My victory

Isabel

I wear my clothes on with hurried fingers, heart pounding like a drum in my ribs. The chill of Jude’s apartment follows me as I slip into my shoes, his house smells like him. The memory of last night presses at my temples, his mouth on mine, the way his hand found my waist, the shiver that runs up my arm when I remember his name on my lips. I did it. I took him. And now he dares to push me away.

No. I will not rest until Jude becomes mine. I will not stay silent about what we did. Seline must know. She will learn every humiliating, delicate piece of it. She will taste the betrayal the way I have tasted the victory.

I am not the kind of woman who accepts defeat. I never was. Fighting is in my bones. Jude and Seline’s story has ended and mine is just beginning.

I step out into the street and hail a cab. I rehearse my lines in my head about what I am going to say to her. I want Seline to feel it in her chest, to collapse under the weight of what I tell her. Her pain will calm the storm inside me.

The cab pulls up outside Seline’s gate. I pay the driver in cash with hands that don’t quite stop shaking.

Seline opens the door before I can knock. Her face is open and bright, the kind of smile you offer someone you trust without thinking. She looks relieved to see me, hopeful even, the kind of person who expects promises to be kept. I swallow down a flash of contempt and step inside with the practiced ease of someone who belongs.

“Welcome, Isabel,” she says, ushering me into her living room. I watch her closely. She trusts me. That trust makes her vulnerable, and vulnerability is a tool.

“Thank you,” I say, letting the words drip with a sweetness that is not mine. Inside, I am a coiled wire. She sits, hands folded like a child waiting for a story. Her trust tastes delicious.

“So, how did it go with Jude? Are you coming from his place?” Her voice is tentative, full of that desperate hope I once pretended to share. I feel a flicker of something, pity? No. I squelch it. She deserves this. She deserves every shard of pain.

“Yes.” The single word lands heavy in the quiet room. “I’m just coming from there. I actually slept there last night.” I watch her face change confusion first, then disbelief.

“What do you mean you spent the night there? Are you being serious right now?” Her voice stumbles. It’s exactly how I want it to sound, small, broken at the edges.

I lean forward, savoring the crack as it opens in her. “I don’t lie,” I say plainly. “Jude doesn’t want anything to do with you anymore. He’s mine now. We spent a very romantic night together, and I loved every second.” I let the memory show in my softened eyes, the kind of look that sells truth even if it’s a lie. “Move on, Seline. Jude will never be coming back to you.”

She looks like she has seen a ghost. The air between us goes cold. Tears gather at the rims of her eyes and run slow, humiliating tracks down her cheeks. She reaches for the nearest thing, a cushion to steady herself against the falling world.

“What? You snake. How could you do that?” The accusation is raw, barely contained grief and a sudden, bright anger. Her voice trembles so much it sounds fragile. That tremor is my happiness.

Her shame cracks me open in the best possible way. For a moment I feel lightheaded, like I’m floating above the whole scene, watching her shatter and knowing I did it. “I love Jude,” I tell her, letting the confession land like a stone. “I’ve loved him for a very long time. So darling, leave him to me. He is with me now.” I let my voice soften. “I can’t forget how sweet last night was, the way he touched me, the way he made me feel. I just can’t get enough of him.”

I collect my handbag slowly and then I stand and give her one last look. My mouth curls into something like pity, which I don’t feel, and I step toward the door.

As I reach it I glance back at her, still standing there in disbelief and tears. The sight steadies me. This is what I wanted. This is what I live for, a clean, decisive victory. I walk out smiling, the cold morning wrapping around me like a cloak. Her pain soothes me in a way nothing else can.

Outside, the street hums with indifferent life. I press my back against the building and close my eyes for a second, letting the moment sink in. Seline’s world just fell apart, and I am the one who made it happen and it is perfect.