My Fiancé’s Love Was Just a Test?! Too Bad I Passed by Leaving Chapter 02

My Fiancé’s Love Was Just a Test?! Too Bad I Passed by Leaving Chapter 02

I stopped by the office and printed out my visa paperwork.

By the time I got home, it was past midnight. I could hear the noise before I even reached the door.

I opened the door and stopped dead.

Spencer’s entire crew was throwing a party in my apartment.

Music blasted from the speakers. Champagne and beer soaked the floor. Trash was everywhere.

Not one of them looked the slightest bit sorry when they saw me.

Vanessa stumbled over, grabbed my arm, and grinned right in my face.

“Elise, you’re unbelievable. Seriously, I’m impressed.”

“Even while you were playing house with Graham, you kept your safety net with Spencer.”

She pulled out a prayer card bearing a guardian angel blessing and dangled it in front of me.

I recognized it instantly. Before my surgery, Spencer had climbed to a chapel on a mountaintop in the middle of the night just to have that card blessed for me.

It had been pouring that night. He came back soaked, covered in mud, looking like he’d been dragged up the mountain and back.

But his eyes were bright when he pressed the card into my hand.

“Elise, the priest blessed it. He said your surgery’s gonna be fine.”

I’d ruffled his hair and laughed. Called him an idiot.

He collapsed before I even made it into the operating room.

When we broke up, I threw out everything that reminded me of him.

Everything except this card. That card, and the memory of the look in his eyes that night—the most reckless, fearless love I’d ever seen.

I ripped the card out of Vanessa’s hand, my breath ragged.

“Who the hell let you into my apartment?”

Spencer’s gaze dropped to the prayer card. Something softened in his face.

He took a step toward me, but Vanessa caught his arm and pulled him back.

Vanessa spun to face the room.

“This, everybody, is what a professional gold digger looks like.”

“She always has a backup plan. You have to respect the hustle.”

“Spencer, you gonna cry now? She kept your little prayer card. How sweet.”

Whatever warmth had been in Spencer’s eyes went cold.

The rest of the group caught on fast, and the whistles started.

“Smart girl. If Graham dumps her, she just pulls out the prayer card and runs back to Spencer.”

“He sees she kept it all these years, gets all emotional, puts a ring on it. Boom. Rags to riches.”

They built the story one line at a time, each of them stacking lies on top of lies until they’d invented a version of me that never existed.

I walked to the window and ripped the prayer card apart. The pieces caught the wind the second I let them go.

Spencer’s jaw tightened as he watched the fragments disappear.

“Elise. What the hell was that?”

My fists were shaking. I bit out every word.

“Get out. All of you. Get out of my place.”

Spencer opened his mouth, but Vanessa beat him to it.

“Spencer, she’s playing you. It’s all an act.”

“Propose right now. I bet she’d say yes before you even finished the sentence.”

“As long as you cut her in on the Vaughn family money.”

Spencer’s voice went flat. Ice cold.

“Elise, I’m done being patient.”

“I’ll give you whatever you want, but don’t try to play me.”

Graham chimed in from across the room, still grinning.

“Come on, Elise. He’s handing you a lifeline. Just take it and drop the act.”

I was reaching for my phone to call the cops when the front door swung open.

Two officers stood in the doorway.

“We’ve received multiple noise complaints about this unit. Everyone needs to step outside.”