Dear Ex-husband, I'll Make You Beg

Regret 2

"I don't know, Mom," Serena said hurriedly. "I don't know what lie Sophie has told him now."

Julian finally lost his patience.

“Stop lying!” he shouted furiously. “For once in your life, just tell the damn truth!”

Serena flinched again before anger suddenly replaced the fear in her eyes.

“I never lied to you!” she snapped back defensively, her ego getting the better of her.

Julian stared at her in disbelief.

“What?”

“I never told you I saved you!” Serena yelled. “You assumed it yourself! You woke up and said it, and I just went along with it!”

Julian felt as though someone had punched him in the chest.

"Serena..."

"Don't 'serena' me! I never said I saved you. That was all you! Why are you trying to make me look like a bad person? What the f**k is wrong with you?! Stop acting like you are a saint. You aren't."

Julian couldn't believe his ears. All these years of believing he owed his life to her and this was what he got.

“You had eight years to correct me!” he shouted. “Eight f*****g years!"

Serena shook her head stubbornly. “I didn’t force you to believe me!”

“You manipulated me!”

Her parents immediately stepped in.

“Julian, calm down,” Jada said quickly.

“No!” Julian barked angrily. “You all knew the truth and still let me hate Sophie all these years!”

“What difference does it make who saved you?” Jada snapped back. “You love Serena. You've always loved Serena. That’s all that matters.”

Julian stared at her in disbelief. That sentence alone made him feel sick.

“No,” he muttered quietly, shaking his head. “You don’t understand.”

His voice cracked slightly as guilt finally hit him fully.

“The only reason I thought I loved Serena…” he admitted slowly, “was because I believed she saved my life.”

The room went silent again. Serena gritted her teeth and clenched her fingers. She already knew this but hearing him admit to it shattered her heart to pieces.

Julian laughed bitterly and rubbed his face tiredly. “I thought I owed her everything,” he whispered. “But if all of this was a lie…”

His eyes reddened painfully.

“Then the person I owed all along was Sophie.”

Serena’s mother scoffed immediately. “Don’t act like Sophie is innocent now. Have you forgotten how she pushed Serena down the stairs three years ago?”

Julian laughed again. This time, the sound was angry.

“After everything I’ve seen today?” he asked sharply. “I don’t believe Sophie pushed her at all.”

Serena’s face paled instantly.

Julian pointed at her accusingly. “You probably tried to hurt Sophie and ended up falling yourself. Then all of you blamed her like you always do.”

“That’s not true!” her father argued immediately. "Serena would never do that. She's too innocent."

Julian scoffed and then shifted his eyes back to Serena.

“Do you want to tell the truth yourself,” he asked coldly, “or should I bring the footage for that too?”

Fear finally appeared on Serena’s face. Real fear.

Her mind raced back to that day. She had been too careless. How could she forget to wipe out the footage? Maybe it was because she knew how much her parents and Julian trusted her at the time.

Now, it had blown back in her face.

"Fuck." She hissed, ruffling her hair like a madwoman. Then, she suddenly exploded.

“Fine!” she screamed. “Yes! I lied!”

Her parents froze and tears filled Serena’s eyes as years of frustration poured out.

“It is all your fault! You are to blame for this! You!" She yelled, pointing at him with anger in her eyes.

"You never looked at me!” she shouted at Julian. “It was always Sophie! Sophie this, Sophie that!”

Julian stared at her in shock.

“She was always better than me!” Serena cried angrily. “Even when we were younger, everyone liked her more! She was smarter, kinder, better at everything!”

Her breathing became shaky.

“So yes!” she yelled. “I let you believe I saved you because that was the first time you ever looked at me like I mattered! I saw an opportunity and I took it. You can't blame me for it.”

Julian felt disgust rise in his chest. “And the stairs?” he asked coldly.

Serena looked away.

That silence was answer enough.

Julian laughed bitterly and stepped backward slowly, feeling completely drained.

“You are crazy,” he whispered, wondering how she could go as far as trying to push her own sister down the stairs because of jealousy.

“No!” Serena cried immediately. “I did it because I loved you!”

“You destroyed yourself and ruined her life because you were jealous of her,” Julian corrected harshly.

Jada stepped forward protectively. “Enough!” she snapped. “You cannot blame Serena! She had to share our love with another girl who isn't even her blood. You cannot imagine how hard it must have been for her."

Julian slowly turned toward her and for the first time in years, he truly saw them clearly.

The favoritism.The cruelty. The unfairness.

Everything Sophie had endured suddenly made horrifying sense.

And worst of all…He had helped them hurt her. He had pushed her away while being completely aware of her feelings.

Guilt slammed into him so hard it almost became difficult to breathe. He staggered back slightly before grabbing his keys from the table.

“Julian…” Serena whispered fearfully.

But he was already walking away.

“Where are you going?” her father demanded. Julian stopped at the doorway for only a second.

Then he answered quietly without turning back.

“To find Sophie.”