“Where did you get these?” I asked, my voice trembling.
“They were dropped at my place when I wasn’t home. Can you explain them?”
“No.” They hadn’t happened, but how could I argue with the visual evidence that I’d been having sex with other men while married to Lior? I even had my wedding ring on in all those photos. Whoever had staged them made them look like they were recent.
Lior stood and went to the window. In the distance, I could see our hotel. The place we’d hooked up that first unforgettable night.
“Lior, let’s talk about this.”
“Yes, let’s talk about how it looks like you’ve been with a string of other men while you were married to me. I am such a gullible idiot.” He turned around. “I thought I knew you. I thought I was the only one who did.”
I wanted to say he was, but I didn’t think it had even occurred to him that those photos were fake.
Words got stuck in my throat. I couldn’t defend myself against these accusations when I stared at the photos, and all I saw was this person who looked exactly like me in the arms of another man. Someone who looked like me on the receiving end of a damn good fucking.
I wrapped my arms around my waist to stop my whole body from trembling, but it didn’t work. I needed him to go so I could get my head around what was happening right now.
“Tell me you can explain these,” he said, his voice breaking.
“I can’t.” And that was the truth. How could I explain something I didn’t understand myself? “You should have married Pierce. Maybe you still can.” I removed my ring and placed it on the coffee table.
He walked to the door, ignoring the ring on the table and the photos.
“Do you remember when you said you would do anything for me?” I asked.
He turned around, and in a few steps, I bridged the gap between us. I opened the door for him. “I would do the same for you.”
His eyes widened, and he looked like he was about to say something, but instead, he walked away. I closed the door and finally let all the tears I was holding in fall down my cheeks.
In the end, I didn’t have to make a choice between keeping Lior or letting him go because he made that choice for me by believing that I was the kind of man who would cheat so openly.
Things I knew: I was disposable. I was still in love with Lior. Lior did not share those feelings.
Things I didn’t know: where the photos had come from. Why Lior had believed them so easily. Was it really all over?
With nothing else to lose, I did the one thing I could. I pulled my phone out and messaged my brothers.
Noah
CODE RED
Lior
Ibanged my fist against the steering wheel of my car.
He didn’t deny it. He didn’t fucking deny it.
“Why, Noah? Why would you do this to me? To us. Was I not enough for you?”
I pressed the palm of my hand against my chest, but it didn’t do anything to alleviate the pain and betrayal I felt.
I drove home in a haze of anger and pain. My suit bag was still in the passenger seat, and I wondered if I should just drive somewhere else and get away for a while.
Maybe being in a different place would give me clarity to deal with the fallout of the article, the threat of the other photos being shared, and the end of my fake marriage.
Despite everything, I didn’t want those photos of Noah to get out to the public, which meant I had to find out who’d taken them.
As soon as I took the private driveway up to my place, I saw my mother’s car parked while she sat on a bench I had outside my door.
