Chapter 1 The Slap That Ended It All #3
“He wouldn’t throw anything away. He wouldn’t even let me bring up the fact that he was still attached to Jessica’s things.
He said they were memories from his life that he didn’t want to lose, even though all of those items were things only Jessica had given him.
A couple’s coffee cup. Old photographs. Framed pictures of the two of them from the past. I had overlooked everything. ”
Her voice shook slightly as she continued, her anger rising while the ache in her chest grew even more intense because she really had given everything she could to the man she liked.
Ivan wasn’t just some random man she had simply accepted into her life. She had already had a crush on him when he proposed to her. She had truly believed that the man she was going to marry loved her.
Zoe’s voice rose as she said, “Thank God you didn’t marry him. Imagine if this had happened after you married that bastard. What a headache it would have been to realize that he was such an asshole. I would have hated finding out later that he was still in love with his fucking ex.”
Rose continued drinking her third martini, her hands trembling only slightly. The betrayal felt so raw and painful that her body ached slightly as she stood there, trying to process everything.
Suddenly, there were noises around them, and the one word that came through very clearly was the name Jessica.
Zoe and Rose immediately looked at each other as they overheard the voices mentioning Jessica’s name. Then they shifted toward the noise in the back, where a bunch of girls were talking.
“No, why would she even come back to Manhattan? I thought it was already perfect that she had a life with Brandon in France. I mean, Paris is the city of love, after all. Why would she come back here?” one of the girls said.
“I heard that it’s because Brandon caught her cheating on him,” another girl answered.
Zoe and Rose looked at each other, their eyes widening as they heard the information. They immediately moved closer to the voices, as quietly as they could, listening to the girls as they continued to chat.
Then the third girl flipped her hair back and said, “I know something that you don’t know. My sister told me. She’s best friends with Jessica.”
Immediately, all the girls shifted closer to her.
“Don’t hide it from us. Tell us! What’s going on? What are you talking about?” the girls demanded.
The third girl smirked, clearly enjoying the feeling of superiority, before saying, “Jessica was sleeping around. But it’s not like Brandon wasn’t sleeping around either.
He was sleeping with other girls as well.
So, both of them were seeing other people.
But Brandon, of course, didn’t know that Jessica was sleeping around too.
And when he caught her with his dad in his bed, he broke up with her and literally threw her out of his house without a penny.
That’s why Jessica is back in Manhattan now. ”
“What the hell? Are you serious? She slept with his dad?”
The girls looked horrified.
At the same time, Zoe and Rose looked at each other, their eyes widening as their mouths fell slightly open in shock.
The girl continued.
“Yeah, and that’s why he terminated her employment with his company.
My sister was talking to her about it over a video call, and when she realized I was listening, my sister moved to another room to talk to her.
That bitch even slammed the door in my face.
But that’s all I heard when Jessica was talking to my sister, and it was so juicy! ”
The girl stopped, disappointment appearing on her face.
“I couldn’t get the whole gossip.”
The other girls looked equally disappointed, some of them giggling as they began talking among themselves.
Zoe and Rose looked at each other in complete shock.
Zoe moved closer to Rose and whispered, “Holy shit. I had no idea Jessica was such a player.”
Rose merely shrugged as she sipped her martini, finishing the rest of the glass while the girls behind them continued gossiping.
“But you know what else I heard?” the girl continued. “As soon as Jessica landed, her ex-boyfriend, Ivan, sent her a diamond necklace. She landed at eight in the morning, and by nine, a million-dollar necklace was delivered straight to her doorstep.”
She leaned closer to the girls, clearly enjoying the gossip.
“She was bragging about it to my sister, saying she’d received so many gifts that she didn’t even know where to put them.
She was actually thinking about getting a private locker just to store all the expensive gifts she’d received from her admirers.
And the way she was talking about it was so damn casual too.
She was like, ‘Oh my God, I cannot. I don’t even know where I’m supposed to put all of these. ’ Like, seriously?”
A few of the girls exchanged amused looks.
“And get this—it turns out Ivan didn’t just send her a gift. He even invited her to meet him at a party tonight. The party is happening right now. Apparently, all of his friends are there too, but honestly, I think the whole thing is just an excuse to get Jessica to come and see him.”