23. Alex
Alex
My heart stopped and promptly fell out of my body, landing on the floor with a dull thud. Or at least that’s what it felt like as that familiar voice landed on my ears.
No. It wasn’t possible. What were the odds? It couldn’t be. Not here. Not now. Not ever again.
But as I slowly turned, I saw the look of horror in Leo’s eyes. He knew it too.
Oh fuck.
“Alex?” she repeated. “Are you going to answer me?”
It was Amanda, my pool boy fucking ex-wife. In Italy. In the same goddamn bathhouse as Leo and me.
Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, I turned to look at her. And who should be standing behind her but fucking Tyler, the pool boy she’d been cheating on me with for months before our divorce.
I saw red instantly.
“What are you doing here?” I managed to get out, my voice sounding strangled even to my own ears.
Amanda’s face went through a series of expressions.
Surprise, anger, and then something that looked almost like satisfaction.
She was wearing a white linen dress that was nearly transparent, her dark hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail.
She looked good. Healthy. Happy, even. Which somehow made it worse.
I wanted her to look miserable after ruining my life.
“I could ask you the same thing,” she said, her eyes narrowing as they moved from me to Leo and back again. “In Italy. At a bathhouse. With...” She paused, tilting her head as she studied Leo with sudden, sharp interest. “Who is this?”
I could feel Leo tense beside me, could sense him trying to figure out what to say. My mind was racing, trying to find some plausible explanation that wouldn’t immediately give everything away.
“This is Leo,” I said, my voice carefully neutral. “My stepbrother. He invited me to stay at his villa for a couple of weeks.”
The way Amanda’s eyebrow arched told me she didn’t believe that for a second. Tyler, standing behind her with his perpetually confused expression, just looked like he was trying to keep up with the conversation.
“Your stepbrother,” Amanda repeated, drawing out the word like it was something distasteful. “How nice. And how long have you two been on speaking terms?”
“Amanda—” I started.
“No, I’m genuinely curious,” she continued, stepping closer.
“Because the last time we spoke, you didn’t talk to your family.
At all. You hadn’t seen your parents in months and your stepbrother?
You didn’t even talk about him. The only reason I knew he existed was because your dad talked about him once at a Christmas party.
” She didn’t give me a chance to respond before she turned on Leo.
“And you. You brought him out here even after what he did to me? Decided to give him a nice little vacation after ruining my life?”
“Ruining your life?” I barked, unable to help myself. “You divorced me, Amanda. You cheated on me with that!” I jabbed a finger in Tyler’s direction. “And then you took half my stuff, got me fired from my job, and turned my parents against me.”
“I didn’t turn your parents against you,” Amanda said coldly. “You did that all by yourself by being a workaholic asshole who couldn’t even be bothered to come home for dinner half the time. I just told them the truth.”
“I was working to support us!” My voice was rising now, echoing off the stone walls of the bathhouse entrance. “I was building something, Amanda. A future. And you threw it away because you were bored and wanted to ride the pool boy.”
“I threw it away?” She laughed, a sharp, bitter sound. “You threw away our marriage the moment you decided work was more important than me. I just finally accepted it.”
I could feel Leo’s hand on my arm, a gentle pressure trying to ground me. I took a breath, trying to rein in the anger that was threatening to consume me entirely. This wasn’t the time or place for this. We were still in public. People were starting to stare.
“What are you doing here?” I asked again, forcing my voice to remain level. “Really. In Italy. With him.”
Amanda exchanged a look with Tyler, and something in that glance made my stomach turn. They looked comfortable together. Easy. Like they understood one another in a way Amanda and I had never achieved.
“I told you, we’re on a trip,” she said simply. “We wanted to see Italy before we started a family.”
I let out an involuntary gasp, and she smiled, knowing she’d wounded me. After my last promotion, we were planning to start a family too. But that was before the divorce.
“We’re actually engaged now, by the way,” she added with a grin. “He proposed last month.”
The words landed like a punch to the gut. I knew I had no right to care. I knew I should have moved on by now. But some part of me, some petty, wounded part, had always harbored the fantasy that she’d regret leaving me. That eventually she’d realize what she’d lost.
Instead, she’d found happiness with the fucking pool boy.
“Congratulations,” I said flatly.
“Thank you.” She tilted her head, studying me with renewed interest. “You know what’s really interesting though? I’ve never seen you like this before. You seem... relaxed. Happy, even.”
If it had been any other time or any other situation, I might’ve kept my cool.
But after listening to Amanda gloat about her happiness built on the shattered ruins of my life, I couldn’t help myself.
Words were spilling from my lips before I could think them through, words intended to wound her just as deeply as she wounded me.
“Well, I found out I’m gay, actually,” I said. Amanda’s face contorted as she went through several emotions all at once and I couldn’t help but smile. “It’s actually thanks to you. Once I had some time to myself to reflect on how much I hated fucking you, I realized that you turned me gay.”
Out of the corner of my eye I watched as Leo’s jaw fell open in surprise. Tyler’s did the same. But Amanda gritted her teeth. I’d seen that before. She was furious.
“I didn’t turn you gay,” she growled. “I’m a fucking ten and you know it. You were lucky to have me.”
“You’re a six at best,” I replied. “But you’re right, I was lucky to have you. Because you showed me just how much I couldn’t stomach being with women.” Then, just to add some spice to my lies, I added, “I guess that explains all those work trips out of town, huh?”
Nothing I was saying was true, of course, but the absolute turmoil it inflicted on my ex-wife was delicious all the same.
She thought she’d gotten one up on me by fucking the pool boy.
But now, not only did she think she turned me gay, but that I’d been out fucking every man I could find on work trips.
It was a beautiful lie, and it brought me so much joy to see her suffer the way she’d made me.
However, there was one thing I’d forgotten about Amanda since our divorce. She was quick, clever, and cruel when she wanted to be. And my momentary success was short-lived.
“Leo, I remember you now,” she said, never looking away from me.
“You’re the gay interior designer.” I felt my pulse quicken.
She had that look in her eye, like she knew something I didn’t.
“So that’s the real reason for this trip, huh?
Had to get away from the family so you could fuck your stepbrother in peace? ”
My heart stopped and my stomach clenched. Amanda had no idea that she’d stumbled upon the truth completely by accident. That she’d just brought my deepest darkest secret into the daylight in the blink of an eye.
“W-What?” I scoffed, but it wasn’t convincing. “What the hell are you talking about—”
“I wonder what your parents will think about that?” she grinned.
“I still have their numbers you know. Your mom and I talk every couple of weeks.” She gave a little shrug.
“She’d believe anything I say. I bet she’d even believe that her son and stepson are fucking in secret, especially if I claimed I caught you doing just that at a bathhouse in Italy… ”
“Amanda,” I started, the pleading tone in my voice making my stomach turn. “Don’t do that. I don’t give a shit about me, but Leo doesn’t deserve that.”
Leo’s hand tightened on my arm, his grip almost painful.
I could feel him trembling beside me, though whether from anger or fear, I couldn’t tell.
Amanda was still smiling that predatory smile, and I realized with a sinking sensation that she’d figured it out.
Not from any slip on my part, but from pure, dumb luck and her own cruel intuition.
“You wouldn’t,” I said, but even I could hear how hollow the threat sounded.
“Wouldn’t I?” She stepped closer, her heels clicking against the stone floor.
Tyler hovered uncertainly behind her, clearly uncomfortable with how this was playing out.
“I’ve got nothing to lose, Alex. I’m engaged, I’m happy, and honestly?
The idea of destroying you is almost as satisfying as Tyler’s cock. ”
Leo made a small sound beside me, something between a laugh and a sob. I glanced at him and saw that his face had gone pale, his amber eyes wide with panic.
“This is between you and me,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady even though everything inside me was falling apart. “If you want to threaten someone, threaten me. But leave Leo out of this, Amanda.”
“Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong.” Amanda tilted her head, studying us both with renewed interest. “If I call your mother right now and tell her that I caught her precious son and his stepbrother in a very compromising position at an Italian bathhouse, do you really think she’s going to believe your denials? ”
I opened my mouth to respond, but Amanda held up a hand.
“Your parents don’t speak to you as it is,” she continued, her voice dripping with satisfaction.
“After I told them how you treated me, how you prioritized work over our marriage, they were already disappointed. But this? This would probably destroy them. Your mother especially. She’s so traditional, Alex. So concerned with what people think.”
She was right, and that was the worst part.
My mother would be devastated. She already took Amanda’s side in the divorce, dragging my father along with her.
And if Amanda told her that I was having an incestuous affair with my stepbrother, she might not believe it completely, but just the thought would silently confirm every fear my parents had ever had about me being fundamentally a fuck-up.
“What do you want?” Leo asked suddenly, his voice quiet but steady. I looked at him in surprise. He was staring directly at Amanda, his jaw set, those amber eyes blazing with something that looked like determination. “What will it take for you to keep your mouth shut?”
Amanda’s smile widened. “Well, well. The stepbrother speaks. Let’s see...” She tapped a finger against her chin, considering. “I think I’d like for Alex to admit, right here, right now, that he was a terrible husband. That I was justified in leaving him. That I’m better off without him.”
“Absolutely not,” I said immediately.
“Then I’m calling your parents.”
She pulled out her phone, and I felt panic claw at my throat. This couldn’t be happening. Not like this. Not with Leo standing right beside me, about to watch everything implode.
“Wait,” Leo said again, and there was something in his tone that made me turn to look at him. His expression was calm, almost serene, and I realized with a start that he’d made some kind of decision. “I’ll tell you what’s actually going to happen, Amanda.”
She paused, her phone still in her hand, and looked at him with amusement. “Oh? And what’s that?”
“You’re going to put that phone away,” Leo said, his voice steady and clear. “And you’re going to walk out of this bathhouse and go back to your hotel. And you’re never going to mention this to anyone.”
Amanda laughed, a sharp, brittle sound that echoed off the stone walls. “And why would I do that?”
“Because if you don’t,” Leo continued, stepping forward slightly, “I’m going to take Tyler here back to my villa and show him a better time than your worn out old Ikea bag of a pussy ever could.”
Amanda’s smile melted into rage. “How fucking dare—”
“And then,” Leo interrupted, his voice dropping lower, more dangerous, “I’m going to call up my ex-boyfriend.
He’s a very expensive lawyer. And I’m going to sue you for defamation if you make any false claims about me or Alex.
I have the resources to tie you up in court for years.
I have the money to make your life a living hell if you push me. ”
For the first time since she’d appeared, Amanda looked uncertain. She glanced at Tyler, who was watching this exchange with growing alarm, then back at Leo.
“You’re bluffing,” she said, but there was doubt in her voice now.
“Maybe,” Leo said. “But are you really willing to risk it? To gamble with your new engagement, your new life, everything you’ve built? All for the satisfaction of hurting Alex one more time?”
The silence that followed was deafening. Amanda’s knuckles were white around her phone. I could see the calculation happening behind her eyes, the moment she realized that Leo wasn’t someone she could manipulate or intimidate the way she’d done to me.
“Fuck you,” she said finally, lowering her phone. “Both of you.”
She turned on her heel and walked toward the exit, Tyler scurrying after her like a lost puppy. I watched them go, my heart still pounding in my chest, unable to quite believe what had just happened.
As soon as they were out of sight, Leo’s hand found mine, and I turned to look at him. His face was flushed, his breathing still elevated, but there was a fierce pride in his expression that made something catch in my chest.
“Thank you,” I said quietly.
“Don’t thank me yet,” he replied, squeezing my hand. “My ex-boyfriend is a professor of art history, not a lawyer.”
“You were bluffing?”
He nodded. “A lot.”
“Fuck…” I groaned, pulling him closer. “I don’t know why… but that’s kind of hot.”
Leo grinned. “Well, let’s go back to the villa and you can show me just how hot you think it is.” He glanced over my shoulder before looking back at me. “But let’s make sure that cunt doesn’t follow us home. She’s got crazy eyes.”
“You have no idea…”