Love me after the lie

Chapter 5

Selene

Four Years Ago

I still remember the sound of the rain.

It wasn’t dramatic. It didn’t pour. It just tapped softly against the windshield as I sat outside his building, rehearsing how I’d surprise him. I was wearing his favorite dress—midnight blue, backless. I even curled my hair the way he liked, thinking maybe I’d tempt him away from his all-night workaholic routine.

I had Thai food in a bag, two spoons in my purse, and a heart that still believed in forever.

I took the elevator up with butterflies in my stomach.

The penthouse door was unlocked.

He always forgot to lock it when he was distracted. I thought it was cute.

I pushed the door open. The lights were dim, city skyline glowing in the distance, and I smiled because it felt like stepping into a dream.

Until I heard the laugh.

Not his. Hers.

Feminine. Smooth. Too familiar.

I followed it down the hall, calling his name like I was still hoping for a rational explanation.

And then I saw her.

Veronica f*****g Lane. Half-draped in a silk robe, barefoot, hair messy in a way that looked too intimate to deny.

Xander stood there frozen. No shirt. Bare feet. Guilt all over his face.

He didn’t say my name. He didn’t run to me. He didn’t explain.

He just stood there like a man caught.

And in that moment, something inside me broke so quietly, I didn’t even hear it. I only felt the cold.

I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream.

I left with my dignity in shreds and a silence that screamed louder than anything I could have said.

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Back to Present Day

I woke up in Lana’s guest room with the taste of memory in my throat and the ache still pulsing in my chest.

The thing no one tells you about heartbreak is that it echoes. Years later, in the quiet. In the dreams. In the scent of someone who doesn’t even wear the same cologne anymore.

I had survived the worst night of my life.

Now I had to survive facing him with a straight face.