Judging by the timestamps, Dione realized that many times when Cedric claimed to be meeting clients, he was, in fact, with Ophelia.
As she read through the explicit chat logs, it felt as though a sledgehammer was pounding relentlessly against her chest. Each revelation stole the air from her lungs, leaving her gasping in agony.
Hot tears streamed unchecked down her cheeks, splashing onto the glowing screen of her phone, blurring the damning words she could never unsee.
She didn’t bother reaching out to Cedric again. With her heart shattered beyond repair, she packed her things and booked a flight to her hometown, choosing solitude over confrontation.
When the plane landed, her phone lit up with a series of missed calls and apologetic texts from Cedric.
[I’m sorry, wife. Laurent needed me for something urgent, and I missed the flight.]
[I’ve booked the next one; I’ll be there soon!]
[Wife, rest at the hotel when you arrive. I’ll join you later to visit Mom and Dad.]
Dione stared at his messages with cold detachment. Without replying, she flagged down a taxi and directed the driver toward the cemetery in a nearby city.
When she was eighteen, her world shattered in an instant. Her parents had died in a devastating car accident, and the driver responsible vanished without a trace.
Desperation had driven her to knock on every relative’s door, borrowing money just to give her parents a proper burial. The weight of grief and debt hung over her like a dark cloud.
It was during that turbulent year that she met Cedric, a man who seemed, at the time, to be her beacon of hope.
To repay the debts she owed her relatives, Dione worked tirelessly, juggling two jobs every single day. One fateful night, after dragging herself through a grueling shift, she found herself cornered in a dim alley by a group of drunken thugs.
It was Cedric who came to her rescue. He fought valiantly, his fists doing the talking, until the chaos ended with everyone hauled to the police station.
When the police asked Dione to call her parents, silence fell over her. Unable to speak, she lowered her gaze as they checked her ID. The room grew eerily quiet when they discovered the truth about her parents.