Chapter 37 The Truth is Finally Out
Noah sat up straighter, his expression guarded. “Okay.”
Nora took a deep breath and pulled the photographs from the envelope. Her hands shook as she laid them on the coffee table between them, one by one. Each image felt like a weapon, like proof of his betrayal, like justification for everything she had done.
“What is this?” she asked, her voice cracking with emotion. “Who is she, Noah?”
Noah leaned forward and looked at the photos. His face went through a series of expressions: confusion, shock, and then something that looked like recognition. He picked up one of the photos, examining it more closely, his brow furrowed.
“Where did you get these?” he asked quietly.
“That’s not important right now,” Nora snapped. “What’s important is that you answer my question. Who is she? When did this happen? How long have you been lying to me?”
Noah set the photo down and looked at her, his eyes searching her face. “Who gave you these pictures, Nora?”
“I asked you first!”
“And I’m asking you now,” Noah said, his voice rising slightly. “Where did these come from? Who gave them to you?”
Nora crossed her arms defensively. “Does it matter?”
“Yes, it matters!” Noah stood up, running his hands through his hair in frustration. “It matters a lot. So tell me. Who gave you these pictures?”
Nora hesitated, suddenly feeling defensive. She didn’t want to tell him it was Ben, didn’t want to admit that she had been frequently meeting with her ex-husband, that she had trusted him over Noah. But Noah’s eyes were boring into her, demanding an answer.
“Someone who cares about me,” she said evasively. “Someone who thought I deserved to know the truth about who I’m living with.”
“Nora, just tell me. Who was it?”
She looked away, unable to meet his eyes. “Ben,” she finally admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.
The name hung in the air between them like a bomb about to explode. Noah’s face went through a rapid transformation: disbelief, anger, hurt, and then a kind of bitter understanding.
“Ben,” he repeated slowly, his voice dangerously quiet. “Ben gave you these pictures.”
“Yes,” Nora said, lifting her chin defensively. “And before you try to deflect or make this about him, these pictures are real, Noah. That’s you in those photos. You can’t deny that.”
“So let me get this straight,” Noah said, his voice getting louder now, angrier. “You’ve been meeting with Ben. Your ex-husband. The man you swore you weren’t seeing. The man you got so angry at me for even mentioning. And now he’s giving you pictures and you just believe him? Just like that?”
“Don’t try to turn this around on me!” Nora shot back, standing up to face him. “You’re the one in those pictures, Noah! You’re the one in bed with another woman!”
“And you’re the one who’s been lying to me for weeks!” Noah shouted. “You’ve been sneaking around with Ben, meeting him behind my back, and now you’re standing here acting like I’m the bad guy?”
“You are the bad guy! Look at the evidence!”
“Evidence?” Noah laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Evidence provided by your ex-husband who’s been trying to get you back? And you don’t see a problem with that?”
“Stop trying to deflect!” Nora’s voice was shaking with rage now. “Just admit it! Admit what you did!”
“What I did?” Noah’s eyes flashed with anger. “You want to know what I did, Nora? You really want to know?”
“Yes!”
“I saw you kiss him,” Noah said, his voice suddenly quiet but cutting. “At the park. Last week. I saw you kiss Ben.”
Nora’s face went pale. The words hit her like a physical blow, stealing the air from her lungs. “You… what?”
“I followed you,” Noah continued, his voice breaking slightly. “I knew something was wrong, knew you were hiding something. So I followed you to that park, and I watched you sit with him on that bench. I watched you lean into him, smile at him the way you used to smile at me. And then I watched you kiss him.”
“Noah, I—”
“And now I know,” Noah continued, his voice thick with emotion, “I know that I don’t mean anything to you. I know that no matter what I do, no matter how much I love you, I’ll never be enough. Because you’re still in love with him. You’ve always been in love with him.”
“That’s not true,” Nora said, tears streaming down her face now. “That kiss, it didn’t mean anything. I pulled away. I—”
“You pulled away?” Noah’s laugh was bitter. “That’s supposed to make it better? You still kissed him, Nora. You’ve been lying to me, meeting with him, and now you’re standing here with pictures he gave you, accusing me of cheating.”
“Because you did cheat!” Nora shouted, pointing at the photos. “The evidence is right there!”
“I did nothing with anyone!” Noah shouted back. “Nothing! That night, the night those photos were supposedly taken, I went out with friends for drinks. I woke up in a bed I didn’t recognize because I got too drunk and one of them let me crash at their place. I don’t even know who that woman in the pictures is!”
“That’s convenient,” Nora said sarcastically.
“It’s the truth!” Noah’s voice cracked. “But you know what? I don’t even care if you believe me anymore. Because this isn’t really about those pictures, is it? This is about you feeling guilty for what you’ve been doing with Ben, and you’re looking for a way to justify it. You’re trying to make me the villain so you can feel better about yourself.”
“That’s not what I’m doing!”
“Isn’t it?” Noah grabbed his jacket from the back of the couch. “You’ve been pulling away from me for weeks. You’ve been meeting with your ex-husband behind my back. You kissed him. And now, conveniently, Ben shows up with pictures that make me look like the cheater. And you just believed him without question, without giving me a chance to explain, because it’s easier than admitting what you’ve really been doing.”
“Don’t you dare walk away from me right now!” Nora shouted as Noah headed toward the door.
“Why not?” Noah turned back to face her, his eyes red with unshed tears. “You’ve already walked away from us, Nora. You’ve been gone for weeks. I’ve just been too stupid to see it.”
“Noah, please—”
“I love you,” Noah said, his voice breaking completely now. “I have loved you through everything. I risked my life to save you. I gave up everything to be with you. And it’s still not enough. I’m still not enough.”
“That’s not fair,” Nora sobbed.
“No, what’s not fair is you standing here accusing me of something I didn’t do while you’ve been cheating on me with your ex-husband!” Noah’s voice rose to a shout. “What’s not fair is me giving you my whole heart and you throwing it back in my face! What’s not fair is you believing him over me!”
“I saw the pictures!”
“Pictures that Ben gave you! Don’t you see what he’s doing? He’s manipulating you, trying to break us up so he can have you back. And it’s working!”
“You’re just making excuses!”
“And you’re just trying to ease your guilt!” Noah shouted. “You want me to be the bad guy so badly because then you don’t have to feel bad about kissing him, about wanting to go back to him, about choosing him over me!”
The words hung in the air between them, heavy and final. Nora opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. What could she say? Part of her knew he was right. Part of her had been looking for a reason, any reason, to justify the pull she felt toward Ben, toward her old life, toward her children.
“I did nothing wrong that night,” Noah said quietly, his anger seeming to drain away, leaving only exhaustion and hurt. “I didn’t sleep with anyone. I didn’t cheat on you. But if you don’t believe me, that’s on you. I can’t make you trust me. I can’t make you love me the way I love you.”
He pulled open the door, and Nora felt panic rising in her chest. “Where are you going?”
“I don’t know,” Noah said without turning around. “Anywhere but here.”
“Noah, wait, please. We need to talk about this!”
“No,” Noah said, finally looking back at her one last time. “We really don’t. You’ve already made your choice, Nora. You just don’t want to admit it yet.”
And then he was gone, the door closing behind him with a finality that made Nora’s knees buckle. She sank onto the couch, staring at the photographs scattered across the coffee table, Noah’s words echoing in her head.
You’re just trying to ease your guilt. You’re trying to make me the villain so you can feel better about yourself.
Was he right? Had she been so quick to believe Ben because it gave her permission to pursue what she really wanted? Had she been looking for an excuse to end things with Noah, to go back to the familiar comfort of her old life?
“Oh God,” Nora whispered, the realization hitting her like a truck. “What have I done?”
She had destroyed the best thing in her life. And she had done it for a man who had given her nothing but manipulation and doubt. She felt so bad, so guilty, so completely and utterly lost.
What had she done?