Chapter Five

OLIVIA

I stood in front of Gael's house, tried the handle and noticed it was locked. My heart was thudding painfully in my chest as I fished out the extra key he had given me, my fingers clumsy with a fear I couldn't name yet.

We were supposed to go on a date today for his birthday, just the two of us, but I had been seated at the venue for the past hour and he hadn't come. I tried calling him and he wasn't answering. He wasn't in college either. Every unanswered ring made my stomach twist tighter.

I wanted to be pissed but a thought suddenly occurred to me, what if something happened to him? What if he was somewhere at home, bleeding his life out? The thought alone made my throat close up, guilt chasing out the anger before it could even settle.

Well, here I am in front of his doorstep, driven by nothing but that assumption, my chest already aching with worry I hadn't earned yet.

The door clicked open and I walked in. The first thing I noticed were the shoes on the ground, and I frowned. Did Gael have a visitor? My eyes trailed to the chair and caught on a bra, then panties. What was a woman's underwear doing here, except... The question died before I could finish it, dread creeping up my spine slow and cold.

A moan of pleasure reached my ears before anything else, and my whole body went still.

That voice sounded like...

"It can't be." I whispered, clutching the birthday gift I had brought so tightly to my chest that the wrapping crumpled beneath my fingers.

I followed the sound to Gael's bedroom, each step heavier than the last, my heart screaming at me to turn back while my feet refused to listen.

A force I couldn't fight propelled me forward. I should have been fleeing the other way to escape the dread already pooling in the pit of my stomach, but some broken part of me needed to see it with my own eyes before I could believe it.

Heart thudding loud in my ears, I wrapped my fingers around the door knob and twisted. It gave way.

I stood transfixed, staring at the sight before me, and something inside my chest simply shattered.

My secret boyfriend of a year was in bed with another woman while I sat waiting for him, dressed up, gift in hand, believing something terrible had happened to him.

"Livia!" Tessa, my college best friend, cried out and tried to wiggle off him, panic flashing across her face.

She was the only one who knew about me and Gael, even though Gael had wanted to keep it a secret.

"What are you doing here?" Gael growled, standing up without an ounce of shame, like I was the one who had intruded on something sacred, like I hadn't just watched my whole world crack open.

I blinked, unable to process the question. What was I doing here? I came to see my boyfriend and found him with my best friend, and that was all he had for me.

My chest felt so tight the air seemed to have vanished from the room entirely.

"How could you?" I whispered, the words scraping their way out, hurt closing around my throat like a fist.

His lips curled into something cruel. "Should I remind you that you wanted to wait until we're married?"

I stared at him, disbelief crashing through the pain. "We both decided to wait until after marriage, Gael."

"You were the one who wanted to wait, not me." He sneered, and the betrayal in that single sentence cut deeper than the sight on the bed had.

"I was the one who wanted to wait? But you agreed to it." My voice cracked, anger and grief tangling together and climbing up my spine at once.

"Face it, Livia, Gael was out of your league. I mean, his family owns one of the biggest companies in the city, and he's the sole heir. And you're what? The daughter of a nobody." Tessa smirked, malice sitting plainly in her eyes, and hearing it from her mouth hurt in a way I hadn't braced for.

"So you chose to whore around with him because of that?" I clenched out, my voice shaking now, betrayal and humiliation pressing down on me at once.

She blanched, her face twisting in anger. "Gael and I love each other." She gritted out, and the word love in her mouth made my stomach turn.

"Jeez, Tessa, you were my best friend. I trusted you, and now you're talking to me about loving my boyfriend? What a snake." My voice broke on the last word, everything I thought I knew about her collapsing at once.

"And I hated pretending to be your best friend all along. I hated you, Livia, and thank God I won't have to put up with you ever again."

Each word landed like a blow, stripping away every memory I had of her, every late night, every secret I had trusted her with.

"Look, Olivia," Gael said, his tone placating, "I never said I wouldn't marry you. But before our marriage, let me be warming up my body while you're keeping yours. Look at it this way, your best friend is helping me keep myself for you, so stop throwing a tantrum like a kid." He finished, bored, while I stood there staring at him in disbelief, my chest heaving, wondering how I could have been stupid enough to love someone this hollow, this cruel. It was as if I was seeing him clearly for the very first time.

I was trembling so badly I knew I wouldn't be able to speak without falling apart completely, without the tears finally breaking loose.

"You are so despicable." I managed, my voice barely holding together, my whole body shaking with the effort of not crying in front of them.

My palm connected with his cheek. I didn't wait to see his reaction before I turned on my heels and fled, the birthday gift still crushed against my chest, my vision blurring with tears I refused to let fall until I was far enough away that neither of them could see.