Elise POV:
Hermina Rivera set her delicate porcelain teacup down with a soft click, a faint, knowing smile playing on her lips. She looked at me, her eyes sharp and assessing. "So, Elise. What made you change your mind? Last I checked, you were quite determined to stay."
I didn't touch the steaming jasmine tea in front of me. My hands were clasped tightly in my lap, cold and clammy. "Elias cheated on me," I stated, my voice devoid of inflection.
Hermina's eyebrows raised slightly, but there was no surprise in her gaze. Just a flicker of something, perhaps a confirmation of her own suspicions. "Ah. The little influencer, I presume? PeachyKeen." Her tone was flat, as if discussing the weather. "I had heard murmurs. I didn't realize you would be the one to uncover it first." There was a hint of respect in her voice, a grudging acknowledgment.
She seemed to sense I wasn't in the mood for small talk. "Give me your account details," she commanded, her voice businesslike. "The funds will be transferred within three days." Her eyes, sharp as obsidian, fixed on me. "But be warned, Elise. Once you take my money, you keep your word. Do not, under any circumstances, try to contact Elias or re-enter his life. If you do, there will be consequences you cannot imagine."
I simply nodded, then rose to leave.
As I walked out of her opulent office, my phone vibrated. A message from Elias.
Elias: Baby, so sorry. Still stuck at the office. Looks like I won't make it home tonight. Don't wait up for me. Get some rest. Love you.
I stared at the screen, a bitter laugh bubbling up in my chest. He was still lying. Still playing the part of the devoted fiancé. I opened my gallery, selected the photos I'd taken in the parking garage, and sent them to him.
Me: Still at the office, Elias?
The message hung in the air, unread. My apartment felt hollow, cold. I sat in the living room all night, the silence heavy, punctuated only by the distant hum of city traffic. The pad thai sat untouched on the coffee table.
Elias finally arrived home as the first slivers of dawn painted the sky. He found me still on the couch, the untouched food a silent accusation.
His face immediately filled with a practiced concern. "Elise, what are you doing up? And you haven't eaten!" He rushed towards me, his hand reaching for my forehead. "Are you feeling unwell, sweetheart?"
I flinched away, recoiling from his touch. His hand hovered, then dropped, a flash of awkwardness crossing his features.
I looked at him, my voice raspy from disuse. "Did you not see my messages last night, Elias?"
He frowned, pulling out his phone, feigning confusion. "Messages? No, I told you, my phone was on silent. I was at the office all night, dealing with that urgent merger project." He looked genuinely puzzled, a master of his craft.
But just then, my phone buzzed again. PeachyKeen.
PeachyKeen: He was so hot last night! And so worried about his boring fiancée finding out. LOL. Don't worry, Daddy, I deleted all the evidence!
The photo attached was Elias, wrapped in a towel, his back to the camera, clearly in Krystal's bathroom. My stomach was empty, so empty it didn't even have the strength to clench. I barely registered the nausea. It was just a dull throb now.
I forced a tight, mirthless smile. I looked away from my phone, back at Elias, still pretending to check his own. "Oh, nothing important then," I said, my voice dead, flat. "Just another one of those silly internet rumors."
Elias visibly relaxed, a wave of relief washing over his face. His embrace was still warm, his scent familiar. But all I felt was a cold, piercing chill that seeped into my very bones.
I didn't say anything. I just stood there, letting him hold me. That Elias, the one with the light in his eyes, was gone. Replaced by this perfect stranger. If I hadn't found out, how long would he have let me live in this lie? I would have kept believing, kept loving, kept being his foolish, naive fiancée. The thought felt like a slow, agonizing death.
