I let him beg for it. Just long enough.
Then, slowly, I slid the envelope across the table.
He tore it open like it was oxygen.
And then it happened.
His face.
Shock. Disbelief. Pain.
He stared, shaking his head, lips moving without sound.
“No. It can’t be.” He threw the photos aside—photos of Della smiling, laughing, leaning too close to another man. “This isn’t real. It can’t be!”
But his eyes stayed locked on the pictures.
I watched the devastation settle in.
Perfect.
Even if the photos weren’t entirely... untouched. That wasn’t the point. He didn’t need truth tonight. He needed an ending. And I gave it to him.
I poured him another drink as he kept staring, his heart breaking in silence.
“You were never temporary to me,” I murmured, soft and low, curling the knife deeper.
“I was your wife, Dorian. We didn’t have a perfect story, but it was real. You know that.”
He turned to me then, eyes like dark storms. “You left me, too.”
Ah. That old wound. I smiled gently. Tilted my head.
“That was the past.” I said sweetly. “I was young. Hurt. Running from things I didn’t understand.”
My hand drifted to his knee, light as silk.
“But I’m here now. And I don’t want to run anymore.”
I saw him hesitate, caught between anger and need.
And that’s where I struck again.
“Let me help you,” I said, my voice soft, coaxing. “Like I told you at the office… two days ago.”
I let the reminder linger, subtle but sharp, twisting the knife.
“I know what’s happening with the development loan,” I continued, my voice dipping to a near whisper, thick with honeyed poison. “The debts. The lawsuits. You’re drowning, Dorian.”
He stiffened at my words, but I didn’t give him the space to fight back. I cut him off before his pride could rise.
He shook his head—but it wasn’t a refusal. It was fear. Pride. That stubborn male ego clawing at its last defenses.
And I knew exactly how to disarm it.
I shifted closer, curling beside him—just close enough for my breath to brush his skin.
“You don’t owe me anything,” I murmured, soft as silk. “Nothing… except one thing.”
