Chapter 15

Chapter 15

SARA'S POINT OF VIEW 

I was just chilling on my bed, flipping through some fancy fashion magazine, when my phone buzzed. It was my friend Becca.

"You'll never guess who I just saw at the bar," she texted.

I rolled my eyes. Probably just some boring businessman crying over losing money or something. But then my phone buzzed again, and this time, the name I saw made my heart race.

"Maximilian."

I sat up so fast I almost fell off the bed. "Max? At a bar? By himself?" I typed back super quick.

"Yup," Becca said. "And he's totally wasted. If you hurry, you can catch him."

My heart was pounding like crazy. This was too good to be true. I could already picture it Max all alone and drunk, far away from that pathetic Eva. This was my chance. I couldn't help but smile as I jumped off the bed and grabbed my purse.

"I'm on my way," I told Becca, and I ran out the door so fast I almost tripped.

The drive to the bar felt like it took forever. My mind was going a million miles an hour, thinking of all the possibilities. Max had been acting weird lately. I could see it in his eyes every time we met up. He never wanted to talk about Eva, and he'd get all tense if someone even said her name. It was obvious he was miserable being married to her. And now, with him being drunk and probably feeling sorry for himself, I knew exactly what I had to do.

When I finally got there, Becca was already at the bar, grinning at me like she'd just won the lottery. She pointed to the far end of the bar, and there he was, Max, all hunched over with a glass of whiskey in his hand. His fancy suit jacket was all crumpled up on the stool next to him.

"Thanks, babe," I whispered to Becca as I walked over. My heart was beating so hard I thought it might burst out of my chest. This was going to be even easier than I thought.

Max didn't even see me until I was standing right next to him. He looked up, his eyes all glassy and unfocused. For a second, he seemed to recognize me.

"Sara," he slurred, blinking like he was trying to figure out if I was really there. "What... what're you doing here?"

I leaned in real close, making sure he could smell my perfume. "I heard you were here, and I just had to come see you," I said all soft and sweet, sliding onto the stool next to him. He looked at me, and I could tell he was having a hard time thinking straight.

"You shouldn't be here," he mumbled, running his hand through his messy hair. "I... I messed everything up."

I had to bite my lip to keep from grinning. He was falling apart, and it was perfect. "You don't have to deal with this alone, Max. I'm here for you," I whispered, putting my hand on his arm. His skin was all warm, and for a moment, he didn't pull away.

"Eva..." he started to say, but I didn't let him finish.

"Forget about her," I said real soft. "She doesn't love you like I do. She never has."

He looked at me then, really looked at me, and I could see how torn up he was inside. He was caught between feeling guilty and wanting something more. But in the state he was in, guilt wasn't gonna win. Not tonight.

Before he could say anything else, I leaned in and kissed him. For a second, he hesitated, but then he kissed me back, his hand getting all tangled up in my hair. I felt like I'd just won the biggest prize ever.

And just like I planned, I pulled out my phone and took a picture of us kissing. The flash was super quick, and Max was too drunk to even notice.

Perfect.

I pulled back, my heart racing like crazy. Max just stared at me, his eyes all cloudy, but the damage was already done. I had exactly what I needed.

I stood up, smoothing out my dress. "I think you've had enough to drink for tonight," I said with a little smirk. "Let me call you a car."

But Max wasn't even listening anymore. He was too far gone. I left him there, still slumped over the bar, and headed outside. My hands were shaking I was so excited as I opened the photo on my phone. It was perfect, the two of us, kissing all intense, Max's hand in my hair. It was all the proof I needed to totally destroy Eva.

I pulled up Eva's contact and, with the meanest grin ever, attached the photo. My finger hovered over the send button for just a second before I hit it, sending the picture straight to her. I could just imagine her face when she saw it. The heartbreak, the humiliation it would be too much for her to handle. And I couldn't wait to watch it all unfold

As I walked to my car, I couldn't stop smiling. This was just the beginning of Eva's suffering, she thought that she can steal everything away from me.

I got in my car and just sat there for a minute, looking at the picture again. Max and me, we looked good together. Way better than him and Eva ever did. I started thinking about how this was all gonna play out.

Eva would see the picture and probably cry her eyes out. She'd confront Max, and he'd be too drunk to even remember what happened. It would be chaos because i know Max will put her in her place. Their little marriage would crumble, and I'd be right there to pick up the pieces.

I started the car, still grinning like crazy. "Sorry, Eva," I said out loud, even though no one could hear me. "But Max was never really yours. He's always been mine."

As I drove home, I started planning my next move. This picture was just the start. I had so many more ideas, so many ways to make sure Eva knew she didn't belong in Max's world. In our world.

As I fell asleep that night, all I could think about was how everything was finally falling into place. Max would be mine, Eva would be out of the picture, and I'd have everything I ever wanted.

Watch out, Eva. Your perfect little world is about to come crashing down. And I can't wait to see it happen.

*** *** *** **

EVA POINT OF VIEW 

I was sitting by the window, just staring out at all the city lights. The whole apartment was so quiet it was like you could hear a pin drop. Max had been gone for hours, and I couldn't stop thinking about our fight. His mean words kept playing over and over in my head, making my chest hurt like someone was squeezing it.

I thought I was used to feeling lonely in this marriage by now. Max always looked right through me like I wasn't even there. But every time, it still hurt so bad, like someone was opening up an old cut that never really healed. I tried so hard to be the best wife ever, to make our marriage work even though it was tough. But Max never gave me a chance. His heart belonged to someone else, and no matter what I did, I couldn't change that.

Then my phone buzzed. I thought it was probably just one of the house workers or maybe my friend Lena checking up on me . But when I saw Sara's name pop up, my heart dropped to my stomach. Why the heck was she texting me?

My hand was shaking so bad I could barely open the message. And then I saw it a picture of Max and Sara kissing. Like, really kissing. His hand was all tangled up in her hair and everything. It felt like the whole world just flipped upside down. I couldn't breathe.

I just stared at the picture, my brain not really understanding what I was seeing. It felt like someone had punched me right in the chest, knocking all the air out of me. My eyes started to get all blurry with tears, but I couldn't look away from the screen.

How could he do this to me? How could he embarrassed me like this?

My hands were shaking so bad I dropped the phone. I pressed my hands over my mouth like that would stop me from crying. But it was too late. The pain was just too much. It felt like my heart was being ripped into tiny little pieces.

Deep down, I always knew Max didn't love me. I knew his heart belonged to sara. But seeing it like this seeing the proof right in front of my face, it was just too much. It broke whatever little bit of hope I had left that maybe, someday, things might get better.

Then the tears really started coming. They were hot and wouldn't stop. I curled up on the bed, hugging my knees to my chest, crying so hard my whole body was shaking. This was it. The last nail in the coffin of our marriage. There was no coming back from this.

As I lay there, feeling all broken and alone, I kept thinking one thing over and over - what the heck am I gonna do now?

I don't know how long I stayed like that, just crying my eyes out. It felt like hours. My head was pounding and my eyes were all puffy and sore. But the tears just wouldn't stop coming.

I kept looking at the picture, hoping maybe I was seeing things wrong. Maybe it wasn't really Max. Maybe it wasn't really Sara. But every time I looked, it was still there. Still them. Still kissing.

"Why?" I whispered to the empty room. "Why would you do this to me, Max?"

But I knew why. It was because he didn't love me. He never had. I was just some girl his grandfather picked out for him. Some trophy wife to make the family look good. I wasn't Sara. I wasn't the one he really wanted.

I thought about all the times Max had been cold to me. All the times he'd looked right through me like I wasn't even there. 

I wanted to be mad. I wanted to scream and throw things and tell Max what a jerk he was. But I just felt... empty. Like someone had scooped out everything inside me and left this big, hollow space.

I thought about calling someone. My Dad maybe, or my best friend. But what would I say? "Hey, guess what? My husband's cheating on me with my sister Sara and she sent me a picture to prove it." Yeah, right.

So I just stayed there, all alone in our big, empty mansion. The mansion that was supposed to be our home. The place where we were supposed to build a life together. But it had never really felt like home. Not with Max.

I looked around at all the fancy furniture and the expensive art on the walls. None of it meant anything. It was all just stuff. Stuff that was supposed to make up for the fact that there was no love in this marriage.

"I can't do this anymore," I said out loud. My voice sounded all rough and weird from crying so much. "I can't keep pretending everything's okay when it's not."

But what could I do? I was trapped in this marriage. Trapped by Max's grandfather, my father and the business both my pains worked hard to build. Trapped by my own stupid hope that maybe, someday, things would get better.

I got up and went to the bathroom, splashing some cold water on my face. When I looked in the mirror, I barely recognized myself. My eyes were all red and puffy, my face was all blotchy. I looked like a mess.

"Pull yourself together, Eva," I told my reflection. "You can't let them see you like this."

But even as I said it, I knew it was too late. Sara had already seen how weak I was. She knew she'd won. And Max... well, Max had never really seen me at all.

I went back to the bedroom and picked up my phone again. The picture was still there, like some kind of sick joke. I wanted to delete it, to pretend I'd never seen it. But I couldn't.

I crawled back into bed, pulling the covers up over my head like I used to do when I was a little kid and scared of the dark. But this time, the dark felt safer than facing the real world.

As I lay there, I tried to figure out what I was gonna do next. I couldn't stay in this marriage, not after this. But I didn't know how to get out. I didn't know where to go or what to do.

For the first time in a long time, I let myself cry for the girl I used to be. The girl who believed in love and happy endings. The girl who thought marrying Max would be the start of some fairy tale life.

That girl was gone now. And I didn't know who I was anymore without her.