SIGNED AND SEALED; Still falling

"Ahh... Javier, harder!"

My hand froze on the door handle. For a moment I couldn't breathe, couldn't move. The sound crept under my skin, unsettling and intrusive, echoing down the long hallway as if I didn't belong there.

I told myself no. My chest tightened as my mind scrambled for excuses, for logic, for anything other than the truth hammering against my ribs. *Javier would never do that*, I whispered, though the words sounded hollow even to my own ears.

I had left work early that afternoon, my heart at ease and my arms full of food from his favorite restaurant, a cheap bottle of champagne tucked under my arm. The whole way there I had pictured his smile, the way he would laugh when I told him I was dying to celebrate his promotion and our future together.

Another moan drifted from down the hall, higher than the last. "Javier, I want to feel all of you... please don't stop!"

"I'm not stopping." His voice, followed by the unmistakable sound of skin against skin. "Not until your legs are shaking and your body understands that you belong to me and should only want me."

"Ahh, I love you!" came the cry, louder this time.

The mansion suddenly felt colder, its polished floors and high walls closing in around me, heavy with old money and secrets I was never meant to uncover. My steps were slow and hesitant as I moved down the hallway, as though my body already knew what my heart still refused to accept.

I pushed the door open, and there they were. Javier Montoya, completely naked, moving over another body with sweat running down his face, unaware of my presence. My knees weakened as I stood in the doorway taking in the scene. Then the woman beneath him cried out again in that unmistakably familiar voice, and my eyes flew wide open as they found her face.

Paloma. My best friend.

The same Paloma who had eagerly helped me hand out my wedding invitations, who had sat beside me sobbing at my dress fitting as though she truly felt it, the same Paloma who had promised to be the godmother of my children.

For an instant the world went completely silent. Then everything shattered all at once.

The sharp crack of the door brought them back to reality. Paloma let out a strangled gasp and clutched the sheet to her chest, while Javier startled, looking caught like a criminal but without nearly enough remorse.

"Catalina..." his voice trailed off, thick with shock and guilt.

"No," I said quietly. My voice came out too calm, too steady for what I had just witnessed, surprising even me. "Don't you dare tell me it's not what it looks like."

Paloma ran a hand through her hair, visibly trembling. "Catalina, I never wanted this to happen."

"Really, Paloma?" I let out a laugh, but it came out sharp and cruel. "So are you sorry, or do you just feel guilty?"

Javier pulled on his shirt, his expression shifting from guilt to irritation. "You need to calm down."

"Calm down?" My voice rose, flooded with disbelief. "You're cheating on me with my best friend and you expect me to calm down. Javier, our wedding date is already set!"

He ran a hand through his hair, growing more agitated. "Can you drop the drama? We both knew this was already falling apart." He paused, letting the words land before readying the next ones. "You're a good person, Catalina, but you're too simple, too ordinary, too predictable. I need someone who fits into my world."

"Your world?" All the color drained from my face as I stared at him. "And it took you five years to realize I don't fit into your world? Javier, our wedding is in two weeks!"

"It's already been canceled," he said, dropping it as though it were nothing.

My mouth fell open. "What are you talking about?"

"I canceled the wedding," he repeated, with the same indifference as the first time.

"Javier, this marriage is supposed to be between the two of us. You can't cancel it without my consent," I said quietly, nausea rising in my throat. "When did you do that?"

"I was going to send you a message, but then-" He cut himself off, exchanging a knowing look with Paloma before going on. "It wouldn't have mattered anyway. The only person you invited was Paloma, and she already knows." He paused, then murmured what came next as though the words carried no weight at all. "You have no family. You have no friends."

"Javier, you can't do this to me," I whispered, my lips trembling. "You said you loved me."

His gaze drifted slowly around the room, settling on the designer furniture and the expensive wine glasses as though seeing them for the first time. "Don't remind me of what I said. You're still living paycheck to paycheck. You're always talking about volunteering and helping people in need. I'm trying to move forward and you're holding me back."

"But you-" I gasped, wiping tears from my face with the back of my hand.

"Don't overthink it," Paloma said softly, as though she were doing me a favor. "He's right. You're not like us. You've always been a good person, but goodness doesn't get you far here. Javier will soon be at the head of his family's empire, and what he needs is a woman who knows how to wield power, not just a nice girl."

There it was. Plain and simple. Not enough. Too good. The words that seemed to follow me everywhere.

I had worked hard, stayed honest and loyal, believing that love would make all my effort worthwhile. But now, standing before the two people I had trusted most in the world, I saw clearly what I had meant to them. A stepping stone on someone else's path.

With a heavy heart I swallowed, my legs trembling beneath me. "You know what?" I said, barely above a whisper. "You deserve each other."

And without looking back, I left.

The moment I stepped outside, the cold hit my skin hard, carrying all my losses away with the gentle breeze. By the time I reached my apartment it was already night. The place was small - a single room with a bathroom and kitchen, barely enough for my bed. I closed the door behind me and leaned against it, trying to catch my breath, letting my tears finally fall and run down my face without stopping.

My phone buzzed with a notification and I reluctantly lit up the screen, hoping for an apology from Paloma or Javier, something to explain that everything that had just happened was a joke. Instead I found a message from my landlord.

*"RENT PAYMENT IS OVERDUE. YOU HAVE UNTIL FRIDAY TO VACATE."*

"Oh God," I whispered, my fingers trembling as I held the phone. "No option to renew?"

I was still trying to process that when the phone buzzed again - an email from Diah's Corporation.

*"WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR CONTRACT HAS BEEN TERMINATED WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT."*

Earlier that week I had heard that the marketing agency I freelanced for had gone under and was laying off half its staff. I just hadn't known I would be one of them.

Staring at the screen, I felt nothing. In a single day I had lost my job, my fiancé, and my best friend, and in a few days I would lose my home as well. Before I could stop myself, my knees gave way and I sank to the floor, dissolving into laughter that held no humor in it whatsoever. Pure exhaustion.

"Perfect," I laughed under my breath. "Just perfect."

The room was silent, a stark contrast to the chaos inside my head. Then the last memory I had of my mother came to me, words of encouragement resonating softly in the quiet. *"When life falls apart, don't cry. Build again."*

I had to do something. I had to put my life back together, or I would end up on the street - worse off than the very people I had spent years trying to help.