The Truth Hurts

Chapter Two: The Truth Hurts

I sat in a dimly lit living room with the weight of the world upon my chest. The walls seemed to be closing in on me. I was shaking to wipe the tears from my eyes, but they just kept on coming-on and on, each wave much deeper than the last. I did not expect it to hurt this much after all we went through and after everything I gave up.

Adrian.

This was not my husband, the man with whom I lived-the very image and substance of a man whom I thought I knew-but a betrayal. I'd gone to his office today to surprise him, reminding him that we were one, still a team even after all these years; instead, I found this man I loved wasn't the man I thought at all.

The name-Sophia, Mrs. Brennan, the one who had been kept in the dark from me, the one nobody had ever spoken about, the pivot of everything that I ever thought I knew about my marriage-kept ringing in my ears.

I had sacrificed everything for him.

I had sold my father's land, the last piece of his legacy, so Adrian could build his empire. I had sacrificed my family, my stability, my peace of mind. I had worked side by side with him, supporting him every step of the way, believing that we were building a life together. But now… now it was all a lie.

The sound of the opening front door jerked me back into the present. My heart skipped one beat as my chest hardened. I didn't even need to look up to recognize who had come in. His presence was overwhelming, entering the room with a casualness that belied a contained force. Adrian.

I didn't move. I couldn't. Anger and confusion roiled inside me, but the sadness. the sadness was just impossible to bear. He stood in the doorway, his sharp suit fitting him to perfection, but something cold was in the air around him, something that wasn't there before.

I heard you came to the office today," Adrian said, his voice low, almost clinical. "You shouldn't have. It's not the right time."

I didn't answer. What could I possibly say? I couldn't even look at him.

His footsteps approached, but I didn’t meet his gaze. I couldn’t bring myself to. The man I had known, the man I had trusted with everything, was standing in front of me, and yet I didn’t recognize him.

Finally, I found my voice, though it barely came out as a whisper. “Sophia.”

It was as if the name had been chiseled into my soul. The moment I had heard it in his office, everything came crashing down. The weight of it was overwhelming, and I couldn't hold it inside anymore.

Who is she, Adrian?" I finally whispered, my voice shaking with the trembles of emotions I could no longer handle. "Why didn't you tell me about her? Why didn't you tell me about your wife?"

I heard him inhale sharply. His silence, that damned silence, was more incriminating than any words he could have uttered.

He stepped closer to me, his presence dominating the room, but I couldn't move. I couldn't face him. "You're mistaken," he said, his voice almost too calm, too smooth. "Sophia has no part in our life. She's just… she's just someone who works for the company.

My heart was pounding inside of my chest. I clamped my eyes shut trying to shut out the words-the images-the cascade of feelings running amok, threatening to bury me alive. I couldn't put on a prettier face anymore. "Stop lying to me, Adrian!" I yelled, my voice breaking with the words. "I saw her! I heard them refer to her as 'Mrs. Brennan!' I saw it-the respect they showed to her, the importance that she was the one that counted!"

I sprang from my chair, my legs shaking under me, yet I wasn't able to sit down. I was on fire; every single inch of me shook with fury and in grief. The betrayal, the lies… the deception fell on me, and I had no idea how to make it stop.

Adrian's face faltered, for just a moment. This time, he didn't immediately deny it. His gaze fell, his lips tightening. He couldn't look at me either, and for that one second, I almost thought I saw remorse in his eyes.

But then he took a deep breath, and his voice was steady, quiet. "It's true, Lily. I've been in a relationship with Sophia for years now. She's been part of the company, part of my life… I never wanted you to know."

I froze. The words came at me like a freight train, and for a moment, I couldn't breathe. He'd been in a relationship with her. For years. And I had never known.

I felt something in me crack, a deep jarring tear open in the middle of my chest. So many years, I had believed in us, in our love, in our future. Now… now I realized all of it had been just a well-constructed lie. A lie to which I had been a very willing victim.

The anger bubbled but drowned in the overwhelming ache that filled my heart. "You lied to me. You lied to me for years," I managed to whisper, my voice cracking with emotion. My hands shook further as I wiped my eyes, but this only made the tears fall again. "You let me believe that I was what mattered, Adrian. You let me give up all for you, for this … this life we built up. I gave you my father's land. I sold the last part of his legacy to build this company, to help you succeed. And this is how you repay me?

"

The tears that fell down my cheeks burned, and I did nothing to stop them. I didn't want to. The pain was unbearable, but it was all I had left now.

I gave you everything," I choked out, the words barely leaving my lips. "And you… you've been living a lie with her. How could you do this to me, Adrian? How could you betray me like this?"

Adrian stepped closer, his hand reaching out to me, but I flinched away, instinctively retreating from his touch. "Lily… I'm sorry. I never wanted you to find out this way…

His apology meant nothing. Nothing. Not when everything I had believed in, everything I had sacrificed, had been taken from me.

I stepped back, my heart heavy with the weight of his words. "I trusted you," I whispered, my voice cracking. "I loved you. And you destroyed me.

Adrian said nothing. But the silence was crippling, far more hurtful than any fight we could have gotten into. He had no excuses, no words that could make this right.

He had chosen her.