After His Betrayal, I Became the Woman He Couldn't Afford novel · Chapter 12 of 24
Chapter 12: Sierra at Midnight
Sierra was standing under the awning across the street, with no laptop bag.
It was the first time I had ever seen her without it.
Her blond hair was flat, her cream blazer was wrinkled, and her eyes were swollen.
I crossed the street and stopped three feet from her.
"Talk," I said.
"Sylvie, I'm so sorry."
"That isn't talking."
She flinched.
"I never meant it to go so far," she said. "Brooks said it was a test. A harmless loyalty test, to prove you wouldn't leave. He said you'd laugh about it later."
"He told you that."
"Yes."
"And you believed him."
"I wanted to."
"You edited it six times."
Her mouth trembled.
"The first version was gentle," she said. "He said it wasn't enough. He said you'd see through it. So I cut your face tighter, and I added the music, and I told myself it was only a joke."
"You told yourself."
"I've loved him since I was twelve years old." Her voice broke. "Do you understand that? You came along and he picked you, and I thought, fine. I'll be his friend. I'll be at the wedding. Then he asked me for help and I thought he was finally asking me for something."
"So you gave him my humiliation."
"I gave him what he asked for."
A taxi went by, throwing up a sheet of water.
I did not move.
"You were in the family office," I said. "You had the books open on your screen while you cut it."
Sierra went still.
"I saw the numbers," she said. "One night, three weeks ago, I opened the wrong file."
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