"Give it back! Right now! Bring it to me this instant, or I'm calling the police! I'll make sure you two have your wedding behind bars!"
I was shaking with rage, every word barbed.
Benjamin flinched on the other end of the line, then fired back with anger of his own.
"What kind of way is that to talk? I told you it was all for show! I just borrowed it! It's not like I'm keeping it forever!"
"I was going to wait until tomorrow and buy you a few similar ones as an apology gift. But you just had to—"
Fury surged through me. I couldn't stand to hear his voice for another second.
I hung up, walked out the door, and hailed a cab, giving the driver Elise's address.
I grabbed Benjamin's luggage on my way out.
During the ride, my phone buzzed nonstop. Text messages from Benjamin.
"I got a little worked up just now. I said some things I shouldn't have. Maud, I'm sorry."
"How about this—I'll return the bracelet tomorrow, but you have to come to the wedding and be Elise's bridesmaid."
"Think about it. We were supposed to get married, and then I suddenly went and got my marriage license with Elise instead. That doesn't look good for a young woman's reputation."
"If you show up tomorrow as the bridesmaid, nobody will think Elise came between us. And if anyone asks about what happened with us, just cover for me... Tell them you cheated, that you fell for someone else, that you'd been wanting to break things off for a while. Just don't drag Elise into it."
I stared at his messages, and a laugh escaped me. The sheer absurdity of it.
But the laughter didn't last. Tears rolled down and soaked into the hem of my coat.
The driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror and silently handed me a tissue.
I thanked him quietly, pushed open the car door, and dragged the suitcase behind me as I stormed upstairs.
I went straight to Elise's front door and pounded on it with everything I had.
The door rattled like thunder under my fists.
Hurried footsteps echoed from inside, and the door swung open.
"Who the hell—? It's the middle of the night!"
Benjamin stood there in a pink apron, flour dusted across his forehead.
My eyes burned red in an instant.
Benjamin and I had been together for ten years.
I'd watched him go from a penniless student to a respected professor.
The deepest scar he carried was from college, when he'd worked part-time as a kitchen hand at a restaurant to put himself through school. A group of rich kids who resented him had jumped him, pinned him to the ground, and poured leftover food over his head.
"Pathetic little cook. You think you can steal another man's girl?"
After that, he despised the kitchen. Loathed everything about cooking.
Even when I brought him home to meet my mother after our engagement—my mother, who was already gravely ill—all I asked was for him to carry the dishes out from the kitchen. He went cold, slammed the door, and left.
My dying mother wept for me.
Even then, I forced a smile and made excuses for him.
After that, I treated him even more carefully, walking on eggshells around his wounds.
I'd never cooked a day in my life, but I burned and blistered my hands learning, just so he'd never have to.
And now I knew. His scars had already been healed—by another woman.
The moment Benjamin saw me, he froze. Then, instinctively, guiltily, he tugged at the apron.
"Maud... what are you doing here?"
Behind him, Elise's face appeared. Her small features were pinched with anxiety as she peered at me.
"Professor's wife... no... Miss Fox, what are you doing here?"
Tears welled in her eyes as she stepped in front of Benjamin, shielding him.
"Miss Fox, if you need someone to take your anger out on, just hit me. Professor Delgado only did all this to help me..."
Benjamin looked at her with aching tenderness, then turned on me.
"Maud, how can you be so heartless? Elise's family is trying to force her to marry the thug who assaulted her. All I did was step in to protect her. Can't you show a shred of compassion?"
