His Promise Failed When I Found Out Who He Was Sleeping With Chapter 04

His Promise Failed When I Found Out Who He Was Sleeping With Chapter 04

I didn’t tell Amanda. Didn’t tell Derek.

Just packed quietly.

Amanda still came by sometimes. Guilt in her eyes.

“Vivian, I’m sorry…”

I sighed. Couldn’t curse her out. Couldn’t forgive her either.

The friendship was real. So was the betrayal.

So I just sat there. Silent.

Waiting for Derek to show up with their kid and take her home.

Leo would run into her arms and whisper about whatever surprise Derek had planned.

A strawberry cake Amanda mentioned once.

A dress she wanted but thought was too expensive.

Same old tricks. I almost laughed.

Three years away, and he hadn’t changed at all.

After they left, the place felt empty.

The matching couple mugs. The matching sweaters. All of it mocking me.

All that was left of my conversations with Derek were bank transfer alerts.

At some point, he stopped sending good morning texts. Stopped telling me anything.

Every message I sent just disappeared into the void. No reply.

The day I was about to leave, someone pounded on my door.

I opened it. Leo was standing there, small and furious.

“What’s wro—”

He slammed his little fists into my legs, driving me back.

“You’re the bad guy! You’re making my mom cry!”

“Mom and Dad fight every day because of you! Mom cries every night!”

I froze.

I’d already backed off. Given up everything. And still got blamed.

I tried to explain it to him. He wouldn’t listen.

He grabbed a glass off the table and threw it at my face.

“Ah!”

I couldn’t dodge fast enough. Glass cut into my eye.

The pain made my eyes water. But the tears came out red.

He bit my hand. Hard. Took off a layer of skin.

“Get off!”

I shoved him. Harder than I meant to.

He hit the ground hard. Landed right on the broken glass.

“I’m the one making your mom cry?”

I laughed. Cried harder.

“You’re a bastard, Leo Cole. A bastard born from a woman who slept with someone else’s man.”

The door flew open.

Derek stormed in and slapped me across the face.

“Vivian!”

“He’s a kid! What the hell is wrong with you?”

He hit me so hard my head snapped to the side.

My cheek stung with the print of his hand.

When he saw my bloody eye, he froze.

“You… what happened?”

Amanda scooped Leo up. His arms and legs were covered in glass shards.

Her voice shook with anger.

“Do whatever you want to me, Vivian. I deserve it.”

“But my son is innocent! How could you do this to him?”

“We’re done. We’re not friends anymore.”

She ripped off the pendant I’d given her and threw it on the ground.

That thing was supposed to stand for our friendship. For everything I wished for her.

She stomped on it. Once. Twice. Three times.

Until it shattered completely. Then she took Leo and left.

Derek ran after her. Left me alone in the wreckage.

I went to the hospital. Got patched up.

Made my flight.

Right before takeoff, I took one last look at the city.

At the eight years I’d thrown away.

My love and my friendship both buried in the past.