Chapter 4

I clenched my fists, my voice low and heavy. "So why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Vivian gave a faint smile, her face ashen.

"How could I say it out loud?"

"Why couldn't you?"

"Because it's too ugly."

Her eyes were red-rimmed.

"I wanted a normal life with you, and at the same time I had someone I'd known for over twenty years clinging to me. Every time he used the favor against me, used my mom against me, used all that old garbage from the past against me, I felt dirty."

My chest seized up.

She lowered her head, her voice dropping lower and lower.

"Before our engagement, Cole got drunk and almost forced a kiss on me in his car. I slapped him."

"Then he started filming the blood at the corner of his mouth. He said I was ungrateful, that he'd send the video to you so you could see how vicious I was."

"Later he said that as long as I didn't cut him off completely, he wouldn't make a big deal of it."

"I was afraid you'd do something rash if you found out. I was afraid you'd think I was tangled up with him. And more than anything, I was afraid your parents would look down on me."

My throat bobbed.

"And last night? What actually happened last night?"

Vivian slowly took her phone out of her bag, opened the photo album, and handed it to me.

I looked down, and my face went dark in an instant.

In the photos, Vivian was slumped against the side of a bed with her eyes closed, her collar askew. Cole sat beside her, and from that angle it looked like she was leaning into his arms on her own.

Seven in total.

Each one worse than the last.

There were also two edited chat screenshots full of flirty lines. At a glance, it really did look like they'd been seeing each other behind my back for years.

I could tell right away something was off.

Vivian never talked like that, and the lighting in the photos didn't match.

But once something like this got sent out, who would stop to calmly sort out what was real?

On the wedding day, friends and family from both sides were all in the group chat. So were people's bosses from work.

He meant to ruin her in front of everyone.

"Where did these come from?"

"Last year at a company dinner, I drank too much once. When I woke up the next day, I was on the couch in a hotel suite, fully dressed. I thought some coworkers had brought me there to sleep it off."

Tears spilled down her cheeks.

"Last night he admitted it. He took them secretly that day, then had someone edit them and fake the chat logs."

My temples throbbed. "Where's the stuff now?"

"When I got there last night, he started by acting pitiful. He said he just wanted me to spend one last night with him."

"I said no."

"So he took out his tablet and showed me all this. He said as long as I kept in touch with him and kept seeing him after the wedding, he wouldn't send it."

"I tried to grab the tablet, and he shoved me."

She touched her lower belly without thinking, and her voice dropped.

"My stomach hurt so badly I had to crouch down for a long time."

My chest clenched tight.

"Then what?"

"Then, while he went to the kitchen for water, I used his phone. He was drunk and hadn't locked it. I deleted part of his cloud storage, and then I smashed the tablet."

"But I'm not sure whether there's a backup."

"Before I left, he grabbed me and said that even if I got married, I'd never get rid of him."

By the time I heard this, my hands were shaking uncontrollably.

Not out of anger at her.

Out of anger at myself.

Last night she'd risked her pregnancy to deal with something like this, while I sat at home thinking she just couldn't let go of her male best friend.

I really had wronged her.

But the thorn in my heart couldn't vanish all at once either.

Because she'd hidden it for too long, so long that it had grown into a disaster.

Vivian looked at me, her eyes full of exhaustion.

"If you want a divorce now, I'll accept it."

"I don't blame you."

"But the baby is innocent. Could you come with me to the hospital first? Once the baby is stable, then you can decide."

As soon as she finished, her hand suddenly braced against the edge of the table, and cold sweat beaded on her forehead.

Before I could react, her legs gave out and she toppled sideways.

I lunged forward and caught her.

On the inside of her pant leg, a small, glaring patch of red was seeping through.

In that instant, my whole back went numb.