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Chapter 2

Penulis: Late Love
When Mom's body was taken downstairs to the funeral home's care facility, I didn't cry.

I'd already cried myself dry during those five endless nights at the hospital.

I stared at her framed photo.

One of her final questions kept cutting through me.

"When is Tyler coming?"

Buzz.

My phone vibrated in the dead-quiet hallway.

A text from an unknown number.

Numb, I unlocked my phone and opened the photo.

The second I saw it, my blood went cold.

It was crystal clear.

Tyler was holding Vivian's hand, cheeks flushed, love written all over his face.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, fireworks lit up the Shangara Riverfront for her birthday.

Under the photo was one chilling message.

[Check the cloud backup account you and Tyler used to share. The password is Vivian Shultz's birthday. You'll find every truth you're looking for.]

No sender information.

I stared at Tyler's smiling face.

After losing Mom, I felt weirdly calm.

The scary kind.

I didn't reply.

I went into the family lounge next to the funeral home and pulled my laptop from my backpack.

Tyler and I'd been together eight years. He knew all my passwords.

His cloud account had been linked to my laptop before.

I entered Vivian's birthday.

Verification complete.

Login successful.

The cloud synced everything from his phone—texts, hidden albums, purchase history.

I opened the search bar, drew in a breath, and typed:

"Lindsay."

The first result was a chat with his college friend, Jake.

Two weeks old.

Jake: [What's going on with you and Vivian? I saw how crazy things got on that Havalia Island trip. What are you gonna do about Lindsay?]

Tyler: [Lindsay's nice, but she's boring. I'm embarrassed to bring her around. Vivian said we'll go public after her startup closes its Series A. Until then, I'm just keeping Lindsay around.]

My hand froze.

Even breathing hurt.

I kept scrolling.

Next was a private group chat with his coworkers.

Coworker: [Tyler, is that crazy-loyal backup girlfriend from your hometown still waiting for you to marry her? When are you gonna tell her?]

Tyler sent a helpless sticker.

[Soon. I'm waiting for her to put the down payment on the condo we're buying and add me to the deed. I'm not in a rush. She is.]

Everyone knew.

His friends. His coworkers.

They all knew I was the backup he could dump whenever he wanted.

I was the only one in the dark.

The only idiot.

The chat that chilled me the most was with his dad, Benjamin.

Benjamin: [Tyler, Vivian has a future, but her startup's still a gamble.]

[Listen to me. Keep Lindsay hooked, and don't back off about the apartment or the money she's supposed to put in.]

[Lindsay is honest. Reliable. Most importantly, she does what you tell her. She's your safest fallback.]

[Once your name's on that condo, she won't be able to do anything.]

[Don't bet everything on one person.]

Tyler: [I know, Dad. Don't worry. She's gullible. She believes whatever I say. Just yesterday, I got her bank card PIN out of her.]

'His safest fallback.'

'Gullible.'

What a joke.

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  • He Cheated, I Sent Invoices   Chapter 11

    "No... No...""That money wasn't just what you owed me." I spoke slowly, every word landing hard. "You can pay back money. You can settle every debt on paper. But can you pay back a life?"I pointed at the headstone."You never owed me. You owed her."Tyler clutched his chest like it finally hit him.A broken cry ripped out of him. He collapsed into the mud and started slapping himself in front of Mom's headstone, sobbing so hard he could barely breathe."I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I was wrong. I was so wrong..."I didn't look at him again.I turned toward the cemetery gate."Lindsay! Don't go! Don't leave me here alone!"His desperate cries echoed through the empty cemetery, then disappeared into the mountain wind.I never looked back.My steps stayed steady.At the cemetery gate, I stopped and pulled a rusty key from my pocket.The spare to my old apartment back home.I'd kept it even after selling the place—the last real piece of the eight years Tyler and I had wasted.

  • He Cheated, I Sent Invoices   Chapter 10

    I stopped a few feet away and watched him fall apart.Inside, I was calm. Still water.No anger. No pity. Not even disgust.When you've really let go, the other person becomes a stranger who happens to talk.A dry branch cracked under my shoe.Tyler stopped crying. His whole body went stiff.Then he turned, slow and stunned.The second he saw me, his eyes blew wide. Tears slid down his face.He tried to stand, but his legs had gone numb from the cold ground, and he slipped backward into the mud."Lindsay... Lindsay!"Like a drowning man grabbing for a rope, he crawled toward me and reached for my pant leg."I paid it all back. All $270,000. Every dollar. Please... look at me. Just say something."I stepped away from his hand and set the white roses beside Mom's headstone.I looked at her warm smile in the photo, my voice calm. "You're here.""I came to apologize to your mom!"Tyler slapped himself across the face, over and over. Each hit cracked through the cemetery."L

  • He Cheated, I Sent Invoices   Chapter 9

    Every night after working late, I stood under Northvale's glittering skyline and let the wind hit my face.I'd never felt that free.Two months later, on the first, my banking app buzzed with two alerts.The first was a deposit.[$2,000 received. Memo: First installment.]Then a text came in from an unknown number.[Lindsay, it's me. This is what I saved this month from working three part-time jobs. I'm at a small company now, doing phone sales. The base pay is terrible... Every day after work, I see couples and think of you. I know you'll never forgive me, but I'll pay back every cent. Are... are you doing okay?]I stared at the message and gave a bitter little smile.I didn't text back.I opened the studio's books, knocked $2,000 off Tyler's balance, and added one note:[Remaining balance: $268,000.]Every payment was a slap in the face. A reminder of exactly what his greed and betrayal had cost him.More than six months passed. The studio kept growing.Then we landed th

  • He Cheated, I Sent Invoices   Chapter 8

    After I hung up, I looked at my phone.I felt weirdly calm.He was finally paying for what he did.Tyler always thought Vivian was his ticket into a better life.He never got that every shiny thing comes with a price.He gambled Mom's money on a fake future.Now he'd lost everything.That afternoon, Irene called again.The arrogance she'd brought to my old apartment was gone.Her voice was thick with tears and panic. "Lindsay... I'm begging you. Please save Tyler. That bitch ruined him!"The $50,000 was just money Tyler stupidly lent her. Now she's going to prison, and we'll never get it back."Tyler could lose his job. He could even be held responsible. You know people. Please help clear his name. Just say the money was a gift from you, okay?"I listened to Irene beg and felt nothing but disgust."A gift?"I laughed coldly."Mrs. Carlton, you had a totally different attitude when you slammed the table and told me to sell my apartment for Tyler's sister's down payment. Y

  • He Cheated, I Sent Invoices   Chapter 7

    Tyler's voice shook."What are you talking about? You begged me to help you. You said we'd get married once your startup got funded!""That was before!" Vivian dropped the sweet act. "Our investors pulled out at the last minute. The company's done. I'm about to go bankrupt. I can't even save myself. Where am I supposed to get money for you?""You bitch! That's not what you told me!"The recording caught a struggle, then a handbag slamming into a car door."That was then. This is now. Tyler Carlton, don't push your luck. I never told you to steal Lindsay's mom's life savings."Her voice went cold."Lindsay's a good woman. Go beg her to forgive you. Don't drag me down with you. Security! Get this psycho out of here!"The recording cut off.I sat in the hotel armchair, listening to the final screech of tires through my earbuds.A silent laugh slipped out.My shoulders shook as the resentment I'd been carrying finally started to melt.Just like I'd expected.People like Tyler

  • He Cheated, I Sent Invoices   Chapter 6

    I stopped and slowly peeled his fingers off my sleeve."Tyler, you showed up to my mom's memorial and never once looked at her photo. You didn't bring flowers. You didn't even say you were sorry."I met his stunned eyes."You didn't just fail me. You failed her."***Half an hour later, I was at the cemetery outside town.A light rain drifted down.Beside Mom's fresh grave, I lit a copy of the $270,000 debt agreement.The flames curled through the paper until it became ash and lifted into the air."Mom, I got back everything they took from us."My eyes burned."He won't keep a single dollar that belonged to you."My phone buzzed.A text from Tyler.[Lindsay, I know I was wrong. Please don't leave me.]I didn't reply.He didn't know he was wrong.He just never thought I'd actually leave.***After handling Mom's memorial, I went back to the cheap hotel where I was staying.The second I slid in the keycard, my phone started buzzing like crazy.Missed calls stacked up

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