Page 168 of The Contract

Old social media pictures flood the screen.

At first, I don’t recognize her. She looks different—younger. Her hair is shorter, streaked with blonde highlights. Her smile is freer, brighter. Untouched by the weight of the world she carries now.

But it’s her.

It’s Elena.

My stomach knots as my eyes track to the person standing beside her. Too close. Too fucking familiar with that smug fucking face.

Mother fucking Adrian.

I go still, my breath locking in my chest. The air feels thick, heavy, pressing against me like a vise. Marcus says nothing, watching me carefully.

“Keep going,” I grind out.

The images shift. More of them.

Elena and Adrian. Together.

Not just knowing each other—lovers.

Kissing. Embracing. Wrapped around each other in ways that make my blood boil.

“This can’t fucking be possible.”

I pull his laptop to me, taking it over and moving faster through the files, begging to see proof these have been doctored. Fakes. Digital images created on a computer to drive a fucking spike through me.

One of the files is a social media post several years old. A video.

My world darkens as soon as I open it.

The setting is a beach, waves crashing in the background. Could be the fucking Hamptons. Could be the exact place we were this weekend, where she pretended she didn’t fucking know him.

My jaw clenches as I hit play.

Adrian’s smirking into the camera, sunglasses perched on his nose, his arms wrapped around her. One hand holding her breast over her bikini. Like she belongs there.

"Partners in crime," he says, grinning.

Elena laughs, shaking her head. Then she looks back at him, her eyes shining.

"Forever," she chimes in.

And then—he kisses her.

Right there. In the open. In front of the whole fucking world. And it hits me like a dagger twisting in my gut.

His lips move against hers, his tongue sweeping into her mouth. The same mouth I kissed this morning.

The same mouth I made mine.

I slam my fist into the table.

Marcus doesn’t flinch, but the screen flickers as the impact shakes the laptop.

Pain crashes into me like a freight train.

She fucking played me.

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