The Glass Castle Chapter 1

When we were intimate, my boyfriend loved to take off my glasses. He said he adored the way my eyes half-closed, heavy with passion.

Until the day I overheard him bragging to his friends.

"She can’t see a damn thing without them. By the time she realizes what’s happening, it's too late to stop me. She just takes it.

"Trust me, it’s non-stop action, start to finish."

One of them asked, laughing, how he’d finally managed to lock her down.

Caleb just gave a mysterious smirk.

"Conservative girls are all the same. They only give themselves to a guy they think is serious about marrying them.

"I bought a huge, beat-up fixer-upper entirely in cash. I put only Maya’s name on the deed.

"She was so incredibly moved. She thinks I bet my entire net worth on her. How could she possibly say no to me after that?"

* * *

I was working a side gig as a wedding planner at my best friend’s agency, trying to save up money for my own wedding.

Today, I was at a hotel downtown to meet a VIP client.

While waiting in the lobby bar, I heard a man ask in a flippant tone:

"Hey Caleb, aren't you done with your 'Cinderella charity project' yet?

"Your merger with the Sterling family is set. The wedding date is practically here."

Instinctively, I turned my head slightly.

Caleb. That was my boyfriend’s name.

But my Caleb was just a sales rep for a medical device company, not some rich heir talking about corporate mergers.

But the next moment, a terrifyingly familiar voice came drifting over.

"What’s the rush? I still have a month.

"Besides, I’m having a hard time letting Maya go."

In an instant, it felt as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over my head. I went entirely numb.

Maya. That was me.

The other man snorted.

"Don't tell me you actually fell for her?"

Caleb took a slow, indifferent sip of his drink.

"Let's not get crazy. It’s just a strictly physical arrangement. A contract.

"And besides..."

Caleb lowered his voice, thick with locker-room bravado.

"She’s blind as a bat. Can’t see a thing without her glasses... I can pull moves on her she can’t stop in time. She just takes it.

"Trust me, it’s non-stop action, start to finish."

His friend burst out laughing.

"That girl was hunted hard by Liam Miller back in the day. He sent her a Maserati, a couple of Birkins, and he still couldn't get her to lay a glove on her.

"I heard she was pure as snow. How the hell did you pull off a grand slam right out of the gate?"

Caleb smirked, looking insufferably proud.

"Conservative girls only give themselves to a guy they think is serious about marrying them.

"I bought a huge, beat-up fixer-upper entirely in cash. I put only Maya’s name on the deed.

"She was so incredibly moved. She thinks I bet my entire net worth on her. How could she possibly say no to me after that?

"It’s like leadin’ a donkey... you just need a really big, shiny carrot dangling right in front of its nose.

"Giving her a car or a bag doesn't prove you want to marry her. But paying cash for a house? That's the carrot."

Saying this, Caleb checked his watch, looking annoyed. He turned to a man who looked like his assistant.

"Where is Ms. Sterling? Didn't we say we were meeting the wedding planner together?"

I froze. The VIP client I was supposed to meet today... her last name was Sterling.

Within seconds, Caleb was grabbing his jacket, swinging it over his shoulder.

"I’m busy. I have to run. Tell Chloe Sterling to do whatever she wants, it’s all on her."

As he walked away, he barked an order to his driver.

"Go to that bakery on the South side. The one trending on TikTok."

One of the friends with him teased:

"Don't have time to plan your wedding with your fiancée, but you have time to go out of your way to buy Cinderella a cheap little gourmet cupcake."

Caleb shoved him playfully.

"Shut up."

Then he sighed, a note of genuine regret in his voice.

"Honestly, if she didn't have that bad eyesight... I don't want a son inheriting those nearsighted genes.

"Otherwise, even if my parents hated it, I might have fought for her.

"What a waste..."