CHAPTER THREE: Humiliated.

~Maren~

The ballroom is exactly what you’d expect from a man with far more money than sense: every detail deliberate, expensive, aggressively showy. Caleb’s always been like that when he wants to prove a point.

God, I miss him.

Three long tables stretch across the room under white linens, crowded with crystal and heavy silver plates. Soft string music drifts through the low light.

I scan the crowd until I find him: dark suit, top buttons undone, laughing easily with a cluster of older men in tailored business attire. Board members, most likely.

Sandra brushes past me without a glance, heading straight for the platform up front. I don’t mind. The farther away she is right now, the better.

The moment she reaches the stage, every head turns toward her. People wave, a few guests blow kisses across the space. She waves back, soaking it in like she’s walking a runway instead of hosting her own engagement party.

I retreat into the shadows near a stone pillar, rendering myself practically invisible. For once, disappearing is exactly what I want.

A server hands her a glass of wine and a spoon. She taps it lightly.

Clink. Clink. Clink.

The room instantly quiets.

“Hello, everyone.” Her smile is radiant, impossibly sweet, the exact smile that suddenly makes me want to claw right across her face. “Thank you for celebrating our engagement with us tonight. But before the toast, let me tell you a little twisted story about how I saved my husband from a toxic relationship that almost drained him.” She gives a light, musical laugh.

My stomach drops. What is she doing?

I look at Caleb. His brow is furrowed too. He’s probably as confused as I am.

I look back at Sandra, and her eyes find mine across the room like she can sense the panic tightening in my throat. She flashes a small, wicked smile, then turns back to the crowd.

“My best friend right over there used to date him.” She points a finger directly at me.

Every head snaps toward my corner. I force a stiff, agonizingly awkward wave. I would happily welcome the floor opening up to swallow me whole right now.

“And last night, she actually called to confess her undying love for him. Can you imagine?” Sandra laughs again, like it’s the funniest punchline in the world. “But I hope she understands he’s married and safe now.”

My entire body goes rigid. I shrink further back against the pillar, willing myself to evaporate, but every head has already found me.

Is this the explanation she promised me? To humiliate me in front of a room full of strangers?

A low wave of murmurs and snickers ripples through the nearby tables. I don’t try to make out the words. I already know exactly what they’re thinking.

The shameless ex who couldn’t move on, showing up to wreck his wedding. They have no idea I was the one who got deceived.

“Please, everyone, stop looking at her. She gets shy easily,” Sandra adds, dripping with fake, sugary concern.

God, I want to kill her.

“Anyway, back to the story.” Sandra carries on, ignoring how uncomfortable I am. “She was always more the type who wanted excitement, exploration, if you know what I mean. My Caleb is the kind of man who wants to settle down with the woman who really loves him.”

My Caleb?

Wow. What can I say? You own what you stole.

Before she can continue, Caleb steps in. “Babe, can I talk to you for a second?”

Maybe her lies are getting to him too.

Sandra frowns but follows him to the side. Standing close, he whispers something in her ear. The way he looks at her while he does it, soft and tender, makes my chest tighten all over again.

If only he knew the woman he’s looking at like she hung the moon was pressed against a couch by another man less than an hour ago.

I try to catch what they’re saying, but they’re too far away. Just as I’m straining to listen, a voice shouts from the back of the room.

“A toast to Caleb’s wife!”

Every head whips around. Mine too, dread locking my spine.

There he is. Kade, leaning against the back wall, lazily raising a glass of red wine.

“That was a fantastic story,” he calls, tilting the glass toward them. “You just left out the part where your lies wrecked your best friend’s relationship.”

I look at Caleb. The gentleness on his face drops off instantly, replaced by something rigid and dangerous as his eyes find Kade across the room.

Kade’s fully dressed now, shirt unbuttoned low enough to flash the edge of his chest tattoo. This is a nightmare. He wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near here. Caleb wasn’t supposed to know he was even back in the city.

“What the fuck is Kade doing here?” Caleb’s voice is quiet, but it cuts like ice.

Sandra’s smile falters for half a second before she recovers and gently takes his arm. “Relax, babe. I invited him.”

“You invited him?” His voice climbs as he jerks back from her touch. “Are you out of your mind? I don't want him anywhere near this room. Get him out. Now.”

“Babe, chill.” She reaches for him again, fingers digging into his forearm. “He’s your old friend. Your college roommate. You don’t have to make a scene.”

He flings her arm away without looking at her, eyes locked on Kade, who hasn’t moved from the wall, unbothered by the tension he’s just detonated.

“Leave. Right now,” Caleb bites out, pointing toward the door.

I stand frozen in the shadows, watching the whole circus come apart.

If Caleb finds out Kade slept with his fiancée tonight, it will wreck him. I can’t watch that happen. 

Not when this started because of me.

My heart hammers as Kade pushes off the wall. He’s about to do something stupid, I can feel it, and some instinct pulls me forward, trying to head him off. But I’m too slow. He’s already strolling down the aisle, unbothered, like a man who just set an engagement party on fire and is enjoying the view.

“Hello, Caleb.” His smile is razor-sharp. “I know my being here is ruining your night, but I only came to celebrate your achievement.” The smirk widens. “Or is celebrating with an old friend a crime now?”

“Fuck you.” Caleb’s face floods red, a vein ticking at his temple. He steps closer, until they’re nearly chest to chest. “I could never be your friend. You’ve always wanted whatever’s mine. How the hell do you have the nerve to show your face here?”

Kade smirks. He swirls the remaining wine in his glass, tips it back, and sets the empty glass down with a soft click. He looks Caleb dead in the eye.

“You’ve got it backwards, silver spoon. Why would I want what’s yours? Your taste in everything is boring.” His voice stays flat, almost bored. “I slept with your girl in college because you went after someone I’d already told you was mine.”

His eyes flick to me for half a second. I look down before anyone follows the glance.

“Wrong move, I’ll admit that.” He tilts his head, a faint smirk pulling at his lips. “But tonight? That one’s on you. I fucked your fiancée because you fired me from a company I helped build. Did you really think that wouldn’t come back around?”

A gasp rips through the ballroom. Whispers erupt, phones lift, and every head swings toward Sandra.

Part of me almost feels sorry for her. Almost.

She thought she could control someone as dangerous as Kade. She should’ve known better. I wonder what excuse she’s going to invent now.

Caleb’s face hardens. 

“You fucked my fiancée?”

Kade chuckles, shaking his head. “Are you deaf?” His eyes flick toward Sandra. “Ask your fiancée who she was with a hour ago.”

Caleb’s confusion shifts slowly into something far more dangerous. He crosses the floor toward Sandra, who’s staring at the ground, unable to meet his eyes.

“Is it true?” His voice is low, trembling with restraint. “Did you sleep with him?”