My Bestie Stole My Childhood Love, I Married a Billionaire Chapter 06

My Bestie Stole My Childhood Love, I Married a Billionaire Chapter 06

Away from everyone else, Nate switched back to that composed, cool-headed version of himself. Night and day.

I waited for the questions. Dinner came and went. Stroll around town. Nothing.

His distance made me second-guess everything.

Had he just played nice to save me embarrassment?

But he texted goodnight when I got home. I couldn’t tell.

I scrolled through the reunion photos my classmates posted. Ethan and Chloe front and center.

Ethan’s eyes were somewhere else. Off.

Didn’t matter. Chloe’d be here three more months. Then I’d move. Better apartments near school, or even faculty housing. I was done.

After my shower, I passed out.

The next morning, I left early—toast in my mouth—and spotted them at the gate.

Chloe’s mascara was a mess. Red eyes. Staring at Ethan.

“She dumped you. So why not me?”

“The whole study abroad thing was a joke. I felt guilty about that fight, so I let Vivian stick around for years. But Ethan—we grew up together. We like the same things. You’re telling me you fell for someone else? Why?”

I stood behind a tree. Toast turned to cardboard.

So Chloe had loved him too.

But Ethan was the one who said not to stress her out. And he pulled this.

What a coward.

I cut through the back path to work. Swapped shifts. Covered evening supervision just to stay away.

Nate called that night. Voice raspy. “Vivian? You awake?”

I laughed. “I just got off work. Nate, what’s up?”

“Just wanted to hear your voice.”

That hit out of nowhere.

I fumbled my keys. Couldn’t hit the lock. Leaned against the wall laughing, no idea how to respond.

“Did I make you uncomfortable? Sorry. Long day. Mouth ran away.”

“No, it’s fine—” Just didn’t expect him to switch gears like that.

The door swung open from inside.

Ethan stood there, face like a thundercloud.

I yelped. “Ethan? You’re still here?”

He grabbed my phone, glanced at the screen, and ended the call. “Got a new guy already?”

“I don’t want to fight with you.”

“You said don’t bother Chloe during her prep. Fine. I agree. So—”

“She went home today.”

I shoved past him into the apartment.

Chloe’s stuff was gone. Vanished. Like she’d never existed.

I’d been shy in college. Clung to Ethan. Had almost no friends.

But first day of high school? Chloe faked a dizzy spell to drag me—hypoglycemic and dizzy for real—to get juice.

The girls who bullied me compared us. She put her arm around me and said “We’re friends.”

Everything I did for her, I did willingly. Nothing to do with Ethan.

Had Ethan rejected her? Why’d she leave without a word? Where would she go after a fight with her family?

My hands shook. Called her.

Dead.

Blocked.

It hurt more than any wound Ethan ever gave me.

I looked at my reflection. Tears all over my face.