Chapter 17
Rhett was almost pissed off.
They’d manipulated him.
Pushed him to hurt Vivian–just so Caleb could swoop in when she left.
Eyes bloodshot, Rhett snatched Charles’s phone and barked into the receiver:
“Caleb! Vivian loves me! I’m going to apologize. We’ll get back together!”
“She never loved you. And she never will. You really think now you have a chance? Keep dreaming!”
But Caleb remained composed.
“If she doesn’t love me now, that’s fine,” he said quietly. “The truth is–I’m better than you. After what you did to her, even if she doesn’t choose me, she’ll never come back to you.”
The words pierced like a blade.
Rhett’s breath caught.
Pain stabbed through his chest.
Still, he forced himself to stay calm, grinding the words out between clenched teeth.
“If it weren’t for you and Charles leading me on, I wouldn’t have grown distant from her! You wanted me to fall, and you used Faye to make it happen!”
Caleb let out a cold laugh.
“Are you serious, Rhett? If you really loved Vivian, you’d never have been swayed by a few stupid
comments.”
“You’ve known Charles your whole life. Hasn’t he always been like this? Jumping from one woman
to the next?”
“In a circle full of men like that, some still choose to stay loyal. You could have been one of them.”
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Chapter 17
“You made the choice, Rhett–not us. If you had truly loved her, I would never have had a chance. But
now? You lost her. That’s on you.”
Every word struck like a whip.
Rhett’s face turned pale.
His lips trembled.
“No… that’s not true… That’s not…”
He shook his head, eyes glazed and empty.
The phone slipped from his hand and hit the floor.
Silence swallowed the room.
Charles and the others exchanged uncomfortable glances.
No one knew what to say.
Because… they had been nudging Rhett.
They kept telling him that “everyone in the circle plays around,” that “having a mistress is no big
deal,” that “Vivian will always be there anyway.”
And for years, Rhett ignored them.
Until Faye came along.
They’d heard rumors about the feud between Faye and Vivian, but no one imagined it had spiraled
to this extent.
Vivian… wasn’t the type to cause drama.
Everyone knew her–graceful, kind, composed. No one ever had a bad word to say about her.
Faye?
Let’s just say… the only one truly fooled was Rhett.
Now, guilt hung in the air.
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Charles finally broke the silence.
“…Sorry, Rhett. We really messed up.
“But maybe this is for the best. Vivian went through hell with you. Maybe letting her go… is the kindest thing you could do.”
Rhett said nothing.
A crushing weight settled on his chest, so heavy it stole the air from his lungs.
Could he blame them? Maybe.
But in the deepest part of himself, he already knew-
He was the one to blame.
He was the one who got bored.
Who went looking for something new.
Who threw away the woman who had given him everything–her trust, her love, her entire self.
This was his fault. All of it.
Later that night, he booked a private room.
Silent. Grim.
He ordered bottle after bottle of liquor, letting the pile grow, uncaring.
He drank.
And drank.
Let the fire burn his throat. Let the acid sear his stomach.
But it didn’t warm him.
Didn’t numb him.
All it left was a hollow ache, deep and unrelenting.
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“Sorry,” he murmured.
“I’m so sorry…”
He said it again. And again.
Soft, broken words spilling into the empty room.
But the one person who needed to hear it-
Was already gone.
Somewhere through the blur of alcohol and unshed tears,
He saw her.
Vivian.
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