There were only two times in my life when I felt betrayed, terrified, and livid at the same time. The first time was when I was twelve and my parents decided to get a divorce. All of a sudden, my shiny world was covered with darkness, and I couldn’t comprehend how two people I loved the most—my role models—could do that to me, especially when I heard that my mother had cheated on my father for a long time.

The second time was when I was fifteen, and my first boyfriend—my first love—cheated on me with my best friend. Are you seeing a pattern here? I’d already had serious trust issues, but my first boyfriend was the one who destroyed all the chances of me trusting someone ever again.

These two instances taught me to tread through life carefully and pay extra attention to who I trusted.

This was the third time, and I wanted to slap myself for being that stupid. I’d actually let him get under my skin. I’d let him affect me so much that I was now beside myself with anger. How could I have relaxed even for a moment? He was clearly a douchebag—from the first moment we laid eyes on each other—yet... Yet I’d trusted him.

This was on me. This was definitely on me. If I’d been smarter, I wouldn’t be involved with that lying piece of... Yeah.

If I’d been smarter, I wouldn’t be on my way to his company to confront him about this now, terribly disturbed because he had been hiding something like this from me. I wouldn’t feel the need to punch him, which was everything I was against since violence and I were like oil and water.

Was that all part of his plan? Did he want to use me as a plaything until he got bored of me and I was left without my job?

For Christ’s sake, Marissa even talked to him and tried to make him change his mind, but the bastard didn’t want to even consider it. If she’d only mentioned the name... If only. Then I wouldn’t be this emotional mess that couldn’t stop thinking about last night and those soft eyes that had gazed at me as if they truly cared.

“Happy thoughts, Claire,” I muttered to myself when I stomped into the lobby of Real Estate Silver. “Think happy thoughts and don’t do something that will send you straight to jail and make you the subject of tomorrow’s front page headline.”

The receptionist was a sweet older lady, who was polite enough to give me the directions to his office. His secretary, however, wasn’t nearly as well-mannered as the receptionist, refusing to let me enter Jared’s office under the pretext that he was “extremely busy”.

“Look, Miss Whoever-You-Are, I don’t care if he’s busy or not. I need to talk to that lying bastard.” Wow. Since when was I this explosive? Jared’s anger issues must have rubbed off on me.

I marched over to his door and entered his office before his secretary aka the bodyguard could stop me.

“Hey, you can’t—” she started complaining, hoping to stop me, but I slammed the door in her face and locked it before I turned to face Jared.

He stood up from his chair, frowning in confusion. “Claire? What are you doing here? What’s wrong?”

I crossed my arms over my chest and approached his desk, reminding myself to keep my anger in check. As much as possible, at least.

“So now you’re playing dumb? You worked behind my back, Jared. You betrayed me.”

His frowned deepened, his eyes flashing with confusion and anger. “What do you mean? I didn’t betray you—”

“Still playing dumb? I know you’re the CEO of the company that wants to demolish my clinic.” This robbed his features of all emotions, his shoulders turning rigid. “You slept with me, Jared! You’ve acted like you really liked me, but all that time you were hiding the truth from me! Did you do that on purpose? Did you seduce me as a part of some twisted plan?”

“What? No. That’s—”

“You’re lying.” I slammed my hands on his desk, leaning toward him. “How can I believe you when you betrayed me? I can’t believe anything you say now.”

“No. Please, Claire, let me—”

“No. I’m done with you. I actually trusted you.”

“Please, that’s not how it is. I—”

“Sure. That’s what they all say. ‘That’s not how it is’, but then they—”

“Fuck!” he roared and hit his fists against his desk, getting into my face. “Stop interrupting me! Will you fucking let me explain?!”

Both of us were breathing heavily, our warm breaths mixing with each other in between our faces. Even now, when I was so furious with him, all I wanted was to erase the few inches of distance between our lips and kiss him. How stupid was I?

I stepped back from his desk, crossing my arms. “Fine. Explain. Not that it will make any difference.”

He ran his hand through his hair and went over to the floor-to-ceiling windows behind his desk. His face became taut as he scanned the glass buildings surrounding his company in the distance.

“Yes. I hid the truth from you, but you have no idea how much I regret it. I regret hiding it from you. The fact that my company is behind the plan to demolish Pathways is bringing me a lot of conflict and tension, and I tried—I’m trying—my hardest to convince the board to give up on Pathways’ building and focus on some properties nearby. That area is a real gold mine for real estate developers, but Pathways’ building has the top spot. So they don’t want to let go of it just like that. They were even ready to offer a really big amount of money to the owner just so they could secure the purchase.”

“I don’t care why they are so stuck on that building or how you felt about it. This doesn’t change a single thing. If you really regretted it, you would have told me from the start.”

He came to me, his strides long and hurried, and reached out for me, but I backed away, refusing to let him touch me. He clenched his fist, tightening his jaw. “I’m sorry, Claire. I know it doesn’t mean anything to you, but I’m so sorry. Try to put yourself in my shoes. I was torn between my family and duty and you and doing what is right. I wanted to tell you, but I just never got a good enough opportunity.”

A snort that left my lips was a perfect prelude to my next words. “Yeah, right. Like that makes any sense.”

“Believe it or not, that’s how it was. I couldn’t even imagine I’d feel the way I feel with you. It happened too quickly and too suddenly, but now all I want is to sort things out with you and be with you.”

I ignored the flip of my stomach when he said he wanted to be with me. It didn’t matter.

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing right now. Oh, so if you hadn’t liked me, you wouldn’t have cared that you were demolishing my clinic behind my back?”

“No, that’s not what I wanted to say.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look. I’m really sorry. I planned to tell you this eventually. I did. The phone call I received this morning was about Pathways. They were pressuring me to speed up the process, which was why I was hot under the collar in the car. This whole day I was trying to come up with the best way to tell you the truth because I don’t want to lie or hide things from you.”

He crossed the last step that had separated us and brushed his knuckles against my cheek. I swallowed hard, disturbed that my body wanted nothing more than to lean into his touch. “It’s true. Please, Claire, believe me. I was a jerk for not telling you this right away, but I regret it so much. I just want to be with you with no obstacles or secrets separating us. Is that possible?”

I wasn’t going to cry, despite feeling like I wanted to cry buckets.

“Of course, not,” I snapped, hoping my words sounded as sharply as I’d wanted them to be. “Whatever you say now doesn’t change the fact that you were screwing me while knowing the truth. You knew all along you would be the one who would destroy everything I and my friends have worked hard for. And it doesn’t change the fact that you are going to destroy everything, and there is no way I could get over that. No half-assed apology can compensate for something like that.”

By the end of my rant, I was already as far away from him as possible, flush against the door that would lead me out of his life for good. My breathing was heavy and uneven, my eyes burning with unshed tears I refused to let out.

“I don’t want to see you ever again, Jared. Whatever we had ends here.”

He moved toward me. “Claire, don’t go. Just wait—”

I spun on my heel before he could reach me and finish that sentence, unlocking the door. I was out of his office in no time, rushing across the carpeted hallway as his shouted pleas followed me.

“Give me a second chance!” he yelled, despite having all the eyes of his colleagues on us. This was just great. There was nothing better than making a spectacle in front of all these people.

I rushed down the stairs because waiting for the elevator would enable him to catch me, quickly losing a battle with my tears, devastated.

I didn’t care about the sad look in his eyes before I left. I didn’t care about his side of the story. And I certainly didn’t care about giving him a second chance. I’d already given him a chance after that disaster of our first meeting one month ago, and this was what I got. His horrible behavior during our session was a red flag already, but I’d had to go against my better judgment and allow him to get into my good graces.

My phone rang just as I darted out of the building, and my throat constricted at seeing his name on my screen, the first tears spilling out.

No. I turned off my phone, refusing to waste even a second more of my time on him.

I was done with that lying rat. No more.