“Is Mr. Angelis there?” a hurried voice asked. The man introduced himself as Dereck.
“No, Matt isn’t home. He’s in Brisbane until tomorrow,” Colette replied, her tone flat and resigned. She was ready to end the call and retreat back to the comfort of her bed when Dereck’s response froze her in place.
He laughed. “Oh, is that what he told you?”
A cold drop of fear slithered down her spine. “What is that supposed to mean?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, a mixture of fear and anger lacing her words.
There was a pause on the other end of the line, and Colette could almost hear the gears turning in Dereck’s mind as he realized his slip. “What?” She stammered, before abruptly cutting the call.
Matheo would attend the gala with Iris, and they would be the perfect couple, the power duo that everyone admired. Meanwhile, Colette would be here, in this cold, empty house, a prisoner of her own despair. The realization was suffocating, the betrayal too deep to bear. Her heart ached with a pain so intense it felt physical, a crushing weight that left her gasping for breath.
She sat down on the edge of the bed, her body trembling with a mixture of rage and sorrow. Tears streamed down her face, but she made no move to wipe them away. What was the point? The man she had loved with all her heart, the man she had trusted implicitly, had chosen another over her. He had lied to her, betrayed her, and now he was flaunting that betrayal in the most public way possible.
But this was new! Now, he had started lying to her. So, that he could attend the gala with Iris without his "stupid, unreasonable" wife demanding to be taken to a public place with him? He wouldn’t want that burden on him now, would he?
No, Iris would look much better in his arms, cool and sophisticated, with her intellectual talks to charm his potential investors. She knew the ins and outs of his business and it wouldn’t be the first time he had taken her to such events. The thought made Colette’s stomach churn. But tonight, something snapped inside her. The dead flower of her heart, long withered from neglect and betrayal, turned to a crisp. She had been humiliated, shamed, hidden away in secret, and lied to. Matheo had been afraid she would embarrass him? Now she would show him what true embarrassment felt like.
Maybe her marriage was over. Maybe her husband had only ever wanted her for one thing: sex. If that was the case, then tonight, she would be the epitome of sex. She would get ready to seduce him in public, and the whole world would see the actual of their marriage before she left him forever.
If he wanted her as the whore, he will get the whore.