You Crushed My Heart, So I Crushed Your Empire

While picking out wedding rings with my celebrity fiancé, a paparazzi photographer caught us from behind.
Anthony Gilbert wasn’t the least bit upset. He actually smiled.
“So what? Let’s just go public.”
Four years of keeping our relationship a secret. I thought he was finally ready to tell the world about us, and my heart soared.
But at the yacht party the very next day, in front of every camera and microphone in the room, he slid the wedding ring onto rising starlet Bianca Whitmore’s finger and announced their relationship.
Watching my expression go blank, Anthony lazily blew a smoke ring.
“She just debuted. The girl needs buzz and exposure. I’m the senior here, so helping her out is the least I can do.”
“Besides, can you imagine if people found out my fiancée is just some assistant who fetches coffee? How embarrassing would that be for me?”
“Stop giving me attitude. I never said I wouldn’t marry you. I just can’t go public, that’s all. You should count yourself lucky I’m keeping you around. Don’t push it.”
Bianca nestled into his arms, cheeks flushed pink, looking every bit the innocent girl experiencing her first crush.
The matching diamond rings on their fingers were a silent announcement of exactly how unnecessary and ridiculous I was.
I calmly pulled out my phone and canceled, on the spot, every single one of the dozen top-tier projects I’d secretly arranged for him.
“Funny coincidence. I don’t like being taken advantage of either.”
“So I think I’ll find a fiancé who isn’t embarrassed by me.”

While picking out wedding rings with my celebrity fiancé, a paparazzi photographer caught us from behind.
Anthony Gilbert wasn’t the least bit upset. He actually smiled.
“So what? Let’s just go public.”
Four years of keeping our relationship a secret. I thought he was finally ready to tell the world about us, and my heart soared.
But at the yacht party the very next day, in front of every camera and microphone in the room, he slid the wedding ring onto rising starlet Bianca Whitmore’s finger and announced their relationship.
Watching my expression go blank, Anthony lazily blew a smoke ring.
“She just debuted. The girl needs buzz and exposure. I’m the senior here, so helping her out is the least I can do.”
“Besides, can you imagine if people found out my fiancée is just some assistant who fetches coffee? How embarrassing would that be for me?”
“Stop giving me attitude. I never said I wouldn’t marry you. I just can’t go public, that’s all. You should count yourself lucky I’m keeping you around. Don’t push it.”
Bianca nestled into his arms, cheeks flushed pink, looking every bit the innocent girl experiencing her first crush.
The matching diamond rings on their fingers were a silent announcement of exactly how unnecessary and ridiculous I was.
I calmly pulled out my phone and canceled, on the spot, every single one of the dozen top-tier projects I’d secretly arranged for him.
“Funny coincidence. I don’t like being taken advantage of either.”
“So I think I’ll find a fiancé who isn’t embarrassed by me.”
…
The luxury suite on the yacht was dead silent.
Anthony ground out his cigarette with more force than necessary, brow creasing in displeasure.
“Vivienne Langford, say that again. I dare you.”
“What does it matter whether we go public or not? We know what we are. Do you really have to be this vain?”
Even now. Even after all of this, he thought I was the vain one.
Disgust rose in my chest like bile.
“I could say it eight hundred more times and it wouldn’t change a thing.”
“Anthony, I quit. I’m done being your assistant, and I’m done being with you. We’re over.”
The air around us froze solid.
Bianca examined her freshly painted nails and let out a mocking laugh.
“Viv, why be so petty about this? In this industry, fake couples are everywhere. Sometimes the act even becomes real. It’s totally normal.”
“Anthony was just looking out for me because I’ve been struggling on my own. He only wanted to help boost my profile a little.”
“But since you’re so upset about it, why don’t you just announce your relationship too? Here, I’ll help.”
Before I could get a word out, she opened a livestream on her phone.
In less than thirty seconds, fans flooded into the room by the thousands.
Bianca pouted at the camera, the picture of wounded innocence.
“Guys, you would not believe how possessive some assistants are over their own artists.”
“This girl just stormed up to me, insisting that she’s Anthony’s real girlfriend. Honestly, it looked like she was about to hit me if I didn’t agree.”
“Ugh, so scary. Fine, whatever she says goes. I guess I’m the fake one then.”
The moment she finished, fans from both camps flooded the comments. Every single one was aimed at me.
“LOL, everyone knows Anthony is the hottest name in the industry right now. Some glorified coffee girl thinks she can climb her way up? Delusional much?”
“No mirror at home? My girl Bianca is Anthony Gilbert’s confirmed girlfriend. Some broke nobody like you actually has the nerve to show up and play the main character?”
“Lady, you better stay in your lane. Touch our girl and we’ll snap those grubby little fingers right off.”
I almost laughed from the sheer absurdity of it.
Bianca didn’t give me a chance to speak. She shut off the livestream.
She clapped a hand over her mouth in mock surprise, eyes glittering with triumph.
“Oh no, I already told them who you are, and they still didn’t believe it?”
“Viv, it seems like everyone else can see it too. You’re just a gold digger trying to climb the ladder. But hey, you should own it, right? You’re not going to be mad about it, are you?”

Anthony didn’t so much as glance my way.
In fact, he’d just sent 520 rockets to Bianca’s livestream, a public stamp of approval worth thousands.
I shoved Bianca aside and held up my phone with a cold smile.
“What a performance, Ms. Whitmore. So brave, so righteous.”
“Then surely you won’t mind if I post what you really look like behind the camera. Let your fans see what their precious little angel actually is: a two-faced fraud.”
Bianca’s expression shifted instantly. She turned to Anthony, eyes brimming with rehearsed hurt.
“Anthony, she’s threatening me…”
The phone was ripped from my hand before I could react.
Anthony deleted the recording, then shoved me backward.
“Don’t push your luck, Vivienne.”
“She’s not wrong. You’re nothing but dead weight I’ve been feeding out of charity. The fact that I was willing to marry you at all should’ve had your ancestors weeping with gratitude.”
“Bianca has real potential. Going public with her means shared resources, mutual growth. You? All you’ve ever done is fetch coffee and run errands like hired help. What else are you good for?”
“You kept pressuring me to go public, and for what? To feed that pathetic little ego of yours?”
He looked down at me, contempt etched into every line of his face.
“I don’t even need to check. That post you deleted was you bragging to your friends about landing a celebrity boyfriend, wasn’t it?”
“What’s the matter, got a sudden attack of shame?”
“Vivienne, know when to quit. I’ll buy you another ring. But if you keep making a scene, don’t blame me when I call off the wedding for good.”
A dull ache spread through my chest.
Four years. Four years of giving him everything I had.
And in his eyes, I was nothing more than a vain, useless hanger-on.
But Anthony was wrong.
What I’d deleted wasn’t some lovesick social media post. It was a list of top-tier projects and resources, the kind people in this industry would kill for. Over a dozen of them. I’d been saving them as a gift for after we went public.
He never deserved a single one.
“Then I suppose I should thank you for not marrying me. Goodbye.”
I said it without emotion, then walked out onto the deck alone, looking for a crew member who could get me a dinghy to shore.
A familiar voice cut through the wind behind me.
“Hold on.”
Anthony followed me out with Bianca draped on his arm. He traced a lazy circle in the air with one finger, half-smiling.
“Don’t forget, Vivienne. This entire yacht is mine tonight. Every boat, every amenity, every inch of it is for my friends and my women.”
“Now that we’ve broken up, exactly what gives you the right to ask for a boat? Trying to freeload one last time?”
“Tell you what. A million dollars and you can rent one. Can’t afford it? Swim. Oh, and don’t bother reaching for my credit cards. I already had them frozen.”
The night wind howled across the open water.
It tore straight through me, carving a hollow space where my heart used to be.
I had told Anthony once, years ago, about how a relative had pushed me into the ocean when I was a child. How I’d nearly drowned. How even after I learned to swim, deep water still made me shake so hard I couldn’t breathe.
He’d held me then, his voice fierce with tenderness, promising he would always protect me. Swearing that as long as he was there, nothing like that would ever happen again.
Now he was using that same childhood wound as a blade, and twisting it.
Rex Lambert, Anthony’s agent and the only witness to our secret relationship, shifted uncomfortably. The look on his face was something close to guilt.
“Anthony, it’s the middle of winter. The shore is at least twelve miles out. She’s one person. How is she supposed to swim that? What if something happens?”
“She doesn’t have that kind of money. She took care of you for years. Don’t take this too far.”
Anthony lit a cigarette and let out a thin stream of smoke, his lips curling into a sneer.
“Too far? She should be grateful I’m not charging her for a ticket to the party.”
“With her paygrade, she wouldn’t even qualify to set foot on this deck. I’ve been too soft on her, that’s the problem. Time she learned her place.”

“Vivienne, don’t say I’m heartless. All you have to do is apologize and promise you’ll never compete with Bianca again. Then I’ll forgive you.”
Bianca clung to his arm, smiling sweetly. “Come on, Viv. Anthony’s already giving you an out. Don’t be stubborn.”
“Besides, gold diggers like you only care about money. Since when do you deserve a real title? Don’t go playing the saint when we all know what you really are.”
Anthony pinched her cheek indulgently. Not a word of objection.
I knew what he was doing. This was how he kept me in line.
Breaking me down until I learned to take it quietly, to stay in my place as his dirty little secret. The girlfriend who would never see the light of day.
I said nothing. I calmly slipped my phone into a waterproof pouch.
Then I climbed over the railing and threw myself into the sea without a second thought.
Screams erupted behind me. Anthony’s eyes went wide with shock.
I swallowed my terror and swam hard toward the shore.
But the winter ocean was brutal. The cold seeped into my bones, and the coastline was impossibly far. My limbs grew heavier with every stroke.
Then, halfway there, a small boat appeared. Two men aboard said they were volunteers cleaning up debris in the area. They hauled me out of the water and handed me a warm bowl of fish soup. Slowly, the feeling returned to my fingers.
A few minutes later, the world started to tilt.
The men’s friendly expressions melted away. They closed in on me, grinning like wolves.
“So you’re the little tramp who’s been threatening our goddess Bianca, huh?”
“We’re here to teach you a lesson. You’re not bad-looking, though. Once we’ve had our fun, we’ll toss you overboard for the fish.”
My blood ran cold.
They were Bianca’s obsessive fans. She’d sent them.
My phone buzzed. Anthony’s name flashed on the screen.
Panic sharpened my senses. I bit down on my tongue until I tasted copper, forcing myself to stay conscious. I grabbed a fishing spear from the deck and held it in front of me. The men hesitated just long enough for me to hit answer.
His voice came through the speaker, breathless and lazy with satisfaction.
“You dead yet? If not, come back and change the sheets.”
“Some paparazzi suspect Bianca and I are faking it. They’ve been lurking outside the window trying to get shots, so we had to make it look real.”
My stomach lurched. I choked it down and begged.
“Anthony, Bianca’s stalker fans drugged me. They’re going to assault me!”
“I’m about two miles northeast of the yacht. Please, come get me!”
His tone shifted instantly. “What?! I’m coming right now—”
Then Bianca’s voice slithered through the line, dripping with mock concern.
“Oh, Viv. I have to say, you gold diggers really are something. Turning people against each other like that.”
“A friend of mine just came from that direction. Not a soul in sight. You’re making this up so Anthony will come running, aren’t you? Trying to guilt him into going public with you?”
“Don’t fall for it, babe. She probably has reporters planted nearby, just waiting for you to show up so she can force your hand.”
Before I could get a word out, Anthony exploded.
“Vivienne, you’re unbelievable! You want to make me a laughingstock that badly?!”
“You want to make up? Fine. Be kneeling at my front door by morning. Say you were wrong.”
“Without me, you can’t even hold down a real job. You’d starve in the gutter. Think about that!”
The line went dead.
Something inside me went with it.
The two men sneered.
“See that? Your precious Anthony only cares about our Bianca.”
“You shameless little homewrecker. You think you can ruin our goddess’s happiness? We’ll kill you for that.”
They ripped the spear from my hands and knocked my phone to the deck.
They shoved me down against the wet, freezing hull of the boat.
In the pit of my despair, a blinding white light cut through the darkness from somewhere in the distance.