Chapter 4. Action and reaction
Lilly Bradley
London, England.
Several days had passed since I found out that Oliver, my fiancé and future husband, was going to a brothel. He was having sex with other women. And that was serious. I had gotten tested to rule out any sexually transmitted diseases, and once I confirmed I was healthy, I decided to see it with my own eyes.
"You're not being toxic, Lilly," my sister repeated as she saw my gaze fixed on that place, my hands gripping the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white. I wanted to see it with my own eyes.
"There were always disagreements in my relationship," I began to say. "...we weren't perfect, we were far from it, but there was love, there was a connection. He was the first man I gave myself to," I looked at my sister. "When he gave me the engagement ring, that night I gave myself to him because I wanted to, I desired it...he was the one for me, the future father of my children, we were a team..." I turned my gaze back to that place, took a deep breath and held it for a few moments, then let it out. I felt my heart racing, that coldness in my hands, my stomach tying itself in knots from the tension, my teeth chattering. Part of me didn't want to believe he was cheating on me, but the other part was ready to tell him to go to hell.
"There's his car," my sister announced, my heart pounded so hard I felt it shake me in my seat. Leah took my hand and squeezed it, I turned my face and she looked at me like she never had before. "You're not alone in this."
"Thank you," I said in a thread of a voice. We waited a few minutes before getting out of the car. As we did, my legs trembled, my heart tried not to stop with every step I took. When we reached the door, Leah stopped me.
"Let me handle this," I nodded, thinking it was for the best. She knocked on the door and a beautiful tall blonde woman smiled at us, welcoming us.
"Welcome, looking for some fun?" Her accent seemed Russian, but she was certainly beautiful. She motioned for us to come in.
"Yes, we're interested in a service," Leah began. "They say 'Micy' is good." The Russian woman nodded with a raised eyebrow.
"Have you been here before? I don't remember seeing you."
"My boss recommended her to me."
The tall woman crossed her arms and squinted her eyes.
"What's his name?" she asked my sister.
"Aiden," Leah said without hesitation. "Does he usually come on Fridays? Always with the crooked tie?"
The woman remembered.
"Aiden!" she smiled, seeing it was real. "The man with the bushy beard and that tie that, no matter how much you insist on straightening it, won't stay put, along with his passionate story about why he wears it that way..."
"That's him. He's my boss," Leah said with a smile.
"Alright, I'll look for Micy and confirm the room for you. Wait in this lounge." The woman then disappeared down a long hallway near the stairs of the first floor.
"I think it's better if..." Leah moved away to approach the counter, almost giving me a heart attack when she started typing. "Leah, Leah, please, I don't want to leave this place in handcuffs."
"I got it," she came out from behind the counter and motioned for me to follow her to the second floor.
"No, no, no, let's just go. We're going to get in trouble..." The words barely came out of my mouth and she could hear them. Leah stopped halfway and looked at me.
"He's up there, with a girl named 'StarGirl' on the second floor, room six. If you don't want to..." And it was as if my body took control. My brain was determined to investigate and confirm, but my heart...was being dragged with its nails on the floor. Leah followed me, and we looked for the room. She stopped at a door and signaled that it was the one.
Standing next to her, I looked at her, put my hand on the doorknob, and the voice of the Russian woman made us jump in place.
"You are not allowed to enter without authorization! Stop!" she shouted as she advanced, but it was now or never. So I turned the doorknob, and the door opened. The red light flooded the entire place, the moans of a woman echoed scandalously. I walked to approach behind the dividing wall, and then I saw him. The woman was on all fours, and he was behind her with his hands on her hips, both naked. I reached out to stop the music playing next to me, and they both turned to see what was happening. Then he realized it was me.
"Lilly?" His eyes widened in terror, and I began to clap.
"Bravo," I said with a smile while listening to Leah in the distance, threatening to call the police to shut the place down.
"It's not what it looks like," he began to say as he got off the bed and fumbled for his clothes to get dressed. I took the engagement ring and threw it at him.
"We're done." I walked out of that place, the Russian woman saying something I didn't pay attention to, Leah continuing her threat as I quickly walked down the stairs. I felt my heart shattering, the lump in my throat preventing me from crying in front of him. Leah caught up with me, and we finally left that place. We reached the car, and Leah stopped me with her hands on my shoulders.
"Look at me." I didn't really want to; I felt bad, embarrassed that she had witnessed what she might have suspected for who knows how long. "Lilly Elizabeth Bradley, look at me." My eyes locked on hers. "Calm down, get in on the other side, I'll drive, okay?" Words didn't come out at that moment; she just took my keys, and I walked around the car. Then I stopped before getting in; Oliver was jogging toward me, crossing the street and starting to say something.
"I can't believe you followed me. What's wrong with you, Lilly? Since when have you been playing detective?" Oliver spat, trying to turn everything around suddenly. Leah got out of the car and approached me.
"Don't you dare try to twist things, Oliver! You're a vile liar! The truth is out, you pig." He looked at my sister with a hateful expression.
"Don't you dare speak, you damned spinster slut," he finished the last word, and my fist went straight to his face. He fell on his butt, and I let out a cry of pain, swearing I had broken my hand. I looked at him closely as he groaned in pain, just like me.
"If you ever insult my sister again, I'll make sure that expensive face of yours becomes impossible to reconstruct." His eyes widened more than ever, seeing me like this for the first time. "I don't want you near my family under any circumstances because I swear..." I made a move as if to hit him again, and he flinched. "...I'll go all out to destroy you. I'll expose everything I know about you, ruin your name, and along with it, your family's reputation. Do you think your father will make you a partner after this? I doubt it." I looked at Leah and signaled for us to leave. Oliver barely got up and, without saying anything else, went to his car. I watched until he disappeared from my sight.
Silence was my ally at that moment. The streetlights passed by one after another, my fingers gripping the seatbelt fabric tightly. I closed my eyes, and the tears started falling one after another until I was a sea of tears in my seat. I hugged myself, my heart in pieces. "What did I do wrong?" "Why did he do this to me?" "When did he decide to do what he did?" These were the main questions tormenting my mind. The car stopped moving, and I wiped my cheeks as best as I could while sobbing. We were parked on a street I didn't recognize.
"He definitely wasn't the one, Lilly," Leah said suddenly beside me. "Someone who loves you doesn't do those kinds of things. Right now, you have to decide what you'll do. Cry over him, get up, and move on. Time will be a good friend to help you get over this bitter moment in love. Maybe the right man is out there, and when you least expect it, he'll cross your path and show you that true love doesn't hurt and that self-love is essential. Or, understand that everyone is different and makes mistakes, that we're human, that we deserve a second chance, that the wedding goes on, and you both heal together along the way."
"Tell me you're joking with the second part. You've seen what he's done! A cheater will always be a cheater, no matter how many chances you give them! People don't change, and if they do, it's for their own convenience. I'm not going to live in a marriage imagining at night if he's been with someone else or if he's slept with thousands more behind my back. It's okay that I fell in love, that I gave myself body and soul, but I'm not stupid." Speaking out loud about how I felt calmed me down for a moment, Leah smiled, seeing that I understood what she was trying to tell me.
"So, have you decided what to do?" I nodded slowly.
"For every action... a reaction."