Chapter 5

He called me baby. Sometimes, when he wanted something, he called me the love of his life. I had never imagined there might be another woman receiving the same affection.

I walked toward the bedroom, my hands trembling at my sides. The door was slightly open, and through the gap, I saw Ethan lying in bed with a blonde woman beside him. The blanket covered part of their bodies, but there was no mistaking what I had walked in on.

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.

Two years and this was what he had been doing behind my back?

I pushed the door open.

“Ethan.”

Both of them turned.

His smile vanished when he saw me.

“Nadia?”

The blonde woman immediately pulled the blanket higher over her chest. She looked irritated rather than ashamed.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Ethan demanded.

I stared at him, struggling to comprehend that he was actually angry with me.

“What am I doing here?” My voice cracked. “What are you doing?”

He sat up, dragging a hand over his face. “Can you keep your voice down?”

I let out a disbelieving laugh. “You’re in bed with another woman, and you’re asking me to keep my voice down?”

“Don’t make a scene.”

“A scene?” I repeated. “Ethan, I’ve been calling you all morning. You wouldn’t answer, and I came here because I needed to talk to you. I never imagined I’d find you—”

My voice broke, and some foolish part of me was waiting for him to explain that I had misunderstood everything.

He sighed impatiently. “Look, Nadia. This isn’t a good time.”

I stared at him.

“Not a good time?”

The blonde woman beside him rolled her eyes. “Oh, for God’s sake, Ethan. Is this the girl you said is always obsessed with you?”

He didn’t answer immediately.

That silence hurt more than I expected.

“No. You’re going to explain this to me. Who is she? How long has this been going on? Was I the only one who thought we were in a relationship?”

He stared at me for a long moment, then let out a tired breath.

“You really want the truth?”

I nodded, my throat too tight to speak.

He looked me up and down before answering.

“Fine. You want the truth? I don’t love you, Nadia.”

The words landed like a slap.

I shook my head slowly. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“No.” I took a step toward him. “No, you can’t say that. Not after everything we’ve been through. Not after everything I’ve done for you.”

He gave a short, humourless laugh.

“Everything you’ve done for me? You mean lending me money and acting like that makes you some kind of perfect girlfriend?”

My eyes burned. “I helped you because I loved you.”

“And I let you help me because you were useful.”

For a moment, the room seemed to tilt beneath my feet.

He continued before I could respond, apparently determined to make sure every word hurt.

“You were always there whenever I needed something. Money, help, someone to listen to my problems. You were convenient, Nadia. That’s all.”

The woman watched us with growing interest, making no attempt to hide her amusement.

“You told me you loved me,” I whispered.

He shrugged. “People say things, Tina is the one I love.”

Tina? My lips parted, but no words came out… he wasn’t even trying to deny it anymore.

I stared at him, stunned.

“Look at you, Nadia. You’re always worried about money, always working, always talking about your responsibilities. Your entire life revolves around your sister and your problems. Do you ever think about anything else?”

He said it so casually that I felt something inside me crack.

Tina beside him reached for her phone, clearly losing interest in the conversation. Ethan, however, wasn’t finished.

“And since you want to know why things never worked between us, I’ll tell you something else. You’re not even good in bed, Nadia.”

My entire body went still.

He looked directly into my eyes.

“For two years, I had to bear with you. Two years of pretending you were enough because I thought keeping you around might be useful to me. But honestly? I don’t know how I managed to put up with it for so long.”

I couldn’t hear anything for a moment.

I had shared my life with him. I had trusted him with my fears, my dreams, and parts of myself I had never shared with anyone else. I had thought the intimacy between us meant something because I had believed we meant something.

He had apparently spent those two years laughing at me behind my back.

Tears blurred my vision, as I swallowed hard.

“What about the money?”

His expression changed slightly.

“What money?”

“The money I lent you. You said you’d pay me back.”

He scoffed. “We’re talking about our relationship, and that’s what you’re worried about?”

“It’s my money, Ethan!”

“Then consider it the price of learning a lesson.”

I stared at him in disbelief.

“You promised to return it.”

“And you chose to lend it to me. Nobody forced you.”

My hands curled into fists.

“I trusted you.”

“Well, that was your mistake.”

I felt as though the air had been knocked out of my lungs.

I wiped my cheeks angrily, refusing to let another tear fall.

I pulled out my phone and opened the screenshots I had taken that morning.

“The loan.”

For the first time since I entered the room, his expression shifted.

Only slightly, but I noticed.

“My outstanding balance was supposed to be less than nine thousand dollars.”

Tina glanced at him.

I held up my phone.

“The application was submitted on the day I gave you my phone at work. I remember because you asked to use it while I was busy. Tell me you had nothing to do with this.”

Ethan stared at the screen, then leaned back against the headboard.

“That’s a serious accusation.”

“Did you take out a loan using my information?”

“Do you have proof that I did?”

I blinked.

“What?”

“You heard me. Do you have proof?” He spread his hands. “The application has your name and your information, doesn’t it? How exactly does that prove I submitted it?”

“You had my phone when you came to my work place!”

“And? You think you can walk in here, throw an accusation at me?”

“You were the one who used it that day!”

“Prove it.”

His answer came without hesitation.

I stared at him, my heart pounding.

“You did this,” I whispered.

He shrugged. “Believe whatever you want.”

“I will go to the police.”

That finally made him laugh.

“The police?” He shook his head. “Go ahead, Nadia. Tell them your boyfriend stole your information. Tell them you lent him your phone and now you’re convinced he took out a loan in your name. What do you think they’ll do?”

“They’ll investigate.”

“And what evidence will you give them? Your feelings? A date on an application? The fact that you don’t trust me anymore?” He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. “You don’t have proof that I submitted anything. You don’t have proof that I took your information. So go ahead. Call the police. Let’s see how far you get.”

I tightened my grip on my phone.

He was right about one thing… I didn’t yet have proof that he had taken out the loan. Tina suddenly pushed the blanket aside and reached for her robe.

“I’ve had enough of this,” she said sharply.

She stood, slipped into the robe, and walked toward me with an expression of open disgust.

I barely noticed her until she stopped directly in front of me.

“Stay away from Ethan.”

I stared at her. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Whatever you two had is over. He’s with me now, so stop showing up here and embarrassing yourself.”

I almost laughed.

“Embarrassing myself? I walked in and found my boyfriend in bed with you. You’re shameless.”

Her face hardened.

“Watch your mouth.”

“Or what?”

The slap came so quickly that I barely saw her hand move.

SMACK!

My head snapped to the side. A sharp sting spread across my cheek, and for a second, I could only stare at the wall, stunned by what had just happened.

I slowly turned back toward her.

She stood with her chin raised, looking at me as if she had every right to hit me.

“You need to learn when to leave,” she said.

I touched my cheek, unable to believe what I was seeing.

Then I looked at Ethan.

He hadn’t moved… he hadn’t even looked surprised.

He simply watched us with the same bored expression he might have worn while waiting for a delayed appointment.

“You’re going to let her hit me?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “Maybe you should have left when I told you to.”

I took a step back.

“Both of you deserve each other.”

I held his gaze for another second, trying to understand how I had spent two years loving someone who could look at me with so much contempt.

Then I turned and walked out.

The moment I reached the hallway, my legs began to tremble.

I leaned against the wall, pressing a hand over my mouth as the tears finally came. My cheek throbbed, but the pain was nothing compared to what was happening inside my chest.

He had cheated on me and he had stolen my identity to take out a loan I could never afford to repay.

I thought about Maya, how was I supposed to find a way now?

I had barely enough money to keep us afloat, and someone had added nearly forty thousand dollars to a debt that was already difficult to manage. I didn’t know how I was going to prove what Ethan had done, and I couldn’t bear the thought of telling Maya that our problems were worse than I had let her believe.

I wiped my face and forced myself to stand straight.

I checked the time.

I should have been heading to work.

Lucien Loreto would be furious if I showed up late, even though I had bigger problems than his endless demands and his cold, unforgiving attitude.

***

The moment I stepped into Loreto Industries… the intercom on my desk buzzed.

“Ms. Sinclair, to my office. Now.”