My Fiancé and Best Friend, Both Betrayed Me

The next morning, the city air felt like smog in my lungs. I hadn't slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Julian’s protective stance over Elena.

I adjusted my blazer, the professional armor I had worn for years, and stepped out toward my office building. I needed to work. Work was the only thing that hadn't betrayed me.

I was crossing the plaza when a figure darted out from behind a marble pillar.

"Clara! Please, wait!"

It was Elena. She wasn't wearing my designer clothes today. Instead, she was in a simple, pale linen dress that made her look washed out and fragile—the ultimate uniform of a victim.

Her eyes were puffy, her nose pink from crying.

"I have nothing to say to you, Elena," I said, my voice as cold as the glass skyscrapers surrounding us.

I tried to walk past, but she grabbed my sleeve, her fingers trembling.

"Clara, please! I haven't slept. I feel like a monster," she sobbed, the sound drawing the attention of passing commuters. "I never meant for this to happen. The loneliness, the panic... Julian was just there, and I was so weak. I hate myself for hurting you!"

"If you hated yourself, you wouldn't be wearing the diamond necklace Julian bought for our anniversary under that collar," I remarked, catching the glint of gold against her skin.

She flinched as if I’d struck her. "I’ll give it back! I’ll give everything back! Just don't look at me with so much hate. You were my only light when Mark left me. I can’t lose you, Clara. I’ll do anything—I’ll repay you my whole life, I’ll disappear, tell me you forgive me!"

She was begging now, making a scene in the middle of the financial district. I looked at her, feeling pure exhaustion.

.

"You want me to return everything?” I raised my eyebrows; her words felt like a joke. “Then start with my fiancée, Elena. Can you do that?”

She froze. Her lips, as if sealed, could not utter a single word.

“What?” I smirked, “Can't muster up the courage of losing something you had for just three months? Just think about how I felt when you took something that belonged to me for three years, Elena.”

Tears welled up in her eyes as she approached me with her hands. Hesitantly holding my hands, she said, “You are still young, Clara, unmarried with a clean reputation, while I… I’m a divorced woman no man wants.”

“Julian loves me. He appreciates my skills. I give him what you couldn't. He hadn't married you yet. He could have left you for some other woman, some other day. Just let me have him instead, okay?”

I watched as she shifted her tone from apologetic to arrogant, under the mask of guilt she claimed was stressing her out.

I reached down to pry her fingers off my arm. I looked into her eyes, my voice sharp and cold as I said, “If he could leave me for some other woman, what assurance do you have that he would not leave you for

Someone else, like your ex-husband?”