Four.
1209 Words
Austin’s POV
I killed the engine outside the rundown motel and sat there for a second, gripping the steering wheel.
Five years of building my company abroad, tech acquisitions, late-night deals in Singapore and London and one message from a mutual friend about Tiffany had me on the first flight back. Some things never change.
I got to Room 12 and knocked twice.
The door opened slowly. Tiffany stood there in an oversized hoodie, eyes red and swollen, hair messy like she hadn’t slept. She looked nothing like the glowing girl from the club photos I’d seen. She looked broken.
“Tiff,” I said softly.
Her bottom lip trembled. “Austin…”
I stepped inside and pulled her into my arms without thinking. She stiffened for half a second, then collapsed against my chest.
The sobs came hard and ugly, the kind she probably hadn’t let out in front of anyone. I held her tighter, one hand rubbing her back.
“I’ve got you,” I murmured into her hair. “I’m here now. Let it out.”
She cried harder. “He threw me away, Austin. Right there in front of everyone. Said I was… comfortable. That I was nothing. After five years. I signed the papers like an i***t while his new girl watched.”
I clenched my jaw so hard it hurt. “David always was a piece of s**t. I told you that in college, remember? You deserved better even then.”
She pulled back just enough to look at me, eyes glassy. “You did warn me. God, I was so stupid.”
We moved to the edge of the bed. She sat with her knees pulled up. I stayed close, shoulder touching hers.
“Tell me what happened,” I said. “All of it.”
She wiped her face with her sleeve. “He texted me about a surprise at Casanova. I thought it was our engagement dinner. I wore the silver heels he got me on our first date. I got there smiling like a fool… and he handed me divorce papers in front of his whole family. His fiancée was wearing white, Austin. White!!.
He said I was a placeholder. That I never pushed him. That I was too simple.”
My blood boiled. “He said that to your face?”
She nodded. “Security almost dragged me out. Then Sophia answered his phone the next morning and laughed at me. Our friends ghosted me. The joint account is empty. I’m here eating noodles in a motel, Austin. Me!! After everything I gave up just for him.”
I took her hand. It was so cold. “You’re not nothing, Tiff. You never were. Remember sophomore year? We were pulling all-nighters in the library, and you were already talking about building something real and quietly on your own terms. David never saw that fire in you. He didn’t deserve to.”
A small, tired smile crossed her face. “That night we made the bet… after David and I had that huge fight. You said if he ever hurt me, you got to destroy him. I laughed and shook your hand like it was a joke.”
“It wasn’t a joke to me.” My voice came out rough. “I meant every word.”
She leaned her head against my shoulder, the way she used to do during those long college nights when the world felt too heavy.
I could smell the cheap motel shampoo in her hair and it pissed me off all over again. Tiffany deserved silk sheets and fresh flowers, not this dump.
“Remember when we were cramming for finals?” I asked, trying to pull her out of the dark. “You’d bring those terrible energy drinks and we’d bet on who would fall asleep first on the library couch. You always won because you’d poke me awake just to win the stupid five-dollar wager.”
A soft, watery laugh escaped her. “You let me win most of the time. I know you did.”
“Maybe. But you earned everything else. All those late nights you spent helping me with my coding projects even when David was calling you, complaining you spent too much time with me. You had this quiet way of believing in people. Still do.”
She was quiet for a beat. “He hated how close we were. Used to say you looked at me like I was more than a friend. I told him he was crazy.”
I didn’t answer that. Some truths weren’t ready to come out yet.
Tiffany shifted, pulling her knees tighter. “The worst part is I still love him, Austin. Or at least I loved who I thought he was. The one who cried when his first big deal went through. I stood in the rain for two hours once just to surprise him with his favorite cake after a bad meeting and he looked at me in that club like I was garbage he couldn’t wait to throw out.”
My chest tightened. “Then he never deserved any of it. Not the cake, not the support, not you crying over him now. You gave him five years of loyalty. He gave you public humiliation.”
She wiped her eyes again. “His family won’t even answer my calls. His sister sent me a text saying ‘maybe this is for the best.’ For the best? I planned their damn birthdays. I hosted dinners in our tiny kitchen when money was tight.”
I squeezed her hand harder. “They showed their true colors. Now it’s time you show yours. When you’re ready.”
She looked down at our joined hands. “I don’t want to drag you into this mess. You’ve built your own empire. Tech, finance, all of it. I’ve seen the headlines even when I was trying not to look.”
“I don’t care about the mess,” I said. “Let me help. Money for a proper place, a lawyer who’ll make David bleed. A safe spot to stay. Whatever you need.”
She shook her head slowly. “Not yet. I… I can’t expose everything right now. There are things about me David never knew. If I open that door too fast, it gets complicated.”
I studied her face. She was still protecting something big. I wouldn’t push it.
“Fine but you’re not staying in this bug motel another week. My driver can take you somewhere better tomorrow, no arguments.”
She let out a shaky laugh. “Still bossy as ever.”
“Only when it comes to you.”
She stayed quiet for a long moment, then reached into her bag and pulled out an old company seal. She turned it over in her hands like it was fragile.
I watched her carefully. “I’m calling in the bet, Tiff. But only if you’re ready. One word from you and David’s world starts cracking. We do this your way.”
She stared at the seal, then at me. Her eyes still held so much pain, but there was something else now. A tiny spark and nodded slowly.
- Writer
