CHAPTER FIVE : Men are scum

“No.” Lila’s voice cracked, but she held her head high, the diamond necklace he had given her glinting mockingly against her skin. “There is no ‘we’ anymore. Not tonight. Not after this.”

Before Daniel could respond, Lila grabbed the lapels of his new tuxedo and yanked him forward with surprising strength. The fabric bunched tightly in her fists as she pulled his face close to hers.

“Look at me in the eyes, Daniel,” she demanded, her voice low but fierce enough to carry through the silent courtyard. “When did this start? What about Drew? Didn’t you at least pity him?”

Daniel’s eyes were wide with shock and shame, the red imprint of her slap still burning brightly on his cheek. Up close, she could see the faint sheen of sweat on his forehead, the way his strong jaw trembled as he struggled for words. 

His broad chest rose and fell rapidly under her grip, the crisp white shirt now wrinkled from her hold.

“Lila… baby, please,” he whispered brokenly, his voice barely audible. “It started a few months ago… after that company retreat in Aspen. Sophia and I… we got drunk, one thing led to another. I swear I tried to end it. But then the surrogacy talks began and everything got so twisted. Drew is my best friend. I hated myself every single day. I pitied him. I still do. But I couldn’t stop. I’m so sorry. It was just once.”

The lie hung in the air for half a second before Sophia’s sharp, bitter laugh cut through it.

“Come on Daniel, it was not once,” Sophia snapped, stepping forward with fire in her eyes. Her hand stayed protectively on her swollen belly as she glared at him. “We have been dating since last year. Just tell her the fucking truth.”

Lila’s grip on Daniel’s tuxedo lapels tightened until her knuckles turned white. She stared up into the face of the man she had loved since high school. The same man who had called her his forever only hours ago and felt something inside her finally snap.

“Since last year?” Her voice rose, trembling with rage and heartbreak. “You’ve been in a full relationship with her for over a year? While I was begging the doctors for answers? While I was decorating the nursery we might never use? While you were coming home and kissing me like nothing was wrong?”

Daniel’s face crumpled. The red mark from her slap stood out starkly against his pale skin. “Lila, I—”

“No!” She shoved him back hard, releasing his collar like it burned her. “You stood in our bedroom this morning and gave me this necklace,” she yanked at the diamond pendant, nearly tearing it off, “and told me work wouldn’t come between us again. You let me believe we were finally getting our miracle through the surrogacy. And the whole time you were building a whole other life with her?”

Sophia’s expression softened with something almost like pity. “Lily… I’m sorry it came out like this. But this baby is real. We’re real. Daniel kept saying he would leave you after the company expansion, that he just needed more time. I got tired of being the secret.”

Drew finally pushed through the crowd, his face twisted in anguish. “Both of you… in my own house? With my wife?”

Chaos erupted around them, whispers turning into shouts, old friends staring in disbelief, phones recording every devastating second. The Four Years of Forever banner seemed to leer down at them mockingly.

No one had actually realized when Drew showed up. Seems like the man came a while later after his wife and had been watching the entire scene unfold before him like a play.

Lila took a step back, her gown suddenly feeling like a costume in someone else’s tragedy. She looked at Daniel one last time, her tender face shattered, tears carving tracks through her makeup.

“I hope she was worth it,” she said, her voice hollow. “Because we’re done.”

Before Daniel could reply, a roar of pure rage tore through the courtyard. Drew, Daniel’s best friend of nearly twenty years launched himself forward like a man possessed. 

His fist connected squarely with Daniel’s jaw, the same spot Lila had slapped moments earlier, snapping his head back with a sickening crack.

“You son of a bitch!” Drew bellowed, throwing another vicious punch into Daniel’s chest. “My wife? In my own fucking house?!”

Daniel stumbled backward, the powerful man in the tailored tuxedo she had gifted him now reduced to raising his arms too late to block the blows.

A table crashed as he collided with it, sending champagne flutes and floral arrangements flying. Guests screamed and scrambled out of the way as Drew tackled him to the ground, fists flying in a blur of curses and betrayal.

“You were my brother!” Drew shouted between punches. “I trusted you with everything!”

Chaos exploded across the yard, people shouting, some trying to pull Drew off, others filming the spectacle. 

Sophia cried out, one hand over her belly, looking genuinely shaken for the first time all night.

But Lila didn’t look back. She kept walking, her gown trailing behind her like a broken banner of defeat. 

The sounds of violence and screaming faded behind her as she pushed through the heavy gates of their mansion and stepped into the cool night air.

Tears blurred her vision, but she didn’t stop. The night that was supposed to celebrate four years of forever had become the night everything died.

She clutched her phone in trembling fingers, ordering a car as fast as possible. The diamond at her throat felt like it was choking her. She reached up, unclasped the necklace with shaking hands, and stared at it for one long, painful second.

Then she dropped it into a nearby fountain with a small, pathetic splash.

As the car pulled up and she slid into the backseat, Lila finally allowed the full weight of the betrayal to crash over her. Four years. A lifetime of firsts. All of it was gone.

Her perfect timer had run out. She wished her best friend Sonia was there. She would have probably broken a bottle or two on Daniel’s head before Drew could bounce on him.

Sonia would have probably dragged Sophia and that bastard child of hers down the heavy gates while kicking and slapping her till she passed out.

The car had just pulled up to her mother’s house when Lila’s phone lit up with a call from their surrogate doctor. 

She answered with trembling fingers. “Mrs. Coleman, I’m so sorry to call like this, but we have an emergency. Sophia went into early labor after the scene at the gala.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line which lasted for about two seconds before the doctor continued.

“The baby is coming tonight… and the preliminary DNA results from your request yesterday shows something impossible. This child carries markers from both you and Daniel. We need you at the hospital immediately. You may be the biological mother after all.”