Chapter 5

Maya was right. I just couldn’t take this and I needed to make a plan but before I had even thought of one, I had already drowned four bottles of alcohol and still thinking, ‘yeah, one more might fix this.’

Maya had left after she had a call from her current boyfriend. She didn’t stay long enough for me to get his name. 

My head spun slightly. Even still drunk, I could still see that stupid video playing in my head. 

The way he looked at her. 

I took another sip. 

“Idiot,” I whispered. “You’re such a fucking idiot.”

Then the door opened. I didn’t bother looking up but I knew it was Victor who was back from his law firm. 

“Lyra,” he said, voice barely audible. His eyes scanned the room, the bottles, the glass and me sitting on the floor like I had lost a fight with life. 

His jaw tightened. He looked at me mortified but I was honestly too tired to care. I lifted the glass slightly. 

Before it touched my lips, he snatched the cup from my hand. 

“Hey…” I tried to grab it back but he moved faster, placing it out of reach. 

“What is wrong with you?” he snapped. I eyed him. He didn’t have the right to judge my life when he hadn’t even lived it yet. 

“You are rude,” I slurred. He ignored me as he went to set everything aside before turning back to me. 

“Talk to me,” he commanded. 

I rolled my eyes. Look at him acting all high and mighty like hey, I am rich and I have a perfect life. Tell me your problems and I would make it go away. 

They were all hypocrites. All of them. I stared up at the ceiling like the solution to my problem could probably be written up there. 

“Victor?” I called. “Why does no one want me?”

I glanced at him. 

Victor went still immediately. 

“Lyra…”

“No, seriously,” I cut in, pushing myself up. “Four years Victor. Four years of giving him everything and he still…” I swallowed, clutching my chest. “He still chose someone else.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re not enough.”

“It literally does,” I snapped. “He said it himself. I am not fit to be Mrs. Cole. I’m too… what was it?” I laughed bitterly. “Loose? Easy? Have no boundaries? Take your pick.”

Victor’s expression darkened. 

“Are you angry?”

“That what?”

“I am speaking about your friend like this?”

Victor knelt in front of me, holding my face in his hands. “Any man that treats a girl like he did doesn’t deserve to remain my friend.”

I shook my head, looking away. “You sound very confident for someone who barely knows me.”

“I do,” he insisted. “I’ve seen you. The way you take care of people. The way you put everyone else before yourself. That’s not ‘easy.’ That’s rare.”

I let out a dry laugh. “Yeah? Tell that to him.”

“I don’t need to,” Victor said, now readjusting himself between me so that he could have access to my face clearer. “His opinion doesn’t define you.”

I scoffed. What he didn’t know was if that was the man who had ever loved you your entire life, it kind of mattered. 

The problem was that I loved him too much.  “How the hell am… I supposed to just… let go?”

Victor didn’t answer immediately and he really didn’t need to. I was only talking to myself but he surprised me when he asked. “What if you didn’t have to let it go?”

I frowned, opening my eyes. What the hell was he talking about?

“What if,” he continued, “you made him regret it instead?”

I swallowed. 

“…what are you talking about Victor?”

Victor leaned back slightly, studying me. 

“You asked why no one wants you,” he said. “That’s not true. But if you want proof…” he tilted his head. “Why not make him see what he has really lost?”

I stared at him. I didn’t even know what to say other than. “That sounds like a brilliant but terrible idea.”

He laughed and that warmed my heart. I hadn’t seen him laugh once. 

“Oh, this is exactly what you need.” He said, completely ignoring me.

I crossed my arms. “So, you are talking about revenge.”

He shrugged. “Call it whatever you want.”

My fingers curled into my gown. A part of me, very stupid, very emotional part of me, was listening. 

“And how exactly do you plan on doing that?”

Victor stood and lifted me onto the chair. He leaned closer to me until I could smell the scent of something chocolatey on him. “We make him jealous.”

“Oh, that’s all?” I muttered. “Easy. Let me just go find someone to…”

He didn’t look away. He stared at me for a moment, waiting for me to understand what he was saying but I couldn’t. Couldn’t this guy understand that my brain was already filled up? 

He raised an eyebrow. 

And then it fucking clicked. 

I shook my head. “Hell, no!”

“Think about it, What if you marry me…” 

“Marry…” 

“No,” he cut me off. “We are faking it, of course”

Faking it? It sounds ridiculous and messy and I was already a disaster. I didn’t need to add fake relationships to the list!

“Do you want him back?” he urged. 

My throat tightened because I knew the honest answer already. 

“Yes,” I admitted. “Okay? Yes. I do. I want him to look at me and realize he made a mistake. I want him to…” I exhaled. “I want him to regret it.”

There was still one question that lingered in my mind but what if I didn’t want him anymore? 

I shrugged, I guess it wouldn’t hurt either ways because there was no way, no fucking way that he would walk away from hurting me like this. 

“But what about your relationship with Ronan?” I asked. “Wouldn’t this affect you?”

He waved me off. “Do you agree or not?”

“Fine. Let’s do this.”

His smile widened. 

“Well, we have an engagement to announce,” Victor said, gaze locking onto mine. “and trust me, we’re going to make the entire world feel it.”