Chapter 2
“You look like you’ve been through hell.”
“Why don’t you let yourself in.”
There was no denying it. Emily did look worn down to the seams. The only solace she got was from what her grandparents used to say in French.
Il faut que jeunesse se passe.
Meaning, youth must have its flings. Young people must live their experiences even if they make mistakes. She was, undoubtedly, wallowing in the ruins of one of hers.
“What the hell happened?” Chelsea, her older sister, demanded, tossing her bag onto the couch.
“Do you know how shocked I was to see that text in the group chat? ‘Wedding’s off’?
Seriously? Right after your bachelorette party?
You’re lucky you didn’t make this engagement public. The paparazzi would’ve eaten this up.”
Emily was silent.
Chelsea’s eyebrows pinched together. “Hey, whatever happened…” She studied her face. “It’s not your fault, okay? Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise. At least you can skip the embarrassment of having a husband like that if he’s capable of calling off a wedding.”
Emily let out a shaky breath.
“He did call it off, right?” Chelsea pressed.
“No, I did,” she replied, “but I didn’t get the chance to actually tell him that. He said it was a postponement. That he needed to sort out some company stuff first. That we had to push back the date, and then he hung up.”
“He said all this over the phone?! Please tell me you canceled the venue and got a refund.” Chelsea winced. “Wait…do they even refund this close to the date? I told you, you should’ve gone to a chapel and called it a day. Or, I don’t know, not marry him at all!”
As expected from Chelsea. She could be a spendthrift, but she was known for saving everyone else’s ass from dumb financial decisions. The only exceptions were bags. Bags were a necessity in her eyes as they made an outfit.
“You’ll be thrilled to know he beat me to it. Sorted everything out before I got the chance. They even said he didn’t book a new date.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Did he plan to do this?” Chelsea crossed her arms. “Emily, you’re way out of his league. He’s lucky you even looked at him, let alone wasted years on his sorry ass.”
Her sister was always the one to remind her who they were, though she really didn’t need it.
The Pinault family was one the most distinguished households in the world, famous for manufacturing the finest jewelry.
Their grandfather was the honorary chairman.
Their father made his own name by investing in diamond and copper mines.
Years later, he married the daughter of a chemical manufacturing company, their mother.
Emily sighed, wondering if she should just say it, tell Chelsea the truth: Jake cheated on me.
However, her sister pivoted to a new topic and saved her the embarrassment. Maybe Chelsea knew this wasn’t the end of the conversation.
And she was right. It wasn’t.
All week Emily had been tormented.
She’d barely ate, slept. She just kept replaying the heartbreak like a bad season finale to her favorite show, one she wished she could change the ending of.
She’d even begun doubting herself, wondering if it was because she hadn’t slept with Jake he had to get his fix elsewhere. Wondering if it was because she was a virgin who’d only taken him to the third base and never beyond. Her mind grew new insecurities she never had before and she hated them.
Suddenly, Chelsea brought up Sophia Torres, Emily’s old academic rival from prep school.
Her neck snapped so fast Chelsea probably thought she got whiplash.
“Whoa, are you okay?!”
“I’m fine.” Emily’s mind was still reeling from the mention of the Torres heir. “Did you just say Sophia’s husband cheated on her?”
Chelsea’s eyes lit up, happy she was showing interest in gossip for once. “Yeah, he turned their marriage into a fucking joke. Sophia got the last laugh though. She went in for the kill.”
Emily’s face twisted. “The kill?”
Her sister swatted her hand. “Not that kind,” she clarified, easing her panic. “Though I know she probably considered it too…but she brought him to a nature retreat.”
Oh. What’s a retreat supposed to do?
As if reading her mind, Chelsea continued, “She brought her bestie, Jessica, too. You know her.”
“Her pick-me friend from the academy?” Emily asked but knew the answer anyway.
Chelsea nodded. “Yep. And guess what?” She paused a few seconds for added effect. “Turns out Jessica was the mistress all along!”
What the hell?! That was the last thing Emily expected. Sophia and Jessica, Dumb and Dumber, as she liked to call them, were equally inseparable as they were insufferable. She never thought one would betray the other like that.
“When those two were bold enough to make out where they thought the coast was clear—and I mean full-blown action with her hand in his pants and her dress hiked to her chest—Sophia’s hidden cameras caught everything.”
Emily’s eyes tore open in shock.
“Now everyone’s seen the footage she’s put out.
Friends, colleagues, even potential business partners.
Frank is so fucking screwed, and not in the way he expected,” Chelsea snickered, referring to the social-climbing husband who’d always rubbed Emily the wrong way.
He had a history of sleeping around when they were teenagers. But now with Jessica of all people?
God.
Turned out men had a habit of eating close to home.
“What they did was social suicide. They’re both done for,” Chelsea tsked with a shake of her head. “But you know what?”
Emily stared at her, waiting on what she’d say.
“I’m happy she got back at them.”
She stiffened. “Chels—”
“What?” Chelsea asked innocently. “Being the bigger person sucks in these situations.”
Emily looked away, her jaw tightening.
Her sister’s gaze followed the motion. “I’m just saying,” she muttered, shrugging one shoulder. “Sometimes people need to be reminded who they’re dealing with.”
Emily lifted her eyes, seeing that she was already watching her, almost daring her to disagree.
She held her stare longer than she meant to. Too long. Long enough for the suggestion to stop sounding ridiculous and start sounding…justified.
Chelsea tilted her head, a knowing smile curving at the corners of her mouth.
Maybe she was right.
Maybe…maybe it was time they remembered exactly who Emily was.
That was when it hit her, like a light bulb flickering to life. Twisted and risky. A plan.
A revenge plan.
Emily knew something like this wasn’t morally right. She knew better, but the well-behaved part of her, the part that always kept her head down when she was wronged, wanted to be the bad guy for once.
Just this once.
Let me actually be worthy of the title.