My Cheating Ex's Ultimatum Backfired

ith my own money. My role was simple: be supportive, unseen, and unheard while his

career, I saw the brutal truth I' d been denying.

er hair as if it were the most natural thing in the world. When I fin

ss he deemed "too much,"

hat door in that d

st fuel for his ambition and their affair.

, powerful investor Harvey Hurst. And fueled by a reckless wave of defiance, I didn't pull away. Inst

pte

Calho

en mine, but like most things in our relatio

self it didn' t matter. We were on our way to the Alpenglow Tech Retreat, a three-day conference that could m

f as the silence in the car str

t beside me. The air instantly shifted, filled with the faint scent

ey H

uiet, gravitational center of any room he entered. He was the reason we were even goin

mask sliding into place. "Harvey. I d

er his eyes, and his usually immaculate dark hair was slightly tousled, as if he' d bee

d back against the leather, a clear s

e quiet. She twisted in the passenger seat, her face a perfect portrait of concern. "You must be

nching in my lap, as sh

pright right now." Her eyes, wide and innocent, met mine in the rearview mir

lat. My supportiveness was a curr

oyance? guilt?-crossing his face before it was s

exaggeratedly weak and delicate. She squeezed past Harvey, her hip brushing against his s

s lap, who had twisted his body to accommodate her. He began str

high, her fingers tracing idle pa

ust kept stroking her hair, his eyes on the road ahead

at me. A small, triumphant smirk played on her lips before she

containing the gluten-free, low-sugar snacks I' d prepared for Carlton because he was on a health kick. The credit card in my

voice muffled. "I' m so thirst

can you reach it?" he asked

e too tired," she

ed over, rummaging in the door pocket before producing her pink, glitt

d, then he took a long drink from the sam

n water bottle, my hands suddenly clumsy. The cap was screwed

over, startli

r mine, taking the bottle. His fingers were long and elegant, with clean, short nails. The cu

twist, he opened the bottl

mbled, my voice

ating back into his fortress of silence, h

ld water, the chill of it a

lay the role that should have been mine. Three days of Carlton' s blatant favoritism

" he' d said last week, his eyes bright with the promise of a future funded by ve

ntion the third perso

ds, and a hollow ache spread through my chest. It was all a joke. My support, my money, my love

lips together, taking another sip of water. I was a

s, my shoulder bumping hard against Harvey' s. The contact sent a jolt thr

isible just above the collar of her shirt as she shifted in Carlton' s l

It was a brutal, physical confirmation

ull away f

let my weight settle against him. I wasn' t going to give

tensed. Slowly, he opened his eyes

y ribs, and deliberately leaned in closer, my

eel the heat radiating from his body, a steady, powerful warmth

t made the air crackle. It felt dangerous. It felt like a decision