Something inside me broke.
I smashed the frame onto the floor. Glass exploded across the tiles. Lynda startled.
“There is no us,” I said coldly. “That night was the worst mistake of my life.”
I grabbed another photo and hurled it down. Then another. Frames shattered. Lynda screamed, begging me to stop.
Then I saw the crystal swans on the shelf. My gift. The one she had flaunted to her friends at her birthday party, believing it proved my devotion. She never knew I had not even chosen it myself.
I walked toward the shelf.
“Please,” she sobbed, rushing forward. “You are angry, I understand, but let me keep the only thing you ever gave me.”
I remembered her cruel words to Bailey.
I released the crystal.
It shattered effortlessly.
“That was for calling my son a bastard.”
I headed for the door.
“I’m giving you three days,” I said. “Leave this town.”
Her crying stopped. “What?”
“Pack your things. Quit your job. Say goodbye to your friends. The movers are already arranged.”
“You cannot do this,” she said, standing abruptly. “This is my hometown.”
“If you stay, I will release the evidence of you and Donna approaching those kids in the alley,” I replied. “There is camera footage. My lawyers have secured it. Donna is ready to testify. Angela too.”
Her eyes widened in terror.
“I will clear Bailey’s name and tell the truth about what happened eight years ago,” I continued. “She will get her justice, even if I have to face the consequences of my own actions.”
I turned to leave when her voice broke behind me.
“You want the truth?” Lynda said hoarsely. “I hated you at first. Not you, really. Your father. His company threw my family out of our home in the middle of the night. No warning. No mercy. He wanted the land.”
I stopped but did not turn.
“Then I learned you were dating Bailey,” she continued. “I started to hate you both. I saw my chance when you broke up.”
I was breathing hard, my hand already on the handle, but I let her keep talking.
“I saw you years later,” she said. “I hesitated. I almost walked away. But I thought it was my chance. I wanted to break you even more. I wanted you to hurt the way my family did.”
Her voice trembled. “I approached you to ruin you. To make sure you never healed from that heartbreak.”
Silence stretched between us.
“But then we became close,” she said softly. “And I stayed. Not because of revenge anymore. Because I wanted what you had. The respect. The power. The world that looked down on people like me.”
I finally understood.
She had never loved me.
