Chapter 50

Azalea

Pain lived in my bones now. In my lungs. In the space behind my eyes.

I hated everything. My stupid heart for believing him. My stupid brain for trusting him. My stupid body for missing him even now.

I wanted to tell Chiara the truth. That her perfect fiancé was a liar, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her.

I finally understood. Chiara was the woman who had been calling me. Screaming at me and called me a home-wrecker.

And she was right about me. I was the other woman. The stupid, blind other woman. A fool who didn’t even realize she was being used the entire time.

“I hate this,” I whispered to the empty alley, before forcing myself to stand. My legs felt like they belonged to someone else. “I hate everything about my life right now.”

Just when I was still thinking this, my phone buzzed. I wiped my tears away before taking my phone out of my bag.

I ignored my calls after knowing it was Cassian. No, I should call him Leo.

I watched it ring. Ring. Ring.

Then I hung up.

He called again. I hung up again.

Again and again and again.

Each time he called, the anger grew bigger inside me. Hot and sharp and ready to explode.

I shoved the phone into my bag and headed home.

The taxi ride home was a blur. The driver kept looking at me in the mirror, probably wondering why I looked like death.

“You okay, miss?”

I nodded but didn’t trust my voice.

After a while, he spoke again. “You’re here, miss.”

“Thank you.” I got out of the car and headed to my apartment. I was fumbling with my keys when the phone rang again.

This time it wasn’t him.

I almost threw the phone down the stairs. Instead, I answered.

“Hello.”

“Hello, my sweet Azalea.” The fake mother’s voice made my skin crawl.

If it had been before, I would have felt very happy just hearing her voice, but now all I could feel was hate, disgust, and betrayal. “How have you been?”

“What do you need from me?” I hissed.

“Is something wrong?” She asked over the phone. “You sound upset.”

“Get to the point,” I said, clenching my teeth together. “Or hang up.”

“Did something happen?” she asked. I could feel she was having the urge to control her temper.

Given what I heard in her conversation with that stranger, I could tell she was a temperamental woman. All this time, she had been keeping her real behaviour from me. What a joke!

“Who made you angry, child?”

Child. She called me child like she actually cared. Like she was actually family.

“Since you have nothing important to say, get lost.”

Before she could speak, I cut off the phone. I breathed a sigh of relief after entering the house.

I looked around my apartment. Every corner screamed his name. The kitchen where he’d made me breakfast. The couch where he’d held me while we watched movies. The bed where he’d whispered that he loved me.

All lies built on lies built on more lies.

It hurts. It hurts so much. No matter how I tried to ignore it, I could still feel it. I had loved Cassian beyond words, beyond anything, but he reciprocated that love with betrayal.

I took my seat on my chair. I didn’t know when I began to cry. Tears were spilling from my eyes uncontrollably.

Then, my phone rang again.

“What the heck are you calling me for!” I screamed into it.

“Child,” she called gently. “Is something wrong? I am worried about you. You can speak to me, I will listen.”

I laughed. It sounded crazy even to me. “Worried? You’re worried about me?”

The old, naive me might have believed her. I would have thought she genuinely cared about me.

“Yes. My son has been calling you. He’s worried too. What’s wrong?”

Son. My son. Like any of it was real.

“Yes,” I muttered, trying to control the urge to go back to her house and snap her head off her neck. “Everything is damn wrong.”

“Can you share it with me?”

“Shut up.” The words exploded out of me. “You and your fake son and your fake family and your fake everything.”

“Watch your language. I’m your future mother-in-law—”

“You’re NOTHING to me!” I was screaming now, my throat burning. “You’re not his mother! You’re not my family! You’re just some greedy woman he paid to trick me!”

Silence.

“I know about Leo Caelian,” I continued. “I know about the money. I know you’re fake. I know everything.”

I could hear her gasp over. “You... you found out.”

“Yeah, I found out. Must have been fun, right? Playing house? Making me believe I had a family?”

“I’m sorry. I was forced into it. I didn’t want to. Please believe me.”

I could have believed it if only I hadn’t overheard them. If only I hadn’t heard them talking and her asking for more money.

“LIAR!” I screamed so loud my neighbors probably heard. “I heard you! I heard you asking for more money! I heard you threatening to tell me the truth if he didn’t pay you more!”

“Azalea, please—”

“I heard everything. You pretending to be sick. All for money. You’re just a greedy liar.”

This time she hung up on me.

I threw the phone again. It hit the wall and the screen cracked. Good. Let everything break. Let it all hurt like I do.

I broke down as I began crying. I could never be able to heal from this heartbreak.

I gave love a chance, and I was betrayed like this. I curled up on the floor and cried until I couldn’t breathe.

BANG BANG BANG.

“Open up!” Cassian, he’s here.

My whole body went cold.

BANG BANG BANG.

“Darling, please. Open the door.”

Darling. That word used to make me melt. Now it made me sick.

“Azalea.” He kept knocking and knocking on my door, disturbing the neighbours. “I know you’re in there!”

“Go away,” I whispered.

“Hey!” My neighbor’s voice. “Some of us are trying to sleep!”

“I’m calling the cops!” someone else yelled.

He didn’t stop.

BANG BANG BANG.

“Azalea, please. Let me explain.”

Explain? What could he possibly explain?

I dragged myself to the door.

“Go away,” I said through the door. “It’s over.”

“I’m not leaving until you open this door.”

“Go back to your fiancée.”

“You don’t understand—”

“I understand everything!” I screamed. “I understand that you’re a liar! I understand that you’re engaged to someone else! I understand that you paid people to pretend to be your family!”

“Let me in. I’ll explain everything.”

“No.”

“I’ll stay here all night. I’ll keep knocking until you let me in.”

I could hear my neighbors getting angrier. Someone was going to call the police. There would be drama. Everyone would know my business.

I couldn’t handle it. I couldn’t handle any more shame.

I unlocked the door with shaking hands.

“What do you—”

Everything happened so fast. Something white covered my mouth and nose. A cloth. It smelled sweet and chemical.

I tried to fight. Tried to scream. But the world went fuzzy around the edges.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered as the world went dark. “I’m so sorry, but I can’t let you ruin everything.”