Chapter 11
Riley slammed the break room door shut, locking it with a click, cornering me inside.
“Talia,” she hissed, her nails digging into her palms, “are you trying to mess with me?”
I stirred my coffee slowly, the creamer swirling into a lazy vortex against the cup’s rim.
“No clue what you’re talking about.”
Riley snatched the sugar jar and hurled it at the wall. Glass shards skittered across the floor near my feet. “Don’t play
dumb!”
Her chest heaved, eyes wild. “Kael’s falling apart over you again–what, you get off on that? Bet you’re having the time of your life watching him suffer.”
I set my cup down, the ceramic clinking sharply against the marble countertop.
“Riley,” I said, meeting her bloodshot glare, “you’ve got two things twisted.”
“First,” I continued, calm and deliberate, “we’re done. The engagement’s off, our families are through, and I have nothing to do with him anymore.”
“Second,” I turned on the faucet, the rush of water drowning out her ragged breaths, “I don’t care what’s going on with him. So do me a favor and stop dragging me into his drama.”
I shook the water off my hands and pushed past her rigid frame.
As I twisted the lock, her scream ripped through the air behind me. “You’re loving this, aren’t you?”
“Nope.” I glanced back, giving her one last look. “I’m not the kind who waits around. He’s just an Alpha. You want him? He’s all yours.”
The break room’s harsh fluorescent lights cast cold shadows on Riley’s face, her smudged eyeliner making her look like a cornered alley cat.
“You think you’re hot stuff?” Her voice was shrill. “You’re just riding on the fact he can’t let you go.”
“Riley.” I cut her off. “Know the difference between a person and an animal?”
She froze.
“An animal begs when it’s beaten,” I said, standing up from the chair, “but a person? They remember the pain.”
The day he slapped me, we were over.
Riley suddenly lunged, grabbing my wrist, her manicured nails biting into my skin. “Don’t act all high and mighty! What do you, some spoiled princess, know about anything?”
I pried her fingers off, one by one, watching her hand tremble. “Oh, I know plenty.”
“Like how Kael sent you to test me.”
“And-” I leaned close, whispering in her ear, “it’s eating you up inside, isn’t it?”
She stiffened.
Chapter 11
I smirked. “Having your mate send you to poke at his ex’s feelings? That’s gotta sting. But don’t worry, I meant it when I said we’re done. I don’t do second chances.”
“Tell Kael I’m serious–there’s no ‘us‘ anymore.”
Riley’s face twisted, a mix of guilt, humiliation, and confusion.
As I walked away, her voice trailed after me, laced with reluctant defiance. “Talia, just because he hit you?”
“Yup.” I said, not breaking stride. “Because he hit me.”
Later that night, my phone lit up with an unknown number.
Without thinking, I picked up.
The breathing on the other end was so faint I almost thought the call dropped.
“Talia…” Kael’s voice scraped through, rough like sandpaper. “I’m sorry. I… I read your diary.”
My grip tightened, knuckles bleaching white.
That pink satin diary–he’d run across half the city to buy it for my tenth birthday, sweat still dripping from his forehead as
he grinned, smug. “Talia, write all your secrets here. We’ll read it together someday!”
“So?” I let out a bitter laugh. “You’re crawling back now to say sorry?”
The faint rustle of pages came through the line.
Kael’s voice cracked, thick with emotion. “Page 217… you wrote you’d give it to me on our wedding night, when I
proposed…”
The neon lights outside my window blurred into a haze.
I swiped at my eyes, my palm coming away wet.
“Kael,” I said, taking a shaky breath, “you know what the last page says?”
Silence.
“It says “I bit out each word, “I threw the diary away today. Goodbye, eighteen years of love.”
The sound of frantic page–flipping erupted, like Kael was scrambling through the book.
“I’m sorry…” His voice trembled. “Talia…”
“Enough.”
I cut him off, my voice low. “Did you see the date on the last page?”
Dead silence.
“It was the day after you slapped me in front of everyone,” I said, ice in my tone. “Kael, nothing you say matters anymore.”
“And don’t call me again. Don’t come near me.”
Chapter 11
I hung up.
