I Loved the Heir in Disguise Chapter 01
I was dead broke when a new order popped up on the flower delivery app.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine red roses.
I tapped the order details and frowned in surprise.
The name on the order was exactly the same as my boyfriend’s.
Jace Kingsley.
This Jace lived at Harbor Pines Estate, an old-money heir born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
Mine was the poor guy who hauled rebar and cement at a construction site, saving every penny to marry me as soon as possible.
I stared at the name for a long time and sighed softly.
Same name, different fate.
Rain hammered the street until it turned white.
I loaded box after box of roses into the van, shielding them carefully from the downpour, and drove through the storm to Harbor Pines Estate.
The mansion blazed with lights.
Black iron gates were lined with luxury cars.
A long white flower path stretched across the lawn.
Butlers and staff hurried back and forth, busily setting up a lavish proposal scene.
The girl being proposed to stood like a princess, surrounded by the crowd.
She wore a champagne-colored gown, and the engagement ring on her finger sparkled with brilliant fire.
I looked away with envy and silently calculated how much I would earn today.
Once our wedding savings fund was full, I would become Jace’s bride.
Then I lifted my head, and my entire body turned ice-cold.
The Jace who had told me he was picking up extra shifts at the construction site to save enough money to marry me was holding that girl’s hand, walking down the long carpet covered in rose petals.
My vision blurred.
I could not tell whether the wetness on my face was rain or tears.
The head housekeeper Ms.Hale glanced at me with disdain.
“Stop standing there staring. The flowers aren’t finished being arranged.”
“Do you think watching a proposal will let you marry into the Kingsley family?”
The excited cheers pricked my eardrums.
“Jace, kiss her!”
I wiped my eyes with my soaking wet sleeve.
I wondered if I had been working nonstop for too many days, so tired that I was hallucinating.
How could the Jace who came home covered in dust every day, smelling of concrete and sweat, who could only sleep soundly holding me, possibly be the heir of Harbor Pines Estate?
How could he possibly be proposing to another woman under such magnificent lights?
But I rubbed my eyes until they stung sharply, and the man on the red carpet still looked exactly like my Jace.
The same eyebrows and eyes.
The same jawline.
The same gentle curve at the corner of his eye when he lowered his head and smiled.
I stumbled out of Harbor Pines Estate in a daze.
I clutched a thick white envelope tightly in my hand.
The housekeeper said it was a tip from her young lady.
A thank-you for braving the storm to deliver the roses and ensuring the proposal went off without regret.
I stood in the rain and counted the cash inside the envelope once.
Then I checked our wedding savings fund on my phone.
Together, the total was exactly eight thousand eight hundred dollars.
Enough for a simple city hall civil wedding.
Enough to rent a slightly decent small apartment for Jace and me.
My chest ached so badly I could barely breathe.
I laughed until I cried.
But I knew it clearly.
No matter whether we had saved enough money or not, he was never going to marry me.
I returned to our tiny rental apartment, soaked to the bone, and curled up on the head of the bed.
After an unknown amount of time, the old wooden door creaked open.
The warm aroma of garlic fries filled the air.
Jace walked in wearing a dirty construction uniform.
His work boots were still caked with mud, the cuffs of his jacket frayed white, still looking like the poor boy struggling to make a living.
When he saw my red-rimmed eyes, he panicked instantly.
“Mia, who hurt you?”
He hurried over and pulled me into his arms, patting my back gently.
“Don’t cry. Tell me.”
“I’m here.”
A pleasant woody perfume drifted into my nose.
It was not the dusty smell of the construction site.
Nor was it the smell of cheap laundry detergent.
It was the same expensive scent I had smelled next to the red carpet at Harbor Pines Estate that night.
My stomach churned violently, and I felt nauseous and gagged.
Jace panicked, his face turning pale. He immediately lifted me in his arms and rushed to the urgent care clinic on the street corner.
The on-duty doctor clearly recognized us.
She glanced at me, asked no questions, and skillfully handed me a home pregnancy test.
A few minutes later, two lines appeared on it, just like the previous times.
I gripped Jace’s sleeve tightly, my fingertips trembling.
“This time…”
My voice was so soft it was barely recognizable.
“Can we keep it this time?”
Jace’s eyes darkened.
He gently touched my head, but his voice was so cold it sent chills down my spine.
“Mia, how could we afford to raise a baby if we kept it?”
“We don’t even have enough money for our wedding yet.”
“Having a baby on top of that would make your life so hard.”
The doctor looked at me with pity and finally could not help but sigh.
“This is already the fifth time.”
“Her uterine wall has become very thin.”
“If she undergoes another abortion procedure, she may have great difficulty getting pregnant in the future.”
Jace bent down and kissed my forehead, his voice filled with guilt.
“It’s all my fault for being allergic to latex.”
“Mia, I promise this will be the last time.”
“When I become a construction foreman and can give you a better life, you can have as many children as you want.”
Bitterness filled my mouth.
I desperately wanted to question him.
You are clearly the heir of the Kingsley family.
You clearly live at Harbor Pines Estate.
You clearly just proposed to another woman with nine hundred and ninety-nine roses.
Why do you keep pretending to be a poor boy and lying to me?
Why do you make me give up our baby again and again for a so-called future?
But the image of him kissing that girl with loving eyes under the lights flashed through my mind.
Suddenly, I understood everything.
I was not his future.
Nor was I his lover.
I was just a pastime Jace Kingsley kept hidden in a cheap rental apartment before his real wedding.
He and I were never meant to be from the very beginning.
It was better to cut ties cleanly while I still could.
