Betrayed By Billions: A Love Rediscover

Chapter #3(Betrayed By Billions)

With a pounding heart, I cautiously peeked into the bedroom. The sight that met my eyes was like a punch to the gut. There was Brody, barely able to stand straight, visibly he looked like he had been intoxicated. But it wasn't just Brody's state that shocked me - it was the presence of Eileen, his ex-girlfriend, who was there with him.

I felt a lump forming in my throat, my mind racing with questions and doubts. What was happening? Why was Eileen here? Fortunately, for me, it didn't even take too long for Brody to answer my every question.

" It's not that I can't live without you; it's that I don't want to. There's a difference. We all make choices in life and I choose you. My heart belongs to you. And I'm not asking for it back, even if you won't want it anymore. I'm just asking for a chance to have you again. I promise I'll be more careful with it this time. The last time, when we were together, you left me," he says quietly. "I will shy away from anything that could make you leave me again. I was devastated when you left me. I have already explained that. I never want to feel like that again. I've told you how I feel about you." His gray eyes were wide and intense, and he was holding her hand. His words crack my mind with the force of an anvil. They shiver down my spine and make my knees tremble.

I misheard that. I must have. Or this isn't happening. It doesn't make sense, after all, what he's saying. It's absurd.

"You asked me about love…”

His gaze softened to the point where it was painful to look into his eyes. “Babe…”

“It was not until you returned to my life that I grasped the true meaning of the word,” he confided, unable to ignore the deep yearning for his closeness and affection any longer. “Love is not a choice and definitely not something one can control. My love for you is like an unstoppable, wild storm. It might end up destroying me from within, but it will not change the fact you have always been my destiny."

I froze, sort of like I went into shock. The right side of my mouth twitches. He dropped to one knee and clasped her hand. "From the day we first met, I knew I needed you in my life. You took the chaos and made it calm. You lifted my heart with your smile and awed me with your brilliant mind." He fumbled in his pocket. "I didn't plan this..."

Eileen foolishly laughed. "Of course not."

"I did try, but it wasn't me, and you probably know me by now."

Eileen was blushing. "Of course, I knew it."

" So, I need you to ask something." He pulled out a diamond ring. Eileen's eyes lit up after seeing the ring.

"Will you marry me?" His words hung in the air, but I stood frozen in the shadowed doorway, a silent observer of my heartbreak. It was as if I could hear the sound of my heart shattering, not unlike the sharp crack of a wooden bat connected with a baseball. But no, it was messier than that. It was more like the relentless pounding of rain from a powerful thunderstorm on a tin roof, each dropping a hammer blow until the surface shattered into billions of tiny fragments. Fragments of my heart that I couldn’t piece back together by myself.

In my shock, I stumbled back from the doorway, my hand unknowingly knocking a vase off its perch. It shattered on the floor, a million pieces scattered around, a mirror image of my broken heart.

"What was that?" Eileen's voice pierced the silence, but I was already spinning on my heel, making a beeline for the elevator. I had seen enough. His words echoed around me, but they seemed to bounce off an invisible wall that Brody had built around me. I couldn't hear anything through it, couldn't feel anything through it. I was as numb as if I'd been encased in a block of ice. I was running, running from Brody, from the pain, from the betrayal. I didn't want to see his face ever again. The image of him on one knee, the diamond ring in his hand, it was all too much. I rushed into the elevator, my heart pounding in my chest. As the doors closed, I leaned against the wall, trying to catch my breath.

The elevator descended quickly, too quickly. Before I knew it, the doors were opening again, revealing the grand lobby of the hotel. I rushed out, almost bumping into a few startled people. I didn't have time to apologize, didn't have time for anything. All I wanted was to get out, to escape.

Tears began to blur my vision, a stinging reminder of the pain that was beginning to take hold. I felt as if I had been plunged into an icy lake, my body numb and unresponsive. Tears poured from my eyes, yet my face remained impassive. It was pure pain, pure surrender.

He had broken everything inside me - my hope, my heart, my little world, my dreams, my wishes, my everything. It felt as if he had ripped my heart out, crumbled it up like a flimsy piece of loose-leaf paper, and crammed it back into my chest. It somehow managed to work, but it would never, ever feel the same. I couldn't believe I had been so naive to let him play with my feelings like that. I had ignored all of Nina's warnings about him. She had warned me countless times that he toyed with emotions and discarded them when he grew bored. Yet, I had blindly trusted him and every word he said to me.

I pushed through the revolving doors, the cool night air hitting my tear-streaked face like a slap. Across the road, I could see my car parked under the dim streetlight.

Tears were still streaming down my face as I crossed the road, my steps hurried, desperate. But then, my phone began to vibrate in my pocket, I stopped dead in my tracks, right in the middle of the road, and slid my hand into the pocket to find who was calling me, my heart skipping a beat when I glanced at the phone screen.