Chapter 76 The rage
RORY POV
Hurt was an understatement of what I felt after last night.
I love you Ana.
The words kept replaying no matter how hard I tried to push them out. Over and over. Each time squeezing something in my chest that refused to stop hurting. He said it while he was inside me.
I couldn’t live the rest of my life being seen as someone else. I couldn’t do it. I was starting to realize that.
I was also starting to regret throwing away Viktor's card. I hadn't told Alexander about meeting his dead wife's ex-fiancé. I couldn't. If Alexander found out, he'd probably hunt Viktor down and kill him, and the last thing I wanted was more blood on my hands. I'd never forgive myself for being the cause of another death.
I stood in front of my closet, pulling out a yellow sundress. It hit just above my knees, simple and bright, a contrast to the dark mood I was in. I was pulling my hair into a tight bun when a knock came at the door.
"Come in," I called out.
Rosemary entered with her apron on. “Good morning ma’am. Someone is downstairs looking for you.”
My brows furrowed. No one ever came to see me. "Who?"
"I'm not sure, but your husband invited her."
Her.
"I'll be right there," I told her.
I slipped on my sandals and headed downstairs. The moment I reached the landing and saw who was sitting in our living room, my heart stopped. My face fell instantly.
"Rory!"
Katherine's voice rang through the house, fake and high-pitched.
I couldn't believe it. Alexander had actually invited my ex-best friend here. After everything she did.
"What are you doing here?" I seethed, my voice trembling with rage as I reached the living room.
"Your husband invited me. He said you could use a friend right now. He wanted me to keep you company."
I let out a bitter, jagged laugh. He could have picked anyone else. Anyone. But he chose the woman who backstabbed me, slept with my boyfriend behind my back, and then married him.
He was doing this on purpose. He wanted to break me so l'd give in and talk. He thought he could push me until I snapped. But I wasn't that weak, pathetic girl anymore. I wasn't the Rory who let people walk all over her. Marrying a monster like Alexander had made me stronger than he realized.
I sat across from her, watching her carefully, thinking about how everything between us had gone so wrong. With everything that had happened in my life lately, I hadn’t had time to really think about Katherine or what she did to me.
“I loved you…” I said out loud. Her fake smile faltered for a second before she forced it back.
“Come on, Rory. We’re still cool,” she said lightly, like betraying me for years didn’t count for shit.
“We were friends for over three years. I told you everything that was happening with Steve. You listened, you encouraged me, you told me everything was going to be fine. Remember when I said it felt like there was another woman? You told me I was just paranoid and shouldn’t think too much about it. The whole time… you were the other woman. Or should I say I was the other woman?”
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Don’t do this, Rory. It’s in the past. Besides, we’re divorced now. The bastard wouldn’t stop talking about you, so I had to let him go. We can start afresh.”
I scoffed. The audacity of this woman.
She genuinely could not see it. Could not see the damage. Could not understand why sitting in my living room smiling like nothing happened was not something I was going to accept.
"Just because my husband invited you here doesn't mean it's all sunshine and rainbows. I want nothing to do with you. Don't ever come back here."
I stood up, my pulse racing. "This is absurd.
Why would you think l'd ever be your friend again?"
Katherine stood up too, her eyes narrowing.
"Because you're a people pleaser, Rory. You'll forgive anything. You always do."
She said it so matter-of-factly, like it was a known fact about me.
Maybe it was true once, but that girl died the day I moved into this mansion.
"I can never forgive you, Katherine."
"Really? Is it because you're married to a billionaire now? You think this is a fairytale?
You think he's not going to kick you out the second he gets tired of you, just like Steve did?"
Her words hit me like a physical blow, piercing straight through my ribs.
"You'll need me then, Rory. Don't be stupid. We should stick together."
I wasn't a fool. I knew exactly what she wanted.
She wanted a shot at Alexander, just like she took her shot at Steve. Being my "friend" was just her foot in the door.
"Alexander is not Steve," I said, my voice cold as ice. The things I’ve mastered from my dear husband. "And he doesn't want you. Now get out of my house."
She looked taken aback by how firmly I spoke. It was still a mystery to her how the weak, pathetic Rory had grown wings.
She picked up her bag angrily. “You’ll regret this day. And trust me, I won’t be there for you when you need me.”
"The hell I will," I muttered. "Get out."
She stormed out, and I stood there, my hands shaking uncontrollably. Alexander was a jerk for doing this. He was dragging up every painful memory l'd tried to bury just to win a game. I felt nothing but pure, hot rage.
Every buried thing rushing back at once, the wedding, the altar, three years of friendship that had been a lie from the inside out. Alexander had dug all of it back up deliberately and thrown it at me.
But I refused to break. Not for Katherine, and definitely not for him.
I thought that was the worst Alexander could do. I was wrong. When night came, he upped the ante.