10. Katie
— ? —
Katie
Within twenty-four hours, the video exploded to two million views, forcing millions of strangers to witness Kyle grabbing my sister’s ass on his own wedding day and finally verifying the exact timestamp that proved everything I’d been shouting into the void for months.
Kyle’s reputation is in ashes. Erin deleted all her social media. My mother has called a dozen times.
I should be celebrating.
Instead, I’m standing in a coffee shop three blocks from the penthouse, watching a barista’s face change the moment she recognizes me.
“Oh.” She blinks. “You’re... you’re her. The one from that video.”
“Can I just get a latte, please?”
“Sure. Yeah. Of course.” She punches in the order, but her eyes keep flicking up to my face. “So is it true? About you and the uncle?”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, no judgment or whatever. But like... you were married to the nephew and now you’re with the uncle? That’s kind of...” She trails off, shrugging.
“Kind of what?”
“I don’t know. Strategic?”
The word shocks me. I can’t find a way to respond to it.
“It’s not... we’re not...”
“Hey, check it out.” A guy in line behind me nudges his friend. “That’s the gold digger from TikTok.”
My stomach drops.
“I’m not a gold digger.”
“Sure you’re not.” He smirks. “That’s why you traded up from the broke nephew to the billionaire uncle, right? Smart move, honestly. Respect the hustle.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“I didn’t say it was bad. He’s an asshole anyway.”
I leave without my coffee.
My hands are shaking so badly I can barely push open the door. The morning air hits my face, and I want to scream at the sky.
I did everything right.
I exposed the truth, showed the world what Kyle and Erin did, proved that I wasn’t crazy, wasn’t paranoid, wasn’t making it up.
And somehow, SOMEHOW, I’m still the villain.
The comments online are worse.
I make the mistake of checking while I’m walking back to the penthouse, and suddenly I can’t stop scrolling.
She exposed Kyle but let’s not pretend she’s innocent. She literally moved in with his UNCLE the week after her divorce.
Gold digger speedrun lmaooo
Plot twist: she was always after Henry’s money. Kyle was just the stepping stone.
Imagine being so desperate for cash that you’d sleep with your ex-husband’s family member
Team Nobody. They all suck.
I stop walking.
Just stand there in the middle of the sidewalk, people streaming around me, staring at my phone screen until the words blur together.
Maybe they’re right.
The thought creeps in, poisonous and familiar. Maybe there IS something wrong with me. Something fundamentally broken that makes people want to hurt me, betray me, blame me for my own destruction.
Kyle cheated because I wasn’t enough. Erin took him because I was easy to replace. My mother believes them because I’ve never been the daughter she wanted.
And now the whole internet is confirming what I’ve always suspected deep down.
I’m ALWAYS the problem.
The doorman gives me a look when I walk into the building.
Not hostile, exactly. Just... knowing. Like he’s reassessing everything he thought he knew about me. Like he’s wondering how much of my story was real and how much was manipulation.
“Morning, Ms. Brooks.”
“Morning, Gerald.”
He doesn’t say anything else, but I feel his eyes on my back all the way to the elevator. Deciding what kind of woman moves from nephew to uncle in the span of a few weeks.
The kind of woman I apparently am. This is what my life is now.
Every hushed whisper and lingering stare feeds the persistent, suffocating certainty that everyone looking at me sees a permanent layer of ugliness I can’t seem to scrub away.
I exposed Kyle and Erin. I got my revenge.
So why does it feel like I’m still losing?
Why do I ALWAYS lose?
Henry finds me in the kitchen an hour later, staring at my phone like it’s a grenade that’s already gone off.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Katie.”
“I said nothing.”
He takes the phone from my hand and scrolls. His jaw tightens with every swipe.
“These people are idiots.”
“These people are everyone.”
“They don’t know you.”
“They don’t HAVE to know me, Henry. They’ve already decided who I am.” I grab the phone back. “Gold digger. Social climber. The woman who traded up from nephew to uncle.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“It doesn’t MATTER what happened! It only matters what it looks like!” My voice cracks. “And it looks bad. It looks really, really bad.”
He’s quiet for a moment.
“Since when do you care what strangers think?”
“Since my own mother left a voicemail saying she always knew I was ambitious, but she never thought I’d stoop THIS low.”
Henry flinches.
I laugh, and it sounds unhinged.
“She heard that her daughter exposed her cheating ex-husband with video evidence, and her response was to call me a gold digger. To defend ERIN.”
“Your mother is wrong.”
“Is she?” I look up at him, and I know my eyes are red, know I look like a mess, and I don’t care anymore. “Is she wrong, Henry? Or is she just saying what everyone else is thinking?”
“Katie...”
“Maybe I AM the problem.” The words spill out before I can stop them. “Maybe there’s something fundamentally wrong with me.”
“That’s not true.”
“Then why does it keep HAPPENING?” My voice breaks completely. “I try so hard to do the right thing. To be a good wife. A good sister. A good daughter. And it’s never enough. I’m never enough. Kyle cheated anyway. Erin betrayed me anyway. My mother chose her anyway.”
“That’s on THEM, not you.”
“But I’m the common denominator, aren’t I?” I swipe angrily at the tears streaming down my cheeks. “I’m the one constant in every disaster.”
“Katie, stop.”
“I exposed them and I’m STILL the bad guy!
I showed the world the truth and they STILL think I’m trash!
” I’m spiraling now, and I know it, and I can’t stop.
“What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to win when the game is rigged against me? When no matter what I do, no matter how hard I fight, I end up looking like the villain?”
Henry grabs my shoulders. Forces me to look at him.
“Listen to me. You are NOT the problem. You were never the problem. Kyle is a coward who couldn’t keep his pants on. Erin is a narcissist who can’t stand seeing anyone else happy. Your mother is a woman who chose the path of least resistance over her own daughter.”
“Then why...”
“Because the world isn’t fair. Because sometimes bad things happen to good people. Because cheaters cheat and liars lie and none of it, NONE of it, is a reflection of your worth.”
I want to believe him.
But the voice in my head is louder. The one that sounds like my mother. Like every comment on the internet telling me I’m worthless.
“How do you know?” I whisper. “How do you know I’m not exactly what everyone says I am?”
“Because I know YOU.”
“You’ve known me for a few weeks!”
“And in those weeks, I’ve seen more of the real you than Kyle saw in your entire relationship.
” He steps closer. “I’ve seen you fight tears when I told you about Rebecca.
I’ve seen you laugh until you couldn’t breathe at my terrible cooking.
I’ve seen you fight for yourself when everyone told you to give up. ”
“That doesn’t prove anything.”
“You learned how I take my coffee.” His voice drops. “You remembered because you actually listened when I mentioned it ONCE. Because you CARED.”
My throat tightens.
“You fell asleep in my arms and didn’t pull away. Even when you woke up. Even when you realized what was happening.” He’s right in front of me now. “That wasn’t manipulation. That was trust. Real trust. The kind you can’t fake.”
“Henry...”
“I’m falling in love with you.”
Hearing those words out loud completely knocks the wind out of me, for a second, I can’t even process what he just said.
“Don’t.” I step back, nearly knocking into the counter. “Don’t say that.”
“Why not? It’s true.”
“Because it makes this harder!”
“Makes WHAT harder?”
I take a breath. Force myself to say the words I’ve been choking on all morning.
“I’m leaving.”
“W-What?”
“I’m leaving. The revenge is done. Everyone knows the truth.” I can’t look at him. “You don’t owe me anything anymore.”
“Katie, where is this coming from?”
“From REALITY, Henry!” I spin to face him. “From the barista who called me strategic. From the guy in line who called me a gold digger. From Gerald downstairs, looking at me like I’m some kind of con artist who tricked my way into his building.”
“Gerald is paid to be discreet, not judgmental.”
“Everyone is judgmental! That’s the whole point!
” Tears spill over, and I hate myself for crying.
Hate myself for being the kind of woman who can’t even enjoy a victory without finding a way to sabotage it.
“I thought exposing Kyle would fix everything. I thought people would finally see the truth. But they don’t care about the truth.
They just see a woman who went from one rich man to another, and they’ve already decided what that makes me. ”
“So you’re going to run? Because strangers on the internet have opinions?”
“I’m not running. I’m...” I struggle to find the words. “I’m trying to figure out who I am. Who I am without Kyle. Without you. Without anyone else defining me.”
“You can do that here.”
“No, I can’t!” The words explode out of me. “Don’t you get it? If I stay, I’ll never know. I’ll always wonder if I’m with you because I actually love you, or because you saved me. Because you were there when I was broken and I latched onto you like a life raft.”
Understanding flickers in his eyes.
“I need to know that I’m choosing you because I WANT you,” I continue, my voice breaking. “Not because I need you. Not because I’m scared to be alone. Not because my mother’s voicemails make me feel worthless and you make me feel valuable.”
“Katie...”
“For three years, I was Kyle’s girlfriend, then his wife.
My entire adult life has been defined by a man who never deserved me.
” I press my hands to my face. “I can’t just jump from one definition to another.
I can’t go from Kyle’s ex-wife to Henry’s girlfriend without figuring out who I am on my own. ”
“And you can’t figure that out with me here?”
“No.” The word comes out broken. “Because when I’m with you, I don’t trust myself. I don’t know if what I’m feeling is real or just... just survival. Just my broken heart looking for somewhere safe to hide.”
I watch him wrestle with it. Watch him fight the urge to argue, to convince me, to use every weapon in his arsenal to make me stay. His hands clench at his sides. A muscle jumps in his jaw.
Then a subtle change ripples across his face as the last of his stubborn resistance completely melts away.
“How long?”
“I don’t know. A few weeks. Maybe longer.”
He nods slowly. Processing.
“And if you figure yourself out and decide you don’t want me?”
The unspoken answer presses down on the room, charging the air with pure dread.
“Then at least I’ll know it was a real decision. And so will you. You’ll know that I didn’t stay because I was scared or grateful or desperate. You’ll know that whatever we had was honest.”
He reaches out, tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. His fingers are trembling.
“I’m not Kyle. I’m not going to pressure you or manipulate you or make you feel guilty for having needs.” His thumb brushes my cheek, catching a tear. “But I’m also not going to pretend I don’t feel what I feel. So when you’re ready, if you’re ever ready, I’ll be here. Waiting. Like an idiot.”
My heart cracks.
“Go figure yourself out, Katie Brooks.” He drops his hand. Steps back. Creates distance that feels like a canyon. “But don’t take too long. I’m not as patient as I look.”
A laugh bubbles up through my tears. “You look pretty patient.”
“Looks can be deceiving.”
I want to kiss him. Want to wrap my arms around his neck and tell him I’ve changed my mind, that I’ll stay, that we can figure everything out together.
But that’s exactly why I need to leave.
Right now, my own judgment and emotions feel completely unreliable, leaving me with nothing but the absolute certainty that I have to figure out how to navigate my own life before I can even think about sharing it with someone else.
“Goodbye, Henry.”
“Not goodbye.” He doesn’t follow me. He stands there looking like a man watching his whole world walk away. “Just... see you later.”
I don’t respond.
If I open my mouth, I’ll take it all back.
I grab my suitcase from where I packed it this morning. Walk through the living room where we watched terrible movies together. Past the couch where he held me while I cried. Into the elevator that carried us home after the gala.
The doors close.
And I let myself fall apart.