The Belated Bride: Becoming My Own Muse Chapter 20

The Belated Bride: Becoming My Own Muse Chapter 20

I went downstairs.

Christian was standing by his car, holding a box.

When he saw me, he held the box out.

“For you.”

I didn’t take it.

He opened it.

Inside was a diamond necklace.

The design was beautiful. And completely unfamiliar to me.

“I remember you used to say you liked teardrop cuts.”

I glanced at it for a second.

“Did I say that?”

Christian visibly flinched.

I smiled.

“I like pearls. Not diamonds. The one who likes teardrop cuts is Bianca.”

His hand froze in mid-air.

In that instant, his expression was a study in pure humiliation.

I didn’t do what I used to do and smooth it over for him.

In the past, I was always smoothing things over for him.

He forgot my birthday, I said it was fine.

He mixed up my favorite flower, I said they were all lovely.

He handed me Bianca’s preferred oat milk latte by mistake, and I forced myself to drink half the cup.

I was always so afraid of making him uncomfortable.

Later, I realized I was the only one afraid. He was never afraid of causing me pain.

Christian slowly retracted the box.

“I’m sorry.”

I nodded.

“Was there something else?”

He looked at me.

“On Bee’s side. I’ve already pulled all the Van Ness Tech resources I had allocated to her.”

I didn’t respond.

He went on, “I won’t be seeing her anymore. From now on.”

I looked at him and felt, suddenly, a wave of something close to pity.

He thought he had finally made his choice.

But I was no longer one of the options.

“Christian.”

I said, “Are you doing all this now because you know you were wrong? Or because I stopped wanting you?”

His face shifted violently.

I pressed on, “If I had cried a little that day. Thrown a fit. And then still gone back to the Van Ness house… would you have made Bianca issue a public apology?”

“Would you have chased me to the studio and waited all night?”

“Would you have pulled her resources?”

He couldn’t answer.

I answered for him. “No.”

Because the old me was too easy to placate.

A belated ring. A “stop being mad.” A dinner reservation at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.

And I would find my own way down off the ledge.

But after walking down off enough ledges, a person eventually wakes up bruised from the fall.