I Thought I Was The Joke, I Was The Punishment Chapter 04

I Thought I Was The Joke, I Was The Punishment Chapter 04

The back of my head slammed into the wall, and blood immediately started running down.

My vision went black. Before I could react, I was dragged into the hallway.

I forced my eyes open and saw that the other four had arrived.

Celeste spoke first.

“Merritt, now that you know, we won’t hide it.”

“You should know by now that Sabine is the only woman Callan truly loves.”

Adrian jumped in next.

“Merritt, just let them be together. They’re the ones who truly love each other.”

Tessa tried to persuade me, too.

“Have some dignity, Merritt. Callan only agreed to marry you to get a reaction out of Sabine.”

They sounded so earnest, as though I were the one in the wrong.

When I stayed silent, Greer sighed and stepped closer.

“Merritt, love doesn’t follow logic. Stop lying to yourself.”

Greer opened their private group chat and slowly scrolled through the messages for me.

“Did you know that whenever Callan claimed he was working late, he was binge-watching shows with Sabine?”

“Did you know Sabine’s was the only other fingerprint registered to unlock his phone?”

“He kept her period dates in his Notes app, and hers was the only chat he ever kept pinned.”

“Even your birthday cake last year was something she’d passed over.”

“We kept it from you because we were afraid you’d hurt Sabine.”

“Now you know the truth. Face reality and walk away on your own.”

Seeing them close ranks against me, I couldn’t speak.

The tears I’d been holding back for so long finally came pouring out.

A flicker of sympathy crossed Greer’s eyes.

“Merritt, I’m doing this for you.”

“Marrying a man who doesn’t love you will only make you miserable.”

Tessa tried to persuade me, too.

Adrian looked impatient.

“I knew you’d do this, acting like the whole world has wronged you.”

“That’s why no one around you likes you.”

“Do you know what everyone says about you?”

“Difficult, petty, and embarrassing.”

“Sabine’s different. She’s confident, smart, and knows how to make people feel loved.”

“She’s everyone’s idea of the perfect best friend, sister-in-law, and partner.”

They all kept putting me down, trying to make me see just how awful I was.

I looked at the four people I’d grown up with and suddenly saw how absurd this was.

I pulled off the engagement ring Callan had given me and threw it out the window.

“I’ll walk away from this toxic relationship.”

“But from today on, every one of you is out of my life.”

Then I turned and left without looking back.

That night, I compiled all the evidence showing that Sabine had been the other woman and sent it to a relationship blogger.