THE ART OF REVENGE

CHAPTER 16

THE ART OF REVENGE.

EMILY,

I saw the look on Elena’s face, and a thrill of satisfaction coursed through me.

It was fleeting—just a flicker of shock, quickly masked behind that composed exterior she always wore—but I caught it. And it was enough.

I had been waiting for this moment, the moment she realized that I wasn’t just going to stand aside and watch her take what was mine.

Ryan belonged to me.

I had spent years with him, building something real, something that was supposed to last. We were meant to be together. He had whispered those promises into my ear on countless nights, sworn his love to me under the moonlight.

And then, like a thief in the night, she came along, stealing him away without a shred of remorse.

The betrayal was unbearable.

The humiliation, even worse.

I could still hear the whispers, the hushed voices in the corridors, the pitying looks from those who knew. I could still feel the sting of their eyes on me, their silent judgment. The girl who had everything, now left with nothing. The perfect love story, torn apart by a woman who had no right to him.

It was a wound that refused to heal, a fire that refused to die down.

And the worst part? She didn’t even care.

She walked through the halls of our university with the same grace, the same untouchable elegance, as if she had done nothing wrong. As if she hadn’t ruined me.

I clenched my fists at the memory of the day everything fell apart.

The moment I realized Ryan was slipping away.

The moment I saw him looking at her the way he used to look at me.

The moment I knew I had lost.

But if Elena thought she could simply walk away unscathed, she was wrong.

I had already tried to humiliate her once. A simple trick—paying someone to gather students at Ryan’s house when I found out she had slept there, hoping to expose her in a compromising position.

It should have worked.

The idea had been foolproof, designed to strip away the illusion of her pristine reputation.

But she had been protected.

There was a scandal, yes. But somehow, the school never called her out, and all the students suddenly stopped talking about it. It was as if the entire situation had been wiped clean, erased from existence.

Whoever had stepped in had power—someone who had an interest in protecting her.

That only fueled my rage.

So now, I needed something better. Something far more personal.

There was an old saying: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

That was exactly what I intended to do.

Keep Elena closer.

She wouldn’t see me coming. She would never suspect that the person smiling at her, the student sitting just a few feet away, was planning her downfall.

I would get close to her. Apologize for misinterpreting her relationship with Ryan. Gain her trust. And then, when the time was right, I would break her in a way that she could never recover from.

And there was only one person I knew who would understand the depth of my pain—my mother.

---

I found her in her study, sipping a glass of wine while scanning through documents. The dim light of the desk lamp cast sharp shadows on her face, making her expression unreadable. She barely glanced up as I entered.

“What is it?” she asked, her tone clipped, impatient.

I hesitated, gripping the photo of Elena in my hand so tightly that my nails dug into the paper.

“It’s Ryan. He betrayed me.”

Her hand froze on the glass. Slowly, she lifted her gaze, her sharp eyes narrowing. “What did you say?”

I swallowed hard. “He… he left me for someone else. And even after his father called him, he hasn’t apologized.”

She leaned back in her chair, exhaling slowly as she processed my words. “Who?”

My fingers trembled as I turned the photo toward her.

She took the picture, her eyes scanning it with cold precision. The moment she saw Elena’s face, something dark passed over her features.

“She was at the business meeting,” my mother murmured, her voice razor-sharp with realization. “I knew there was something about her. That woman is dangerous.”

Dangerous? My breath hitched. There was something in my mother’s tone, something I hadn’t expected.

“She’s a professor at your school, isn’t she?” she asked.

I nodded.

“Why would Ryan be interested in her?” I blurted out, frustration spilling over. “She’s older. Of course she is. I don’t know what he sees in her!”

A slow, knowing smirk curled my mother’s lips. She tapped her fingers against the desk, thinking. “Men are weak when it comes to temptation, Emily. They don’t think with logic. They think with impulse. This… Elena, she must know how to manipulate that.”

My stomach twisted. “You think she seduced him?”

“Of course.” My mother’s gaze sharpened. “A woman like her, powerful and intelligent, wouldn’t need to chase after a man like Ryan. She must have orchestrated it—subtly, carefully. She made herself seem irresistible to him. And Ryan, like a fool, walked straight into her trap.”

My nails dug into my palm. The idea that Elena had planned this, that she had calculated her way into Ryan’s heart, made my blood boil.

“She took everything from me,” I whispered. “I want Ryan back. And I want her destroyed.”

My mother’s expression didn’t change, but I saw the flicker of something cruel in her eyes.

“Have you tried anything yet?” she asked.

I told her about my previous plan—how I had tried to ruin Elena’s reputation, how I had failed.

My mother leaned forward, a slow smile stretching across her face. “Then we’ll do it together.”

A shiver ran down my spine.

My mother had never lost a fight in her life. If she was in this with me, then Elena didn’t stand a chance.

Fate was on my side.

And I couldn’t be happier.

---

Elena had no idea what was coming.

She thought she was safe, secure in whatever twisted hold she had over Ryan. But she had unknowingly given me the perfect weapon—herself.

She was my tutor now.

The irony was almost laughable.

The woman who had stolen my love, the woman who had shattered my heart, would now sit across from me every single day, completely unaware that I was sharpening the knife I would plunge into her back.

Oh, how satisfying this would be.

When our first session began, I made sure to smile sweetly, to be the perfect student. I pretended to listen, nodding along as she explained the material.

But in my mind, I was already planning my next move.

I would chip away at her, little by little.

It wouldn’t be an obvious attack. That would be too easy, too reckless.

No, my revenge would be subtle.

Methodical.

My mother had the influence to destroy Elena’s career, her reputation, everything she had built. And I would do my part.

Ryan would have no choice but to see her for what she truly was—a fraud.

And when he did, he would come back to me.

Because in the end, love wasn’t just about passion.

It was about loyalty.

And Ryan and I had history. He was my betrothed.

Elena was nothing but a temporary distraction.

I just had to remind him of that.

And he would come back to me.

He had to.