Chapter 5
848 Words
TWO WEEKS LATER
The headlines were gone.
The viral photos had slowly stopped trending on internet and people were going after the next hot topic.
Storm Corp had stabilized, and Investors stopped pulling out. Board members had begun to smile a little. It was amazing and funny what one incident could do to your life.
That night was the worst of my life. I had always preferred to be in the shadows but that small mistake had thrown me into the public in the worst way possible.
From the outside, it looked like everything had returned to normal.
But in our so called marriage, everything was cold.
Jordan and I barely spoke to each other unless we were in front of a camera or a crowd. The silence between us was no longer strange—it was routine. Familiar. We ate our meals in silence, drove in silence, lived in silence. But every now and then, I caught him looking at me. Not with affection. But with anger.
Something had changed.
We were practically strangers living together.
One evening, just as I returned from shopping, the only activity I enjoyed from my new life, I saw Jordan sitting on the dinning table, he looked lost in thought..
“Jordan?” I said softly, setting my bag on the table. “Are you okay?”
He didn’t answer.
I stepped closer, still unsure how close we are to be in this fake marriage. “Is something wrong?”
He turned slowly, his face unreadable and scary.
“We need to talk Serena.”
My heart skipped a beat. “About what?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “Ashley.”
Just hearing her name made my chest tighten.
“What about her?” I asked quietly.
He looked away, avoiding my eyes. “Before everything… before that night... I was with her.”
My breath stopped halfway.
“You were with her? I don’t understand”
He nodded thoughtfully. “We are in a relationship.”
“What?”. My knees were beginning to feel like jelly.
I took a step back, barely able to process it. “So when I walked into your office every morning, you were—what? Sleeping with my sister behind everyone’s back?”
I laughed bitterly.
He took a deep breath. “It was serious. For a while. But it ended.”
I crossed my arms tightly. “Did it? Because the way you’re looking at me right now doesn’t feel like closure.”
He didn’t answer right away. And that silence said more than anything.
“You’re still in love with her, aren’t you?” I whispered.
My heart was racing in my chest but I managed to keep a straight face when I asked.
He looked at me then. “Yes, I never stopped caring about her.”
A wave of nausea rolled through me. “So why marry me?”
“Because I had to,” he said. “You were dragged into something because of me. Because of what happened that night.”
My throat tightened. “Don’t act like this was some noble sacrifice. You didn’t marry me to save me—you married me to save your company.”
“I married you to fix a mistake I made,” he said firmly. “But I didn’t expect it to get this complicated.”
“Complicated?” I repeated, stunned. “You made me your wife while still being in love with my sister. You think that’s complicated? It’s betrayal.”
He doesn't care about my feelings. “Why didn’t you tell me before the wedding?” I asked.
“Because I knew you wouldn’t go through with it.”
“You’re damn right I wouldn’t.”
We stood there in heavy silence, the air between us thick with every lie he hadn’t said and every truth I didn’t want to hear.
I turned to walk away, but he stopped me.
“Serena, wait.”
I didn’t.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I never meant to hurt you.”
“You didn’t hurt me,” I replied without turning around. “You just reminded me of what I already knew—I was never the first choice.”
I made it to the hallway before I felt the tears burn behind my eyes. But I wouldn’t let them fall. Not for him.
Later that night, I sat on the edge of the guest bed, staring at the blank wall, trying to understand how everything had gone so wrong so fast. It was like I was watching my life from a cinema. It felt like someone else was in control of my body and mind. My phone buzzed on the nightstand. It was a text—from an unknown number.
“You deserve the truth. Ask Ashley what really happened the night your drink was spiked.”
I stared at the screen, heart racing.
What…?
Before I could respond, another message popped up.
“Jordan knows. He just never told you.”
- Writer
