Chapter 20
Colette’s steps faltered as she suddenly stopped walking, forcing Matt to halt as well. He was still holding her hand, his grip tight as if he feared she might slip away if he let go. She glanced down at his fingers wrapped around her arm, and with a sharp tug, she yanked herself free, the motion filled with a mixture of pain and fury.
“I no longer care if you go to freaking Queensland or not,” she spat, her voice cracking under the weight of her emotions. “I am done! I am DONE with this!” Her voice rose, trembling with the intensity of her feelings. “Over and over again, you do this to me, and I keep letting you!” Tears welled up in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “I’m starting to hate myself, Matt! No! Just go! Go to Queensland, go to Brisbane, go to hell for all I care. Just don’t involve me in this!”
She turned away from him, her pace quickening as she tried to put as much distance between them as possible. But her heart was pounding, not just from the exertion, but from the sheer emotional exhaustion that threatened to swallow her whole.
But Matt wasn’t ready to let her go. He caught up with her again, his desperation evident in the way he reached out, trying to grab hold of something, anything, to stop her from leaving. “Itty, please. I already promised Danny I’d be there for his birthday, and I can’t show up there alone.”
Colette shook her head, her resolve hardening. She wasn’t going to fall for the emotional manipulation this time. She couldn’t allow herself to be dragged back into the same cycle of pain and betrayal. All she wanted was for him to shut up, to leave her alone. But then, a dark thought crossed her mind—a way to turn the tables, to make him feel the same torment she was enduring.
“Tell me then,” she demanded, her voice icy, “why was Iris in your car?” She was fully prepared for Matt to either back off or to come out swinging in Iris’s defense.
But what she wasn’t prepared for was the truth.
“Because I took her to dinner last night,” Matt admitted, his voice steady, but laced with regret.
Colette’s heart shattered into a million pieces, the pain so intense that it left her breathless. Just when she thought she was beyond being hurt by him, he found a way to cut her even deeper. All these months he had pretended that there was nothing between them but business, and now he had the audacity to admit that he had taken her to dinner.
She picked up her pace, her legs moving faster as if she could outrun the heartbreak that was suffocating her.
“Wait, Colette, please!” Matt’s voice was desperate, echoing in the empty street as he chased after her. “I thought it was a necessary step before I asked her if she would like to take another position in my company overseas.”
Colette froze, her breath catching in her throat as Matt's words sank in. He had gone to send Iris away, but if he had really gotten rid of Iris then he would have lead the conversation with that!
“When is she leaving then?” she demanded, her voice trembling with the effort to keep her emotions in check.
Matt hesitated, his eyes flickering with a shadow of regret before he answered. “She isn’t.”
Colette’s heart plummeted. She opened her mouth to protest, but Matt continued, speaking over her desperate attempts to make sense of what he was saying. “Look, she couldn’t leave the country. Her mother is sick, apparently. But when I asked her, she was ready to resign and leave the company for my sake. She said she would get a job elsewhere, ready to write a resignation letter tomorrow.If it helped me save my marriage.”
“And it made me realize,” Matt continued, his tone somber, “that I was being so selfish and unfair to her. I can’t fire someone because—because my wife doesn’t like her!”
He finished speaking, but his words echoed in the silence between them. Colette felt like the ground had been ripped out from under her. How could he not see it? How could he not understand how deeply Iris had played him?
God, how stupid can a man really be? she thought bitterly. Matt, the smartest man she knew, couldn’t see the manipulation staring him right in the face. He had gone there to send her away, but instead, Iris had twisted everything, making him feel guilty, making him believe that he was the one in the wrong—just like his "stupid" wife. Amazing!
Colette’s voice trembled as she spoke, her emotions teetering on the edge of despair and rage. “Will you tell me something, Matt?” she asked, trying to keep her voice steady. “How’s her cologne still smelling up the car if she was there last night?”
Matt met her gaze, his expression blank for a moment before he responded. “She accidentally dropped the bottle on the car floor, smelling up the whole car. I tried to wash it off this morning, knowing how you would feel about it. But I guess it didn’t work.” He sighed, a tired, resigned sound that only added fuel to the fire burning inside her.
Colette’s heart pounded in her chest as she processed his words. Iris, dropping a $1000 bottle of perfume by accident? It made no sense. But as the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together, a cold realization settled over her. This wasn’t an accident—it was a calculated move.
She narrowed her eyes, her mind racing as she connected the dots. “Tell me, Matt,” she began slowly, her voice dripping with suspicion, “when did she drop the bottle? Was it by any chance right after you told her that you’re taking me to Queensland with you?”
Matt’s face changed in an instant. The slight widening of his eyes, the tightening of his jaw—she didn’t need him to answer. She already knew the truth. Iris had played him like a well-tuned instrument, and he hadn’t even realized it. The woman had found out that Colette was going with Matt, and she had made sure to leave her mark, her scent, a symbol of her presence, as if to remind Colette that she was there first and that she would always be there.
A bitter laugh bubbled up from Colette’s throat, though it held no humor. It was the laugh of someone who had seen too much, who had been hurt too deeply, and who had finally reached the breaking point. “Of course,” she whispered, more to herself than to him. “Of course, she did.”
Matt’s silence was deafening. He didn’t try to deny it, didn’t even attempt to make excuses. And that silence spoke volumes—he knew she was right, but he was powerless against it. He had let Iris worm her way into their lives, and now she was trying to sabotage what little they had left.
Colette’s chest tightened, a painful knot of anger, hurt, and helplessness forming within her. Iris had set the stage for yet another fight, another rift between them.
To what end? To cause another fight so that Colette refused to go with him to Queensland?