Chapter 2
1731 Words
LEXI
I stare at the phone in my mother’s hand.
The screen shows a photo of me entering a car with the man from the hotel. My arm is hooked around his, my body leaning toward him like we belong together.
The headline beneath it screams:
FIANCÉE OF JULIAN LANE CAUGHT CHEATING WITH A WINTER.
My stomach twists. A Winter? Is that his name?
“Where were you last night?” my mother asks, her voice cold.
My gaze flicks up to her, and I almost flinch at the sharpness in her eyes.
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.
“Come on,” she snaps. “Speak up.”
I swallow hard.
“I can explain,” I rush out. “It was a mistake, but before we talk about that there’s something important you need to know. Please, just listen to me, Mother—”
“Enough!”
Her voice cracks through the room like a whip.
She turns the phone back to herself, swipes the screen, then shoves it in my face again.
“Was this a mistake too?”
Another photo and this one is worse.
I am entering the hotel with Asher, clinging to his arm.
Damn it.
“You have done nothing but disgrace this family with your whoring behavior,” my mother spits. “How dare you? How dare you?!”
Her hand shoots up.
I squeeze my eyes shut, bracing for the slap.
But it never comes.
Slowly, I open my eyes. Her hand is still frozen in the air, trembling. Her lips are pressed so tightly together they’re almost white.
“Honey, I think you should calm down,” my stepfather says cautiously.
“Calm down?” my mother snaps, whirling on him. “You want me to calm down? My daughter is sleeping with some rich stranger while she’s engaged, and you want me to calm down?”
She points at me like I’m something filthy.
“She cheated on Julian!”
My stepfather walks forward and gently takes her wrist, pulling her against him.
“Calm down, my darling,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
I almost roll my eyes.
“You need to listen to me, Mum,” I say again, my voice shaking. “I swear—”
“Enough.”
My stepfather’s voice slices straight through mine as he turns toward me, his face twisted with disgust.
“You are a disgrace. This is not how we raised you.” His lip curls. “Look at your mother. You’ve moved her to tears because you can’t keep your legs closed.”
My hands curl into fists.
Who the hell does he think he is?
“I’m a disgrace?” A sharp laugh escapes me. “I can’t keep my legs closed?”
I point straight at Glenn.
“What about your precious daughter?”
Glenn immediately shrinks closer to Julian, clutching his arm as if she needs protection, her usual innocent expression sliding perfectly into place.
“Don’t you dare bring Glenn into this,” my stepfather warns.
I laugh again, the sound sharp and bitter.
“Oh really? I shouldn’t mention my lovely sister who slept with my fiancé?”
My mother stiffens in his arms, and her eyes widen.
“What?”
“Yes, mum,” I say, my voice trembling. “At least mine is a mistake. Glenn’s definitely isn’t with the way she was writhing underneath him—”
“Shut up!”
The slap comes so fast I don’t even see it. My head snaps to the side, the sharp sound echoing through the room.
Silence falls.
Slowly, I lift my head. My cheek burns. He… he just hit me.
I glance at my mother. For a brief moment, her eyes widen in shock, but the anger doesn’t fade.
“Where did I go wrong raising you?” she whispers, her voice catching like I’ve committed the worst crime imaginable. “How do you sink the family name like this?”
My chest tightens, every breath suddenly heavy.
“Well… I can’t believe you even have the nerve to show your face.”
The voice slices through the silence behind her, and I swallow hard as Julian steps forward.
His face is twisted into a deep frown.
But behind it… I see it.
A flicker of satisfaction.
My throat tightens… he planned this.
“Julian… how could you… how could you—” My words catch, shattering into a rasp, trembling against my chest.
“How could I do what, Lexi?” he cuts in coolly. “I should be asking why you decide to cheat on me.”
His voice drops lower.
“After everything I did for you.”
A shiver runs down my spine.
“You cheated first!” I shout. “You slept with that tramp!”
Julian’s eyes flick toward Glenn, and the way they soften has my blood boiling instantly.
Glenn’s eyes fill with tears—fake, fake tears.
My mother glares at me like she wants to kill me.
“What proof do you even have?” my stepfather interjects. “Because right now the only proof we see is that you cheat.”
He gestures to the phone.
“So don’t stand here lying to save yourself.”
“I’m not lying!” My voice cracks. “I saw them!”
Julian lets out a heavy sigh, like I’m exhausting him. “Just stop, Lexi. Haven’t you embarrassed me enough already?”
His eyes are cold as they settle on me. “Now you accuse me of sleeping with Glenn?”
He shakes his head slowly. “This isn’t the woman I fell in love with.”
Tears spill down my cheeks.
“Julian… I know what I saw.”
“If you insist on this,” he shrugs, “then I’ll end it.”
My breath catches.
“I’m breaking up with you.”
The room tilts.
“And the deal between the Lane family and the Thompsons ends today.”
My knees buckle and I collapse onto the floor, a sob tearing out of my chest as the words sink in.
Across the room, my stepfather hurries to Julian’s side and places a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, like he’s the one who’s been wronged.
“Son, let’s calm down. I know Lexi did something unforgivable, but don’t let this destroy the relationship between our families.”
Julian immediately brushes his hand off.
“You are no longer my father-in-law,” his voice is straight out cold and sharp. “So don’t advise me.”
He smooths his suit as though my stepfather had dirtied it. “I refuse to marry a cheater.”
His gaze drops to me and my chest tightens. Those eyes that once looked at me with love, look through me now with disgust. Pure, cutting disgust.
What went wrong?
I crawl forward, desperate, and grab his leg.
“Please,” I sob, my hands trembling. “Don’t end this.”
Tears blur my vision, but I don’t stop. I can’t afford to.
“I love you. I love you so much. I can’t lose you.”
“We can start over,” I cling to his trousers, trying to keep my voice afloat as my knuckles turn white with each second. “I forgive you, and you forgive me. You said you love me. You can’t just throw me away.”
“I love you, Julian,” I whisper, each word trembling from my chest as if it could break me.
His eyes gleam, not with love but with satisfaction.
Before I can gather myself, he shoves me with his foot.
I stumble backward and slam into the wall, pain shooting through my back as the air rushes out of my lungs in a sharp gasp.
“I would never marry a cheat,” Julian says coldly, brushing imaginary dust from his sleeve. “My ties with your family are finished.”
He turns toward the door as if the matter is already settled.
“Wait.”
My mother’s voice stops him mid-step, and he pauses, glancing back over his shoulder.
“Why don’t you marry Glenn instead?”
The words hit me like a gunshot, and for a moment my mind goes completely blank.
What?
“Yes,” my stepfather jumps in eagerly, nodding as though the idea has been there all along. “She’s a wonderful girl. Devoted.”
He turns with a proud smile.
“Isn’t that right, Glenn?”
Glenn looks up shyly, her cheeks flushing pink as she twists her fingers together before giving a small, timid nod.
Julian turns toward her, and the look he gives her makes my stomach twist.
Then he sighs.
“I’ve always seen both of you as family already,” he says slowly. “I wouldn’t want your business to suffer because of this… situation.”
Before I can even process what he means, he walks back to me and kneels.
His fingers close around my hand, and the engagement ring slides slowly off my finger.
It feels like my heart is being ripped out.
Julian rises without another word and crosses the room to Glenn, then takes her hand and slips the ring onto her finger.
Glenn squeals with delight and throws her arms around his neck, kissing him on the lips like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
Then she spins away from him and practically skips toward me.
The ring sparkles as she pushes her hand right in front of my face.
“Oh my gosh, sister!” she squeals. “I’m getting married!”
Behind her, my mother smiles proudly while my stepfather pulls her close, and the two of them look almost pleased, like this is exactly what they wanted all along.
My chest tightens.
No. This can’t be happening.
“You can’t just—”
“Enough,” my mother snaps, her glare cutting straight through me. “You’ve done enough damage.”
Glenn tilts her head, the picture of sweetness.
“Sister?” she tilts her head, her smile widening as her fingers curl slightly so the ring catches the light again.
“You’ll help plan my wedding, right?” Her eyes sparkle. “I mean… it’s the least you can do.”
- Writer
