REINA

I froze right there in the hallway, my body going stiff as stone. This shouldn’t have been a surprise considering Tess had confessed that night that she had an arrangement with Shane and his boyfriend.

"Whatever, I’ll just have to come back later. It’s not like I could go in there right now." I sighed, and made to turn around and leave when I heard something that I wasn’t supposed to hear. The ones that hit me like a bucket of ice water dumped straight over my head.

I stood completely still, my hand still gripping the door, unable to take another step, unable to even breathe properly, as the ugly truth I had been running from all day finally crashed down on me like a tidal wave, knocking the air right out of my lungs and shattering everything I thought was real.

"You think I do not hate her for this?" Tessa’s voice cut through the air from the living room like a jagged blade. It was raw, furious, and dripping with something dark and possessive that made my skin crawl.

"Andrew loved her. That pathetic idiot actually fell in love with her after I begged him to fake the whole thing. I told him to keep her close. To make sure everyone thought she was taken so no one else would even look at her twice. But no. He had to go and sleep with her on prom night like some lovesick fool. I had to threaten him with everything I knew. I had to destroy him so he would leave her completely broken and alone. And it worked perfectly. She came running straight back to me. Crying in my arms every single night. Letting me hold her while she whispered how much she needed me."

A low, satisfied moan drifted out next, followed by Shane’s lazy voice. "Babe, you are seriously twisted. That wasn’t fair to her, you know?"

"Shut up, Shane." Tessa snapped back, though there was no real anger in it, only that same hungry obsession. "She is mine. She has always been mine. I kept her away from every boy who dared to look at her. I made sure no one got too close. And now look at what she has done. Married to some shady ass dude like some perfect mafia little wife. Sleeping with his own father behind his back. Letting that old fool fuck her while her stupid husband is busy playing the good husband. People I could never drag her away from. She never realized how much I loved her. How much I still love her. God, I hate her for being so blind to my love. I hate her so fucking much it hurts."

The words slammed into me one after another, each one heavier than the last. I stood frozen in Tessa’s hallway, my hand still gripping the edge of the slightly open door. My body refused to move. My heart pounded so violently against my ribs that I thought it might shatter them.

This could not be real. This was my best friend. The girl who had been my shadow for years. The one who had wiped away every tear after Andrew disappeared. The one who had laughed with me through the good days and held me through the worst nights. She had orchestrated everything. She had ripped Andrew away from me because he dared to love me for real. She had watched me fall apart for months and then glued herself to my broken pieces like she was the only cure.

She had even promised me she wouldn’t tell anyone about my arrangements with Domenico. So why? How did things get this bad?

Nausea rolled through my stomach in thick, violent waves. I pressed my forehead against the cool wall to keep from collapsing right there on the floor. My knees felt weak and unsteady. Anger exploded inside my chest, hot and blinding. It made my vision blur at the edges and turned my hands into trembling fists.

My nails dug deep into my palms until I felt the sharp sting of broken skin. I wanted to storm into that living room right now. I wanted to scream until my throat tore apart. I wanted to grab Tessa by the shoulders and shake her until she admitted every single lie she had ever told me. I wanted to slap the betrayal right off her face and demand answers for every fake hug and every whispered comfort she had given me while secretly hating me for not noticing her feelings.

But I could not do it.

I was too tired. The exhaustion went all the way down to my bones. The last twenty-four hours had ripped my entire life apart and left nothing but ruins. My head throbbed with a painful migraine that pulsed in time with my racing heartbeat. Confronting her right now would mean another explosion. Another round of tears, accusations, and shattered trust. I simply did not have the strength left to survive it. Not today. Maybe not ever.

So I did the only thing I could manage.

I turned around as quietly as possible. I slipped back out through the door and pulled it shut behind me without making a single sound.