Taking Back My Life After My Fiancé And Best Friend Destroyed Me Chapter 02
The Cold Truth
I stare at her. The streetlight falls across her face. She looks perfectly sober. No wobble. No slur. Nothing.
“You faked it,” I say. “You were faking drunk this whole time.”
Maya sighs, bored already. “Yeah.”
“Do you even understand what you’ve done?”
She gives me a tired, condescending look. “Chloe, stop being naive. I know exactly what I’m doing.”
“Ethan’s young, rich, hot, and loyal. Who wouldn’t want him?”
“You dated him for eight years and he never proposed. Doesn’t that tell you everything? He doesn’t love you.”
The cab stops. “Ladies, we’re here.”
I get out. My legs buckle. I grab the door to keep from falling.
The ER entrance is bright and harsh. I look at Maya’s calm, unbothered face and force my voice steady.
“You’re wrong, Maya.”
“He’s not loyal.”
“Eight years with me—and you stole him just like that. You think he won’t cheat on you too?”
Maya smiles. Slow. Satisfied.
“Chloe, you’re so childish.” She puts a hand on her stomach. “I’m pregnant. He’s not going anywhere.”
My knees almost give out. My skin crawls where I touched her in the car. The nausea is instant.
My hand moves before my brain catches up.
I slap her across the face. Hard.
“You’re disgusting.”
The crack echoes off the hospital walls. Maya’s head snaps sideways.
And then—tires screeching. A car slams to a stop at the curb.
Ethan jumps out. He shoves me back so hard I stumble, then pulls Maya into his arms, cupping her reddened cheek with shaking hands.
He takes one breath. Two. Then he turns to me with a look I know well.
Not the look he gives his girlfriend of eight years.
The look he gives a business rival he’s about to destroy.
He points at the security camera above the hospital entrance. “Apologize. Now. Or I’m calling the police. You know I can make sure you spend a few nights in a cell.”
I laugh. It sounds dead. “Fine. Let them take me. I could use the quiet.”
Ethan’s voice drops. “And what about your mother?”
My whole body goes still.
“Don’t forget, Chloe. I’m the one paying her medical bills. If she finds out her daughter got arrested—”
The air leaves my lungs.
I look at him. His eyes are steady. Certain. He knows he’s won.
I bite down so hard I taste blood. My hands shake at my sides. I bite back a sob.
“Sorry,” I whisper.
Maya sniffles against Ethan’s chest. “My face hurts so much…”
Ethan doesn’t look away from me. “Slap yourself. Ten times.”
I stare at him.
“Fair is fair,” he says. “Eye for an eye.”
I raise my hand.
The first slap stings. Hard.
I look at them. Wrapped around each other. They look at me like I’m the problem.
I am the intruder. I’m already out.
By the tenth slap, my face is numb. My palm is numb. Everything is numb.
“Are we done?” My voice doesn’t sound like mine.
Ethan nods.
I walk into the hospital. Tears pour down my face. I wipe them but they keep coming. I tell myself: *Don’t cry. Don’t give them the satisfaction.*
But another voice answers back: *You already are the joke.*
I am the joke.
Betrayed by the two people I trusted most in this world. And what—I’m supposed to just let them live happily ever after? Let them keep stepping on me? Let Ethan hold my mother’s life over my head forever?
No.
I pull out my phone and dial.
Liam picks up on the second ring. His voice is lazy, amused.
“Well, well. Chloe. What made you call me, Chloe? Finally dumping your boyfriend?”
My voice comes out raw. Flat. Certain.
“You want Ethan’s designs for next quarter? I’m the designer. I haven’t signed the licensing agreement. If you want them—they’re yours.”
For a second, Liam says nothing. Then his voice turns serious.
“What do you want in return?”
“Get me and my mom out. And burn Ethan to the ground.”
A pause. Then:
“Consider it done.”
—