Sweet Revenge: The Healing Hearts Series Book 1

Chapter 2

Camille

The hum of the engine was the only sound in the car, the rhythmic noise almost comforting as it filled the silence. My hands gripped the steering wheel, knuckles white from the pressure. My eyes burned from the tears I had shed, and my throat was raw from the sobs I couldn’t seem to stop. I had no destination, no place in mind, just the overwhelming need to escape. Escape from him. Escape from her. Escape from everything that had once been my life.

Chicago’s skyline in the distance was a blur, the lights from the tall buildings flashing in the rearview mirror as I sped further away. The streets, usually so familiar, now seemed foreign to me. The city that had once felt like home now felt suffocating. I had lived here for years, built a life here with Matt, and made memories that would haunt me forever. It was all I had known. But now? Now, it felt like nothing but a cage.

The sound of tires rolling on the pavement was almost too much to bear, each rotation a reminder of the world that was continuing without me. But I couldn’t focus on that. I couldn’t focus on the traffic or the people who were still living their ordinary lives. No, my world had stopped the moment I walked in on Matt and Vivian.

The tears came again, faster this time, as my mind replayed that moment over and over again. Vivian’s soft laughter, Matt’s startled face, the way she had been so comfortable in his arms. I couldn’t get the image out of my head, couldn’t stop seeing them together. The betrayal ran so deep, that it felt like a physical wound, like it had carved itself into my very soul.

I kept driving, not caring where I was going, just needing to get away from everything that reminded me of them. I couldn’t go back to that house. I couldn’t face the reality of what had happened. The life we had built together was a lie, and I had no idea how to rebuild it—or if I ever could.

The car’s headlights illuminated the empty streets ahead, but I couldn’t find peace. Every corner I turned brought back memories. The coffee shop where Matt had first told me he loved me. The park where we’d had our first kiss. The quiet lakefront where we used to go for evening walks. It was all a part of the life I thought I had. But now it was gone.

I had trusted him. I had trusted her. They were both supposed to be the people who had my back. They were supposed to be the ones who understood me the most. But instead, they had ripped everything apart. I had given them my love, my loyalty, my heart. And they had stolen it from me, leaving nothing behind but a broken, empty shell of who I used to be.

Chicago felt too small now. Too many memories. Too many of them. I had to leave. I couldn’t stay in the city where everything had fallen apart.

I pulled off onto a side street, the city lights of Chicago fading into the background. The silence inside the car was suffocating. My phone buzzed on the passenger seat, but I ignored it. I knew it was Matt, trying to call, trying to explain himself, but I didn’t want to hear his voice. I couldn’t. There were no words that could make this right. There was nothing he could say to undo the damage.

I picked up my phone anyway, checking my messages. Nothing from Vivian. Nothing from my family. I had cut myself off from everyone over the years, thinking I had everything I needed with Matt and Vivian by my side. Now, it seemed that those who mattered most had vanished the moment I needed them.

The loneliness settled in again, this quiet, unbearable ache. I was surrounded by millions of people in this city, but at that moment, I felt more alone than I had ever felt in my life. I had no one.

I threw my phone onto the passenger seat, my heart pounding as I realized I couldn’t stay here. Not in Chicago. Not where everything reminded me of them. I couldn’t keep running into memories of betrayal every time I stepped outside.

I had to leave.

I put the car back in gear, my hands trembling as I drove further away from the city. I didn’t know where I was going, but I couldn’t stay. Chicago had been my home, my everything. But now it was a place of ghosts and pain, a place where the love I had once shared with Matt had turned into a lie.

As the skyline of Chicago disappeared behind me, I felt a strange, terrifying sense of freedom. I was running. Running away from the past, from the man who had once been my everything. Running away from the woman who had been my best friend.

I didn’t know what I was heading toward. I didn’t know where I would go or how I would rebuild my life. But I knew one thing for sure: I couldn’t go back to who I was. I couldn’t go back to that woman who had trusted too easily, loved too freely, and been naive enough to think she could build a life based on lies.

The night was a blur of headlights and dark roads as I drove, leaving Chicago behind. My phone buzzed again. Another call from Matt. I didn’t answer.

The reality of what had happened hit me like a cold wave. I had been married to a man who had looked me in the eyes every day and lied. And the worst part? Vivian, the woman I had considered my closest friend, had been the one to betray me, had taken him from me. They had stolen my happiness, my future. And they had done it without any remorse, without any care for the destruction they left in their wake.

But I wasn’t going to let them win. Not like this.

I pressed my foot harder on the accelerator, the engine roaring as I sped down the highway. The city lights behind me began to fade, and with them, I left behind the woman I had been. I couldn’t remain a victim, couldn’t wallow in my pain and let them take everything from me.

No, I was going to rebuild. I didn’t know how or where, but I would rise from this. I would take this pain, this betrayal, and turn it into something powerful. I would prove to myself, to the world, that I was stronger than they ever gave me credit for.

I glanced at the dashboard clock. It was nearing midnight. How had so much time passed? I had been driving for what felt like hours, the world outside a blur. The road stretched endlessly ahead, and I felt as if I were driving into a void, a place where I could begin again, where I could rebuild myself from the ground up.

But even with the miles stretching between me and Chicago, there were moments when the pain would surge, threatening to drown me. Every time I thought I could breathe, every time I thought I was escaping the suffocating memories, they would catch up to me.

Matt's face flashed in my mind. The man I had loved for years. The man I had trusted with everything. His face had always been so full of promises, promises that turned out to be empty. And Vivian—how could she betray me like that? We had been best friends, sisters even, and she had stolen my husband. She had taken everything I thought was mine, and now she was living a life I should have had.

I swerved slightly, jolted from my thoughts. My heart pounded, and I forced myself to focus on the road, on the freedom that was slowly becoming my reality. I couldn’t keep going back to them. I couldn’t keep letting them haunt me. I had to keep moving forward. I had to keep fighting for my future, even if I had no idea what it looked like.

The miles seemed endless, and my body ached with fatigue, but I couldn’t stop. Not now. I couldn’t look back. I couldn’t afford to.

Eventually, exhaustion overcame me, and I pulled over to a rest stop. I shut off the car, the silence pressing in. My phone buzzed again, this time a text from Matt. It was short, pleading for me to talk to him, begging me to come home. I stared at it for a long time, the words sinking in like poison. I didn’t answer. I couldn’t.

I threw my phone onto the seat and leaned back in the car, staring up at the dark sky. It was quiet, almost too quiet, and I realized I hadn’t heard my voice in hours. I hadn’t said a word to anyone, and I didn’t even know where I was going. I just knew I had to keep going. The world was moving on without me, and if I was going to survive, I had to find a way to move with it.