Page 23 of I Do, You Don't
His words land like a slap, but I barely feel them. I’m already numb. “I never cheated on you.”
“Was it just one night?” he presses. “Or has this been going on for months?”
“Listen to me, Gideon! I never cheated on you!”
But he won’t listen. He doesn’t want the truth, he wants someone to blame.
“You and Calvin,” he sneers, ignoring me. “Why Calvin? Is it the money? I’ve heard the rumors.” The same rumors that branded me a gold-digger. The same rumors he never defended me against.
I fling my arms wide. “Shut up and listen, Gideon!”
He doesn’t. Of course not. Instead, his voice sharpens. “I wasn’t good enough for you, huh? You needed money. You needed drama. You needed to be a gold-digging whore.”
“No!” The word tears out of me, raw and broken. “Gideon, it’s not like that.”
“Stop!” he roars, stepping closer, eyes blazing. “You lied to me. I thought you were the woman I was going to marry.”
The pain behind his words crushes something inside me. I want to cry, to scream, to beg him to see me—but I don’t. I swallow it down.
“You were the one who said ‘forever,’” he says, voice shaking. “How stupid was I to believe you meant it?”
The words slice deep, but something shifts. I stop clinging. I stop hoping. He doesn’t believe me. Worse, he refuses to hear me. I’m defending myself, but all he hears are Delilah’s lies. Haven’t I been defending myself for months? Lara versus Delilah—and Gideon has chosen her every single time.
As Maya Angelou said: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.”
Well, I believe now. Took me a hundred times, but I believe.
He turns away, shoulders rigid. And for the first time, I don’t reach for him.
“You’re nothing but a liar,” he says, cold as stone. “I’m done with you.”
The finalblow. I should feel rage. Or sorrow. Or regret. But all I feel is emptiness. I knew this was coming—I just didn’t expect it to be so quiet.
And because he’s no longer the man I once thought he was, he adds, “Delilah. She was always there, wasn’t she? Trying to save me from you. Warning me.”
His words splinter something inside me, but I hold it together. Delilah has won. She always wanted him. Now she has him.
“She’s everything you’re not,” he says. “Everything I’ve ever needed. And you? You’re nothing.”
I should scream. I should fight. But I don’t. I’m done.
“I should’ve been with her,” he mutters. “I wasted my time with you.”
The words don’t break me anymore.
“I regret meeting you. Kissing you. Proposing to you. Loving you.” Every word lands cold, deliberate. “Our wedding was supposed to be the best day of my life, and funny enough, it still was. Because leaving you was the best outcome possible.”
I don’t respond. His voice is just noise now. I let it fade.
He turns to leave.
And I let him. He needed his monologue. Now it’s my turn. The difference is, I’ll mean every word. I follow him into the hallway and call out.
“Gideon,” I say, steady and calm. He turns, glaring. “Thank you.”
His cruel gaze doesn’t waver, but a bitter laugh escapes. “For freeing you up to be with your boy toy?”
“No. For leaving me at the altar,” I answer. “You showed me what a mistake that would’ve been.”
