I shoved him away with all the strength I had. He sneered, his voice dripping with venom. “No? Even if I throw money at you? You went crawling to someone else for money before, didn’t you?”
Crack!
Without hesitation, I slapped him hard across the face.
The sting of my slap seemed to sober him instantly. He scrambled to speak, but I cut him off gently, “You’re drunk. Go rest.”
Without another glance, I walked upstairs, locked the bedroom door and tuned out the apologies and sweet-talking he spouted from the hallway.
I grabbed my phone to shut it off for the night, but a string of messages in the group chat caught my eye.
I was about to ignore them until one particular comment stopped me cold.
"Did you notice? All the luxury stuff on Jane is gone. I think she finally realized they were knock-offs, huh?"
I remembered a colleague at the fashion show once whispering about how my Go-go bag did not look quite right. Back then, I had defended Simon without hesitation.
Now, it all made sense. I had been nothing but a fool. A clown.
By the time I woke up the next day, Simon had already gone.
When I opened the door, I was greeted by Kelly’s smug face.
The second she saw me, her eyes filled with disdain. “Why are you still here? Didn’t you say you were leaving? You already know Simon loves me now. Why are you still clinging on like some pathetic parasite?”
I had not slept well the night before and so I did not have the energy to argue with her. Instead, I turned away and started making breakfast, while ignoring her completely.
She lifted her hand to show off a massive diamond ring. “This was custom-made in Roman by Simon just for me. It’s worth several million dollars. Have you ever seen something this nice? Oh, wait ... you probably don’t know, huh? All those luxury goods Simon gave you were fake. Every last one of them. Then again, fake goods are perfect for trash like you.”
“I’m officially the Payton Family’s daughter-in-law now. If you had even a shred of sense, you’d get down on your knees and beg for my forgiveness. Maybe if I’m feeling generous, I’ll let you off the hook.”
Her words grew nastier and nastier and finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I snapped, “Are you done? Then get the hell out!”