Venus, So Close Yet So Far
Everyone in the city's elite circle knew that the most eligible bachelor in the city loved me like his life depended on it.
To marry me—a woman living with HIV—Michael Dalio deliberately destroyed his own reputation. Night after night, he paraded through clubs, bedding forty-nine women in a row. He even went so far as to force himself on his widowed sister-in-law, whose husband had just died.
Finally, he pushed the Dalio family patriarch into giving in. The old man, holding his tongue in reluctant acceptance, allowed me to enter the family.
To give Michael a child, I humbled myself before my sworn enemy, kneeling to beg for a secret medicine.
Just as I was about to share the good news with him, I found him hard at work on his widowed sister-in-law's body.
"Nancy, you're finally mine. She has HIV—she won't last long. The only woman I'll ever love is you."
Turned out I was nothing more than a convenient cover for Michael to marry Nancy.
Tears streamed down my face as I pressed send on the message.
[I agree to your terms. See you in three days.]