"So the Delgado prodigy from our business school really did have a thing for the Prescott beauty queen."

"If they'd gotten together back then, their kid would probably be in preschool by now."

Then someone else chimed in, voice dripping with spite.

"Exactly. If certain people hadn't thrown themselves at Carter so shamelessly, maybe those two wouldn't have spent all these years apart."

Their gazes drifted toward me, one by one, not quite direct but impossible to miss.

I clenched my fists, pressed my lips together, and said nothing.

The whispers continued.

Then one of the more outgoing classmates slid into the seat beside me, leaning in close.

"Serena Whitmore. Was it you?"

"Tell the truth. Did you swap the love letter on purpose so those two would miss their chance?"

My expression turned cold. I was about to say it wasn't me.

But the crowd erupted before I could speak.

"I'd bet money on it."

"Everyone used to say Carter and Mia were the golden couple. They were obviously into each other."

"The only one who didn't get the memo was Serena, pining away, staring at Carter every chance she got."

"We all saw it. The second evening study hall ended, she'd drag him out to the track field. Who knows what other stunts she pulled?"

"Swapping a love letter? That's nothing for someone like her. Obviously she did it. Do we even need to ask?"

None of them knew that Carter and I were together. Eight years as a couple. Five years as husband and wife.

They only remembered that I used to hang around Carter a lot.

They assumed I was the one chasing him. A lovesick nobody reaching for someone out of her league, desperate to land the golden boy.

But they didn't know the truth.

From the very beginning, Carter was the one who pursued me.

He was reserved by nature, never one for public displays. He'd never once posted about us on social media. Every step forward in our relationship had been his initiative, his doing. Yet somehow, he always came out looking like the innocent party.

He was the prodigy of the business school, turning heads wherever he went, impossible to ignore. And me? In everyone's eyes, I was never good enough for him.

But that was no reason for me to be mocked. To be humiliated.

I turned to face the classmate who'd spoken, my expression flat.

"If your tongue's that useless, you could always cut it out."