The Pop-Up Truth

The Pop-Up Truth

Gavin

5.0
Comment(s)
View
11
Chapters

My phone screen lit up, not with a text, but a stark, black-and-white pop-up. "Ethan' s SAT scores: 1580. Stanford bound with Tiffany. You' re the 'just in case' girl." Just moments earlier, my childhood crush Ethan, whose father my own dad died saving, feigned despair over "disastrous" SAT scores. He'd gently coerced me, the valedictorian, to give up my dream school for State College, all for "us." These mysterious pop-ups, visible only to me, had always been unsettlingly, terrifyingly right. This one revealed his calculated deception: he'd aced his SATs and was going to Stanford with his new girlfriend, Tiffany. My heart turned to ice. I was his backup plan, a discarded pawn. The betrayal escalated at his lavish graduation party where he publicly humiliated me, painting my sacrifice as my idea. Then, with Tiffany's cruel suggestion, he trapped and locked me in a dark utility closet. The final blow: he brazenly showed my ailing mom a faked State acceptance letter, causing her to suffer a heart attack. As I sat by her hospital bed, watching her struggle for breath, a cold rage ignited. How could the boy whose family owed us everything be capable of such cruel manipulation? My dad died for his. Why was I his pawn? What were these pop-ups? But in that sterile room, watching his continued charade, something inside me snapped. I slapped him, hard. No longer a confused victim, I saw him for what he was: a manipulative abuser. This wasn't the end of my story. This was the beginning of my fight to reclaim it.

Introduction

My phone screen lit up, not with a text, but a stark, black-and-white pop-up.

"Ethan' s SAT scores: 1580. Stanford bound with Tiffany. You' re the 'just in case' girl."

Just moments earlier, my childhood crush Ethan, whose father my own dad died saving, feigned despair over "disastrous" SAT scores.

He'd gently coerced me, the valedictorian, to give up my dream school for State College, all for "us."

These mysterious pop-ups, visible only to me, had always been unsettlingly, terrifyingly right.

This one revealed his calculated deception: he'd aced his SATs and was going to Stanford with his new girlfriend, Tiffany.

My heart turned to ice. I was his backup plan, a discarded pawn.

The betrayal escalated at his lavish graduation party where he publicly humiliated me, painting my sacrifice as my idea.

Then, with Tiffany's cruel suggestion, he trapped and locked me in a dark utility closet.

The final blow: he brazenly showed my ailing mom a faked State acceptance letter, causing her to suffer a heart attack.

As I sat by her hospital bed, watching her struggle for breath, a cold rage ignited.

How could the boy whose family owed us everything be capable of such cruel manipulation?

My dad died for his. Why was I his pawn? What were these pop-ups?

But in that sterile room, watching his continued charade, something inside me snapped.

I slapped him, hard.

No longer a confused victim, I saw him for what he was: a manipulative abuser.

This wasn't the end of my story.

This was the beginning of my fight to reclaim it.

Continue Reading

Other books by Gavin

More
The Truth About His Mistress

The Truth About His Mistress

Short stories

4.7

I was four months pregnant, a photographer excited for our future, attending a sophisticated baby brunch. Then I saw him, my husband Michael, with another woman, and a newborn introduced as "his son." My world shattered as a torrent of betrayal washed over me, magnified by Michael's dismissive claim I was "just being emotional." His mistress, Serena, taunted me, revealing Michael had discussed my pregnancy complications with her, then slapped me, causing a terrifying cramp. Michael sided with her, publicly shaming me, demanding I leave "their" party, as a society blog already paraded them as a "picture-perfect family." He fully expected me to return, to accept his double life, telling his friends I was "dramatic" but would "always come back." The audacity, the calculated cruelty of his deception, and Serena's chilling malice, fueled a cold, hard rage I barely recognized. How could I have been so blind, so trusting of the man who gaslighted me for months while building a second family? But on the plush carpet of that lawyer's office, as he turned his back on me, a new, unbreakable resolve solidified. They thought I was broken, disposable, easily manipulated – a "reasonable" wife who would accept a sham separation. They had no idea my calm acceptance was not surrender; it was strategy, a quiet promise to dismantle everything he held dear. I would not be handled; I would not understand; I would end this, and make sure their perfect family charade crumbled into dust.

You'll also like

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book