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“Don’t.”

It’s the only thing I manage to say before her finger presses Play.

The screen changes. And in the same instant, I know there’s no way to stop what comes next.

No way to explain it before she sees it.

I watch the light from the screen reflect in her eyes as the video begins, and my entire chest twists painfully.

Because whatever happens after this, I already know one thing.

There is no going back.

Not after she sees this…

… and our relationship shatters completely.

THIRTY-FOUR

Selene

My hand shakes so violently that I nearly drop the phone as I press on the video attached to the message no woman ever wants to read—especially not a woman who has fallen in love.

The moment the video starts playing, it expands to full screen. Somewhere to my left, the TV goes black and stays that way, leaving the clip to unfold solely on the phone—the clip that will stay burned into my mind and haunt me for the rest of my life.

A hollow ache splits through my chest. Tears gather in my eyes, blurring the screen, and my breath seems to lodge painfully in my throat as I watch my boyfriend being filmed while having sex.

Sex with three women.

I don’t know if the number changes anything. I don’t know whether it would hurt less or more if there had been only one.

All I know is that I’m struggling to breathe, desperately dragging air into my lungs, yet never seeming to get enough. I want to stop watching. I want to throw the phone across the room and erase every second of what I’m seeing from my mind.

But I can’t tear my eyes away from the screen.

The seconds crawl by as I watch, shattered, while Zayn is captured in impossibly intimate positions with other women—touching them, allowing them to touch him, giving himself over to the pleasure consuming him, lost in the moment.

My heart twists tighter with every passing second.

Unable to endure another heartbeat of it, I hurl the phone away. It strikes the floor face-down with a sharp crack that seems to echo through the room.

I don’t dare move.

My gaze remains fixed on the spot where the phone now lies shattered at my feet, as if staring at it long enough might make the video disappear.

I don’t understand how my feet are still holding me upright when my entire body is trembling so violently that my knees feel ready to give out beneath me.

From the corner of my eye, I notice someone approaching, though I can’t tell whether they’re speaking. The ringing in my ears is so violent that it drowns out every other sound, turning the room into a distant, muffled blur.

Slowly, I lift my gaze and realize Sierra and Thalia are standing barely a step away from me, both of them teary-eyed and terrified.

I look at them, but I can barely process their presence. The strength drains from my body all at once, my legs finally giving beneath me. I slide to the floor as sobs rip through my chest, tears spilling endlessly down my face.

Thalia immediately steps closer and catches me with both hands, trying to keep me upright, and that’s when I see him over her shoulder.

The man I never imagined I could end up with—for this exact reason.

Because I know his life revolves around women I could never and would never compete with. Because I know he has never had a relationship and probably doesn’t even know what one truly means.