CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
A FRIEND INDEED
ALICE’S POV.
I lowered my gaze, fidgeting with my fingers as if they could somehow help me find the words I needed. But all I felt was a tightness in my chest, tears threatening to spill from my eyes, and a lump forming in my throat. Every attempt to speak only deepened the ache in my heart. I just couldn’t bring myself to say it. The truth was too painful, too humiliating.
Elena noticed my struggle. Her expression softened, and she reached out, gently taking my right hand and placing it in hers. Her touch was warm, comforting, yet it also seemed to demand the truth from me. I knew what she wanted-what she deserved-but the words remained stuck, tangled in my fear and shame.
“What happened, Alice?” she asked again, her voice soft but insistent. Her tone was calm, reassuring, like she was trying to coax a frightened animal out of hiding. It made me feel like I could trust her, like I could lean on her and let her carry some of the weight that was crushing me.
I looked up at her slowly, feeling the tears that had been welling up finally spill over. “He cheated on me,” I managed to utter, my voice trembling with the effort it took to speak. Even saying it out loud made it feel more real, and the reality was unbearable.
Elena’s face went blank for a moment, as if she was processing what I had just said. Then, almost as if on cue, her eyebrows shot up in disbelief, and she stared at me like I had just told her the most ridiculous thing in the world.
“Huh? Don’t tell me you put me through all this suspense because he cheated on you?” she drawled, her voice dripping with sarcasm. It was like she couldn’t believe I was making such a big deal out of this.
Anger flared in me, hot and quick, replacing the sorrow that had been suffocating me just moments before. Was this woman my friend or my frenemy? I had been on the brink of losing my mind, trying to summon the courage to tell her, and this was her reaction? She groaned as if she was the one who had been wronged, as if my pain was just a minor inconvenience to her.
Before I knew what I was doing, I grabbed a pillow from the couch and swung it at her head with all the strength I could muster. The soft fabric collided with her, sending her stumbling backward. She lost her balance and fell hard onto the floor with a loud thud, groaning in pain.
For a moment, I just stared at her lying there, guilt immediately washing over me. What had I done? She was supposed to be my friend, and I had just hit her in a fit of rage.
“Catalina!” Elena barked, her voice sharp as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. “Are you trying to end me, bitch? What’s wrong with you?”
Something snapped in me. I shot up from the couch, planting my hands on my hips, towering over her. “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? You’re supposed to be my friend, Elena! And here you are, taking his side, making light of the fact that he cheated on me!”
“You’ve gone nuts, Alice!” she fired back, her voice rising to match mine. “Or have you lost your senses because of love? Clearly, the man I know is prone to anything, and him cheating on you wouldn’t be a shocker because I expect nothing less from a motherfucker like him!”
Her words stung, but they also carried a bitter truth that I had been trying to avoid. I could see the anger in her eyes, but there was also something else-something that looked a lot like concern. As if she was frustrated with me, but also worried about how much this was affecting me.
“Oh, now that you’ve mentioned it,” I snapped back, sarcasm lacing my words, “I never knew catching him having sex with my sister behind my back on our matrimonial bed was ‘natural.’ Why doesn’t he just marry her instead?!”
I was shaking now, my whole body trembling with a mixture of rage and despair. I had expected Elena to explode, to match my fury with her own. But instead, she just stood there, staring at me with wide eyes. Her anger seemed to drain away, replaced by something colder, more dangerous.
“Liam did what with Elizabeth?” she asked, her voice low, almost deadly.
“He had sex with her on our matrimonial bed,” I repeated, my voice now barely a whisper.
Elena’s eyes darkened, and without warning, she grabbed the edge of the coffee table and yanked it backward with a force that startled me. She staggered a bit, her breath coming in short, angry bursts. I had never seen her like this before, and it scared me. The room seemed to close in around us, the air thick with tension.
Just as I opened my mouth to say something, moaning sounds filled the room, freezing me in place. My eyes widened in shock. I recognized that voice-it was Elizabeth’s. And the rough, raspy voice that followed it belonged to Liam.
“You always wanted this, didn’t you?” his voice thundered through the speakers, dripping with mockery.
Panic surged through me as I lunged for the phone to turn it off, but Elena was quicker. She snatched it up, her eyes glued to the screen. The look on her face as she watched made my blood run cold. By the time she tore her eyes away from the video, she looked less like my friend and more like a vengeful spirit.
She screamed, hurling my phone across the room. It hit the floor and shattered into pieces. Elena wasn’t done, though. She shoved the couch away with a furious strength, her chest heaving with every breath. But I couldn’t focus on that. My eyes were locked on the remains of my phone, my connection to the world, now reduced to a mess of broken glass and twisted metal.
“Elena-” I started, but the words died in my throat as she suddenly brushed past me.
“It’s time to teach him how to treat a lady,” she hissed, and when I saw what she had in her hand, I froze.
A gun.
Where had that come from? Since when did Elena start keeping guns?
The door slammed shut with a force that shook me out of my daze. My mind raced as the reality of the situation dawned on me. Where was she going with a gun in her hand? And what was she planning to do?
My eyes widened in horror as the answer became all too clear.
Oh no!