She Got His Celebration, I Got His Betrayal Chapter 03

She Got His Celebration, I Got His Betrayal Chapter 03

My eyes stung. I refused to look away from her smug face.

“It kills me that Julian has been tainted by someone like you for three years. Aren’t you curious why he suddenly liked you back then?”

Her voice turned sharp. She tossed her phone at me, and I caught it automatically. The video was already playing.

Three years ago. Julian and a few of his friends in a private booth.

“Celeste took off to London to chase some guy! Prescott, since you can’t exactly follow her, how about a bet? The next girl who walks through that door—you marry her.”

Julian’s eyes were still clear. He smirked.

“Bet.”

My stomach dropped. “Wait, for real?”

“Celeste has someone she loves. From now on, I’ll only treat her like a sister. Besides Celeste, it doesn’t matter who I marry.”

One of the guys whistled. “What a hopeless romantic!”

The frame jumped. It was me during my senior year, working part-time and delivering drinks. My ponytail was pulled too tight, and sweaty strands clung to my forehead.

The booth went quiet for a second. Someone slammed the table and laughed. “I thought some rich girl was about to walk in. This is just some working girl? Pass. Next.”

Julian stared for two seconds, completely uninterested. “Her. She’s easy on the eyes. A working girl? She won’t make trouble for Celeste later.”

The video stopped. My own pale face stared back at me from the black screen.

“Her. She’s not bad to look at. A girl like that? She won’t cause problems for Celeste later.”

Celeste’s voice floated toward me from somewhere far away.

I slid down the wall and sat on the floor.

My blood went cold, inch by slow inch. I shouldn’t have let her see me break. But the tears came anyway, and I bit down hard on my lip to keep from making a sound. The taste of salt filled my mouth.

The movement triggered the dog. It arched its back and lunged at me.

My throat closed first from the allergy. I opened my mouth but couldn’t pull in air. Celeste and the dog blurred in front of me.

My skin started burning from the neck down. A dense rash spread across my body. I went limp. But the tearing bite never came.

A familiar shadow blocked me. Julian kicked the dog hard in the side, and it whimpered back to Celeste’s feet.

He scooped me up, his face full of rage. “Katherine, when are you going to learn to protect yourself? You keep making problems for me!”

I couldn’t even open my mouth. My breathing was getting shallower. “Do you know what would’ve happened if I’d been one minute late—”

He stopped when he saw my pupils go unfocused. “Katherine. Kate, stay with me.”

Celeste looked scared. “Julian, it wasn’t Katie’s fault. She just didn’t move out of the way.”

Julian didn’t listen to any of it.

He ran with me in his arms, his heartbeat fast and erratic.

I woke up three days later.

The doctor told me the severe allergic reaction had caused laryngeal edema and temporary vocal cord damage.

I nodded and looked past Julian, who sat silent beside the bed, out the window.

“What did Celeste say to you?” he asked.

I was silent for a long time. Then I shook my head.

This face overlapped with the cold, careless one in the video. The one that said, “Besides Celeste, it doesn’t matter who I marry.”

For the first time, I hated him. There had been rough patches in our three-year marriage, but I had endured them because I thought he at least loved me.

Now I knew even that love was a lie. He’d chosen me because I was tolerant and gentle, because I wouldn’t cause trouble for Celeste.

He took my hand. When his warm palm covered mine, I actually wanted to pull away. But I didn’t.

“She grew up spoiled and self-centered. Whatever she said, don’t take it to heart.”

“Kate, you’re the only one I love. Why else would I have married you?”