The Broken Pawn Escapes Tonight Chapter 1

The day my father ushered his mistress and their illegitimate daughter through the front door was the same day a video of me with a stranger leaked online.

The headline screamed across every gossip site:

“Socialite Scandal: Norah Gates’ Wild Night and Wrecked Home.”

Overnight, my reputation was incinerated. I went from the pampered daughter of the Gates dynasty to a pariah, a walking scarlet letter. My father didn’t want to hear explanations; he just wanted me gone.

In the depths of that despair, Harrison appeared.

He shielded me from the paparazzi flashbulbs, standing like a fortress between me and the world, declaring to anyone who would listen:

“From now on, Norah is with me. Anyone who comes for her answers to Harrison Cole.”

We dated for two years. Despite the immense pressure from his old-money family and the board of directors, he proposed.

I said yes with my whole heart.

But that very night, I stood frozen outside the door of his private study, listening to the clinking of scotch glasses and his voice drifting out, talking to his oldest friend.

“Harrison, are you serious about marrying Norah? The girl is radioactive. What’s the angle?”

“The angle is that she is radioactive,” Harrison replied, his voice smooth and detached.

“I thought the family was blocking you from marrying Mallory?”

“Decades of bad blood. They’d die before letting Mallory through the front door. So, here’s the play: I marry the most scandalous woman in New York. I force their hand. They either accept Mallory, or they watch the Cole family heir marry a woman who’s the laughingstock of the city.”

Tears rolled down my cheeks, hot and fast, but my blood turned to ice.

The redemption I thought I’d found was just a long con.

From the beginning, I wasn’t a partner. I was a pawn in his pursuit of true love.

Fine. If he wants a performance, I’ll give him the show of a lifetime.

* * *

I heard the flick of a lighter, followed by the sharp inhale of smoke.

“Norah is the perfect tool,” Harrison said, the disdain in his voice cutting through the heavy oak door. “She’s foolish, and she’s desperate for affection. Show her a little kindness, and she becomes loyal as a dog.”

“Her ruined reputation is exactly the leverage I need to break my parents. Once they cave, I’ll find a reason to cut her loose. Clean break.”

His friend sounded hesitant. “But you’ve been… intense with her. You went to war with CEO Zhang over her last month. Are you sure there’s no feelings there? You can lie to me, Harrison, but don’t play yourself.”

Harrison exhaled a cloud of smoke. “It’s called method acting.”

“If I don’t sell it, how does she take the bait? How do my parents believe I’m actually crazy enough to marry her?” He paused, his tone shifting to something colder. “Honestly? Being around her… knowing what the internet says about her… it’s nauseating. If it weren’t for Mallory, I wouldn’t look at her twice.”

The bento box I was holding slipped from my fingers.

Smash.

Rice and vegetables scattered across the hallway runner, a messy mirror of my shattering heart.

I didn’t storm in. I didn’t scream. I turned around and walked away.

Back at the apartment, I moved with mechanical precision. I took every gift he’d ever given me—the jewelry, the bags, the hollow tokens of a fake love—and shoved them into a cardboard box. What once looked like devotion now just looked like a bribe.

A tear splashed onto the back of my hand. I wiped it away furiously.

I shoved the box into the back of the closet, hidden in the shadows. Then, I opened my laptop and bought a one-way ticket to Europe, departing in a week.

I couldn’t breathe in this city of lies anymore.

When the front door unlocked, I composed my face into a mask of calm.

Harrison walked in, took one look at my swollen eyes, and frowned. He reached out to cup my cheek. “Hey. What’s wrong? Who upset you?”

I flinched. It was a reflex.

His hand froze in mid-air, a flicker of surprise crossing his face.

I swallowed the bile rising in my throat and forced my voice to sound steady. “Nothing. Just… didn’t sleep well.”

He bought it. He assumed I was doom-scrolling, reading the comments about myself again. He pulled me into a hug.

“Stop reading that trash. I don’t care about your past, Norah. I only care about you.” He kissed the top of my head. “The wedding is in a week. My bride can’t be crying her eyes out. You need to be beautiful.”

I rested my head against his chest.

His body was as warm as it had always been. But listening to the steady beat of his heart, I felt nothing. The connection was dead.

I shrank into his embrace, playing the part he wrote for me. “I’m so lucky to have you, Harrison.”

He patted my back, satisfied. “Silly girl. I’m not going anywhere.”

Suddenly, his phone on the counter lit up. A notification.

Sender: Mallory.