And then, slowly, I pressed backspace. Every letter disappeared one by one, leaving nothing but the blinking cursor and the sound of my own breathing.
I wasn’t going to let her drag me down to her level. I wasn’t going to let her make me smaller than I was. So I started again. This time, the words were controlled, but not any less painful.
Why did you go after a married man?
Why did you keep contacting Adrian when you knew he had a wife?
Why did you think it was acceptable to insert yourself into someone else’s marriage?
My chest tightened as I typed the last line:
And you will return the money you took from him, through me.
I read the message twice. It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t even satisfying. But it was honest. Still, my finger hovered over the send button, suspended there as a strange heaviness crept into my chest.
Something didn’t feel right.
My pulse pounded in my ears as I stared at her name, sitting there so casually in my draft. Text felt... too small. Too safe. Too easy for her.
Before I could overthink it, I stood up quietly, pushing back my chair, and walked straight to the restroom where I could breathe without eyes on me. The moment the stall door clicked shut behind me, I pressed her number.
The phone rang once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then—
“Hello?” a woman’s voice answered. Soft. Cautious. Completely unaware of the storm waiting on the other end.
My fingers tightened. “This is Adrian’s wife,” I said, skipping every formality. My voice came out colder than I expected, steadier than I felt.
Silence.
A sharp inhale, barely audible.
And then—
“Oh.”
I didn’t give her time to breathe. Time to prepare. Time to run.
Because this conversation was days overdue.
CHAPTER 9
Elena
The conversation with that woman meant nothing. It didn’t even feel like a conversation, just noise coming from someone who would never understand the damage she caused.
“I’m sure you know who I am,” I said, my voice steady. “And I’m sure you know exactly why I’m calling.”
Silence.Coward.
“You knew he was married,” I continued. “You knew he had a wife. And you still kept pursuing him. Why?”
Another beat of silence. I could hear her breathing, uneven.
