My Fiance Said Betrayal Was Mutual Revenge Chapter 03

My Fiance Said Betrayal Was Mutual Revenge Chapter 03

I rushed to explain, but Brynn was faster. She yanked her hand back. “Mrs. Peterson, your eyes must be playing tricks on you!”

“My eyesight’s perfectly fine. I know what I saw.” My mom was trembling violently. She looked from Kyler to Brynn. The understanding sank in.

Suddenly, she thrust a finger at them, her voice a raw, ragged shout. “You—you two make me sick! Kyler, Elowen’s father died saving your life! You swore you’d give her a future!”

“And Brynn! Your own parents threw you out like trash! I took you in! I raised you! This is how you repay me? While I’m lying here dying? Stabbing my daughter in the back—”

A bitter ache swelled in my throat. Tears blurring my vision, I tried to calm her down. Brynn stammered out another excuse. My mom’s rage crested. She collapsed backward, unconscious.

My nerves snapped. I stumbled, screaming for the doctors. By the time they rushed her into the emergency room, Kyler stood there with a complicated look on his face. “Elowen, the ring was just a stupid thing. Me and Brynn—we’re just messing around.”

Brynn nodded frantically. “Elowen, I swear, I never said yes! If you don’t believe me, I’ll throw the ring away right now!” She ripped it off her finger and hurled it out the window.

Kyler stared at the window, frozen, like he’d just taken a fatal blow. His eyes turned bloodshot. He seized Brynn by the wrist. “Brynn, you told me yes!”

Brynn was crying now too. “Kyler, can you pick a better time?! Are you serious now?!”

Enough. It was all enough.

I shook my head, a bitter, mocking laugh escaping me as I watched them act out their twisted love scene. The fury and devastation crashed over me like a flood. I grabbed the vase from the table and hurled it at them with everything I had. “Get out! Both of you, get the hell out!”

Brynn shrieked. Kyler looked like he wanted to say something, but my expression stopped him cold. They left.

I collapsed against the hospital wall, hands clasped together, my heart so numb it had stopped hurting. Dad, if you can see this from up there, please, watch over Mom. She’s suffered enough. Tears splattered onto the floor in heavy drops.

The light above the operating room finally went off. My mom came out. She was stable. The crushing weight in my chest finally eased. I stayed awake all night by her bedside. Kyler and Brynn both asked to see her. I threatened them until they backed off.

My mom looked at me, her eyes full of heartbreak. I tried to comfort her. “I’m fine, Mom. Just focus on getting better. Get through this round of treatment, and we’ll go abroad for your care.” She nodded. Tears soaked through her pillowcase. But I saw it. In her eyes, there was still hope.

When I stepped out of the room, Kyler was sitting there, hollowed out. The second he saw me, he scrambled to his feet. “Elowen, is she okay? I know you blame me. Fine, blame me. But Brynn didn’t do anything wrong! The ring, I pressured her. The proposal was all me…”

I cut him off, my voice scraped empty. “Kyler. Why did you stop loving me?”

He clenched his jaw. Then, a cold laugh escaped him as his mind drifted back. “Elowen, remember when you started bartending and event hosting for your mom’s surgical fees? The time some guy put his hands on you?”

My fists tightened. The knife twisted in my chest, again and again. “I’ll never forget that night. You came home a mess. At first, it killed me. But after a while, every time I looked at you, I just felt sick. I couldn’t stomach what you’d turned into.”

So that was the truth. I let out a hollow, broken laugh. My heart seized in my chest, suffocating. It was never my fault. The person I loved was simply missing two things. A real heart. And a conscience.

Kyler tossed a few more empty words of comfort my way and left.

Over the next few days, my mom’s treatment slowly started working. Kyler and Brynn showed up a few times to see her. She threw them out. Every single time.

After another failed visit, Brynn stood there with red-rimmed eyes and pressed a name card into my hand.

“Elowen, maybe just let it go. Kyler’s been a reckless player since we were kids. You know that better than anyone. Why don’t you look elsewhere? Remember Jasper? Top of the class. He’s had a thing for you forever. I gave him your info. Just talk to him. Don’t hang yourself up on one guy.”

I stared at that card. I remembered Jasper’s eyes. Greasy. Predatory. A wave of nausea rolled through my stomach. I picked up the glass of cold water from the table and threw it straight in her face. Brynn stumbled back, sputtering, her eyes wide with shock.

“Brynn. It’s easy to talk down to people when you’re the one holding all the cards. How about I drag that fifty-year-old creep from your hometown over here? The one your parents tried to marry you off to? Would you say yes?”

Every drop of color drained from Brynn’s face. I laughed, cold. I remembered when I was sixteen.

Her parents tried to sell her off to that man. I went in with nothing but a kitchen cleaver, stormed into that backwoods village, and nearly got beaten blind dragging her out.

After I got her free, she dropped to her knees in front of me, tears streaming down her face. “Elowen. My life is yours. Forever.”

I left the hospital. The clock was ticking down. I went home to pack.

The second I stepped through the door, pain exploded at the back of my skull. Everything went black. When I came to, my wrists and ankles were bound tight. A heavy, greasy body was on top of me. “Elowen. I finally found you.”

The voice was sticky, crawling. Ice shot down my spine. My mind seized on a name. Jasper.