Chapter 39
Colette stood motionless, her eyes locked on the door that Iris Lawson had just been dragged through. She could still hear the woman’s desperate cries echoing in her mind, her final declaration ringing in her ears. *Pregnant. Pregnant with Matt’s baby.* The words stabbed into her, each syllable like a blade that twisted deeper into her heart.
Her body felt heavy, as though all the strength had drained out of her, leaving nothing but a fragile shell behind. The air in the room was thick with the weight of a hundred curious eyes, each guest silently watching her, judging her, pitying her. Her cheeks burned with humiliation, her legs trembling beneath her.
She barely noticed when Matt stepped away from her side, muttering something hurriedly to Evie and Archie before storming out the door after Iris. Her heart, already shredded, cracked into a million smaller pieces.
*He’s going after her.* The realization struck her like a physical blow, her breath catching in her throat as the full weight of the moment settled in.
Archie was at her side before she could even process the thought, his arms wrapping gently around her as he guided her toward a chair. “Itty, come on, sit down. Don’t do this, it’s not good for the baby,” he murmured, his voice soft and soothing, though it barely registered in her mind.
The baby. Of course. How could she even think about that right now? How could she possibly consider the tiny life growing inside her when her own life was crumbling around her?
She sank into the chair, her hands trembling as she covered her face, the room spinning around her. “That woman was lying,” Archie continued, patting her back gently. “Of course she was. She was just trying to make a scene. Don’t listen to her, Itty.”
But Colette couldn’t stop the flood of thoughts that surged through her mind. Iris’s face. Her tears. The raw, desperate emotion in her voice. Could it really be a lie? Was it really so far-fetched to believe that Matt had been unfaithful? After everything she had been through, after all the secrets and the half-truths, was it really so unbelievable that he had had an affair?
She blinked through her tears, her vision blurred as she watched Evie and Damon begin ushering the remaining guests out of the apartment, their faces tight with concern. The party was over. The celebration, the joy, the laughter—gone, replaced by an eerie silence that hung in the air like a dark cloud.
The caterers left next, wheeling away their trays of untouched food, while Evie locked the doors behind them. The decorations, the balloons, and streamers that had once filled the room with a sense of celebration now looked garish and out of place, as though mocking the shattered remnants of Colette’s happiness.
But Matt didn’t return.
Fifteen minutes passed, each one stretching longer than the last, and still, there was no sign of him. Colette’s heart sank lower with every tick of the clock, the ache in her chest growing unbearable.
Then, just as she thought she couldn’t take it any longer, the door creaked open again. But it wasn’t Matt who walked through. Instead, it was Zoe—her closest friend, her ride-or-die, her rock since high school—breezing into the room with a grin as wide as the Brooklyn Bridge plastered across her face.
“Am I late?” Zoe asked with a laugh, peeking through the door as though she had just walked into the best party of the year.
For a moment, Colette could only blink at her, stunned by the sheer audacity of her timing. Any other time, Zoe’s antics would have seemed endearing, maybe even a little funny. But now? Now, it felt like a cruel joke.
Colette’s legs shook as she stood, her body moving on autopilot as she walked toward Zoe. She didn’t know what she was doing, didn’t know where she was going. She just knew she couldn’t stay there—couldn’t stay in the place where her life had just been ripped apart.
Five minutes later, despite Archie and Evie’s protests, Colette found herself outside, heading toward the street with Zoe by her side.
“You should stay until Matt comes back. You both need to talk. I’m sure it’s all a misunderstanding,” Evie had said, her voice full of concern. But Colette didn’t care. She couldn’t stay there. Not after everything that had happened.
Zoe carried a large duffel bag in her hand, swinging it lightly as though they were on a casual stroll instead of walking away from the wreckage of Colette’s life. Despite the disaster that had just unfolded, Zoe seemed… happy. Too happy.
Colette frowned as they reached the sidewalk. “Where’s your car?” she asked, glancing at Zoe suspiciously.
“I took a taxi,” Zoe replied nonchalantly, her lips curling into a smile. “Didn’t bring the car.”
Colette’s brows furrowed, but she said nothing. She was too tired, too emotionally drained to question it. Nodding, she flagged down another taxi and gave Zoe’s apartment address to the driver.
As the car rumbled down the streets, the city lights flashing by outside the window, Colette stared blankly ahead. She wasn’t seeing anything, her mind numb and her heart heavy with the weight of everything that had just happened.
And yet, through the thick fog of her despair, she became aware of something odd. Zoe was sitting beside her, humming softly to herself, her lips curling into a quiet smile. It was a song Colette recognized—an old hit from their high school days.
A sick feeling churned in Colette’s stomach. What was Zoe so happy about?
“What are you so happy about?” she asked, her voice low and wary. She turned to look at Zoe, her suspicion growing with every passing second.
Zoe immediately stopped humming, her smile faltering. “Nothing,” she said quickly, a little too quickly.
Colette narrowed her eyes. She had known Zoe long enough to recognize when she was hiding something. “Zoe?” she pressed, her tone growing sharper.
But Zoe just shook her head, avoiding Colette’s gaze. “It’s nothing, Itty. Stop nagging me.”
Colette’s suspicion deepened. “Why didn’t you bring your car?” she asked again, her voice now edged with suspicion.
Zoe shrugged, still refusing to meet her eyes. “I just didn’t feel like it, okay? Let it go.”
But Colette couldn’t let it go. Something was off. She had known Zoe for too long, and her instincts told her that something was very wrong. And then, her eyes fell on the duffel bag Zoe had been carrying.
“What’s in the bag?” Colette asked, her voice quiet but sharp with curiosity.
Zoe’s grip on the bag tightened. “Nothing important,” she said, a little too quickly again.
Before Colette could stop herself, she reached for the bag, her fingers curling around the zipper. Zoe yanked it away, but Colette wasn’t fast enough to let it go. In the ensuing struggle, the zipper broke open, revealing the contents inside.
Colette’s breath caught in her throat as she stared at the items spilling out: a long, dark overcoat—clearly designed for a man—and a pair of spectacles with a thick, fake mustache attached.
“What the hell is this?!” Colette shrieked, her voice filled with shock and panic as she gaped at the bizarre disguise in Zoe’s bag.
Zoe’s face turned red, her eyes widening in a mix of embarrassment and defiance. “It’s… it’s nothing! Don’t shout at me!” she snapped.
“Nothing?! Zoe, what were you planning to do with this?!”
Zoe crossed her arms defensively. “It was your idea, remember? You said there were cameras everywhere, so if I had to plant drugs, I’d need a disguise. This is the disguise!”
Colette’s blood ran cold as she remembered the conversation they had weeks ago, a throwaway comment she had made when Zoe was ranting about her ex-boyfriend and how she wanted to plant drugs on his office desk to get him arrested. “Zoe, I told you NOT to do it!” she cried, her voice rising in pitch as panic gripped her.
Zoe rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. It’s not a big deal. I just thought—”
“Zoe! What the hell were you thinking? What if the police find out?! Where did you even get cocaine?!” Colette’s voice trembled as she realized the full gravity of what Zoe had done.
Zoe shrugged again, as though it was the most casual thing in the world. “I have connections,” she said nonchalantly.
Colette stared at her, dumbfounded. “Connections?! Zoe, do you realize what you’ve done? You could go to jail! Just because you wanted to punish your ex-boyfriend!”
Zoe’s lips curled into a smirk, her eyes glinting with a mischievous sparkle. “Who said I did it to my ex-boyfriend?”
Colette’s heart stopped. A slow, creeping sense of disbelief spread through her, tightening around her chest. “What… what do you mean?”
Zoe’s smirk widened. “I didn’t plant the drugs on my ex-boyfriend. I planted them on Iris.”