bleeding. And in those early, naive days of love, he had sworn he would marry no one but her.

At sixteen, when she was finally found by her biological parents, Sienna set a fire in retaliation. To save Clara, Adrian ran straight into the flames alone, nearly losing the use of one hand.

When he came out, he pinned Sienna to the ground and beat her without mercy. "Touch Clara again, and I'll make you pay with your life. Don't ever let me see you again."

But Sienna clung to Adrian like she would never let go—sending flowers, bringing him breakfast, confessing over and over again.

Adrian would simply take Clara's hand and look at Sienna with cold disgust. "I'll only ever marry Clara. Anyone who hurts her won't get away with it."

From that moment on, Clara swore she would marry him, no matter what. Even when she failed her college entrance exams and was sent overseas, even through all their long-distance fights, that resolve never wavered.

Thinking of Adrian, who had been working overtime at the institute for two months straight, Clara felt a pang of concern. Despite her injuries, she came to find him.

But the moment she reached the institute entrance, she walked