Chapter 12: The real truth

Lucius had walked into the office with a very grumpy mood, like a man who had not slept in days, and had made a personal decision to take it out on everyone within a five meter radius. Nobody breathed comfortably around him all day.

Alura honestly would have cared more if her own life wasn't already actively collapsing.

But after a long day of torture, he finally left earlier than usual, abandoning her to sort through the chaotic aftermath of his bad mood.

Alura scoffed in annoyance, "He thinks he's the only one who had a terrible weekend."

She pulled her phone from her purse and opened the chat thread with Lou.

Seventeen messages. She had sent seventeen desperate messages over the weekend explaining the real truth about the misunderstanding. All of them were marked as read, but completely ignored, not even a single reply from him.

Her chest tightened more. She thought about the email from his lawyers. The divorce papers that were being prepared and would probably be sent today. If he divorced her now, before the marriage even truly began, the money would have to be returned, and Percy Miller would come back. The horrifying image of Percy’s nasty grin flashed in her mind, sending a violent shudder down her spine. It felt like he was never fully gone. Just waiting below the surface of her life for the chance to come back up.

"Ugh!" she groaned aloud, slamming her palms against her desk.

She was exhausted, terrified but mostly, she was furiously angry. And she was tired of begging a man who wouldn't even give her the chance to explain.

Her throat tightened, what was she even supposed to do now?

Wait for divorce papers? And wait to lose everything?

She shook her head, determined, she tapped the text box. Her thumbs hit the screen with aggressive force, pouring every ounce of her spiraling anxiety into the message.

"Fine. Ignore me. But believe me when I say, I am NOT sleeping with anyone. I'm a 25 years old virgin who's never even had a serious boyfriend because I was too busy working three jobs to pay my father's debts and seeing myself through school."

She breathed heavily, tears of frustration stinging the corners of her eyes, but she didn't stop typing.

"My roommate is the sexually active one, not me. She's loud, shameless, and has zero boundaries. Even though she caused this, I still forgave her when she asked for forgiveness. I know I can't force you to believe me or forgive me if this misunderstanding caused you some discomfort. But you have to understand that I wasn't even in that apartment when you showed up. Then again you can believe whatever you want about me. You've clearly already decided I'm a gold digging whore since the beginning....so why would the truth matter?"

Alura stared at the glowing screen. It was a massive wall of text. It was pathetic and deeply humiliating, but she had no choice.

"Fuck it," she hissed, and hit send.

Immediately, her stomach dropped into an endless pit. She dropped her phone onto the desk like it suddenly burned her fingers.

"Oh God, what did I just do?" she whimpered, covering her face with her hands. She had just told a complete stranger, a billionaire who treated her like trash, that she was a virgin. It was the most vulnerable truth she had, and she had just told it to a man who wanted to divorce her.

The screen lit up. 'Delivered.' Then, 'Read.'

Alura inhaled pressing her lips together.

Meanwhile back in his dimly lit bedroom, Lucius sat on his leather sofa with a glass of his favorite amber whiskey. His phone vibrated on the glass table.

He picked it up, expecting another desperate message from his so called wife offering more pathetic excuses.

He opened the text and read the first line, then the second line. His dark eyes stopped dead on the word 'virgin'.

He sat up straighter, the ice in his glass clinking softly. He read the entire paragraph twice. The anger radiating from her words practically jumped through the screen.

She didn't sound like a liar trying to cover her tracks with sweet words. She sounded like a woman pushed to the absolute edge of her sanity. A twenty five ear old virgin who had spent her youth drowning in her father's failures.

He remembered the loud moans from the apartment. If her roommate was truly that wild, it explained the lack of shame he had heard through the door.

"Is she really a virgin?" He muttered, still staring at the text. So was this what Grandma Mabel meant by 'Special. The realization hit him strangely.

He set his glass down and tapped the text box. He typed a sentence.

Back in the office, Alura watched the three little typing dots appear. Her heart hammered wildly against her chest. Finally.

But the dots vanished.

"Just say something already," she whispered biting her fingers.

The dots reappeared, then vanished again. God, was this man torturing her on purpose?

Finally, a message popped onto the screen.

Lou: "A virgin?"

Alura blinked. She stared at the two words until her vision blurred with fury.

"Wait, that's it?" she yelled at the empty office. She had poured out her insecurity, explained her entire humiliating tragic backstory, practically begged him to understand her, and all he took from it was her lack of sexual experience?

"Such an Asshole," she spat, this whole issue made her curse more than often.

Her fingers flew across the keyboard, embarrassment completely replaced with annoyance.

"Yes. Not that it's any of your business. But since you've accused me of cheating in a marriage where we've never even met, I figured I'd correct you on that. I've never had sex. Never wanted to because I'm too busy surviving."

She sent it immediately, not caring how defensive she sounded.

Lucius read the reply instantly and he smirked. He could almost picture her glaring at her phone, her chest heaving with outrage.

Lou: "Why did your roommate use your apartment for.... that?"

Alura huffed. It was just absurd, because she was about texting her ghost husband about Nessa's sex life. But she was careful not to give too much information.

"My roommate is just wild compared to me," she typed back rapidly. "She probably thought she was being helpful by 'testing the strength' of my new bed. She's.... a lot. But she's a good friend, even if she's insane."

Lucius stared at the screen. Testing the strength of the bed, from the banging sound of the headboard and the bouncing of bedsprings, It was ridiculous enough that it had to be true. No one would invent a lie that was this incredibly stupid. He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a strange twinge of discomfort that felt suspiciously like guilt.

He had jumped to conclusions. He had judged her entirely based on his past betrayals, assuming she was just like....

Lou: "I see."

Alura watched the screen. Anticipating a meaningful reply that would assure her future with the contract. But the silence stretched, pulling her nerves tight until they felt ready to snap. Was he going to divorce her anyway? Did he still think she was lying? She chewed on her bottom lip, her leg bouncing anxiously under the desk.

Her phone chimed loudly in the quiet room.

Lou: "If you say so, well then.... I apologize for the accusation. The misunderstanding was unfortunate. But my other conditions still stand. This is still an arrangement, but that doesn't mean you are allowed to sleep around. I'll inform my lawyers to cancel the divorce preparation."

Alura let out a massive breath she didn't know she was holding. Her shoulders slumped forward as she leaned heavily against her chair.

The divorce was cancelled. The lawyers would be called off and she won't be going back to Percy Miller.

Relief washed over her in a heavy, dizzying wave. But as she read the message again, she arched a brow.

'If you say so?'

He couldn't even apologize properly. He had to add that little phrase, implying he still thought she might be lying. After their little chi chat, she had thought he would mellow down, but he was still treating her coldly.

"Such a narcissist," she muttered shaking her head.

She turned the screen off and dropped the phone into her bag. She wasn't going to reply and she wasn't going to say thank you. He had ignored her messages for days anyways, leaving her in a suffocating pit of anxiety. Now, it was his turn to stare at a blank screen and wonder why she didn't reply.

Let him wonder too.

She packed up her desk, turning off the computer monitor. Tomorrow she would have to face Mr. Hunt again, and if his mood was anything like today's, then she needed all the mental strength she could gather. She just hoped surviving her grumpy boss wouldn't be harder than surviving her judgemental husband.