CHAPTER 3
Elena
People said grief came in five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. If that was true, then maybe I was somewhere tangled between anger and bargaining, trying to make sense of something senseless.
Even though Adrian insisted that William didn’t know anything about his relationship with Phoebe, I couldn’t take his word for it. After all, what was I supposed to expect from someone who had already lied to his own wife?
Adrian, William and Phoebe had all been classmates in the same department back in college, and so was William’s wife, Astrid.
So, I reached out to her.
She agreed to meet me after work at a café near the place where she worked. When she walked in, her face lit up in that warm, familiar way she always greeted me.
“Elena! How are you? How’s the pregnancy? Everything smooth so far?”
“Yeah,” I lied, forcing a small smile. “Everything’s fine.”
But the moment we sat down, the lie crumbled.
“Astrid,” I whispered, “I need to tell you something.”
Her expression shifted instantly, concern softening her features. “What is it? You’re scaring me.”
So I told her—about Phoebe and the messages, about the sex Adrian swore had only happened once, about the months of emotional cheating that came before it, and the money… how he’d been sending it to her behind my back without me ever knowing.
Astrid’s eyes widened, shock flooding her expression. “Wait… Adrian? And Phoebe?” She leaned back, almost recoiling. “No. No, that can’t be right.”
But I just looked at her, and the truth answered for me.
She covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh my God... Elena.”
After a long breath, she said quietly, “Actually… Will mentioned something once. He said Adrian told him Phoebe had reached out after the reunion, so he warned him to be careful. But I didn’t think—God, I never thought it would go this far. I thought it ended after he warned him.”
I stared down at my hands, regretting how close I came to believing Adrian. Of course, Will knew. He was his best friend; there was no way he knew nothing at all.
Astrid gently touched my arm. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve told you, or at least checked in.”
Her voice hardened suddenly, a flash of old resentment surfacing. “I never liked Phoebe. Not even back in college. She had a reputation for sleeping around. And after graduation… people talked. A lot.”
She exhaled sharply, shaking her head. “She got married and it still didn’t change anything. If anything, it got worse. There were rumors… about her going after men with money.”
Her jaw tightened. “I hate that she dragged you into this. That she dragged your marriage into this.”
For a moment, something in me settled—a brief, fragile sense of being understood. A kind of clarity. Phoebe had always been trouble. Everyone knew it. Everyone stayed away. Except the one person who should’ve known better. The one person who promised to choose me, always.
The ache came back, settling deep in my chest. Grief looping back into anger, anger bleeding back into grief.
After talking to Astrid, I realized how desperately I needed another place to put this pain.
This wasn’t something I could carry alone, not without breaking.
I needed to hear myself say it out loud to someone who cared, someone who would hold even a fraction of this weight with me, if only so I knew I wasn’t losing my mind.
But the worst part was that the one person who had always been my place—my soft landing, my sounding board, the partner who listened to everything from work gossip to my deepest fears—was now the one who shattered me.
How did you confide in the person who broke your heart? You couldn’t. Not when he was the one who caused the pain.
I couldn’t go to my parents either. I couldn’t stand the thought of their faces falling, their hearts breaking with mine.
The same went for Adrian’s mother. I imagined her smile when she saw me, the warmth in her eyes, and knew I didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth, that I would have to stand there pretending everything was fine when it wasn’t.
It made me nauseous. But someone in the family had to know.
Someone besides me had to be aware of the mess Adrian created.
So, I chose Avery.
Avery had always been like a little sister to me. And somehow, telling her felt safer than telling anyone else. I called her and asked if she could come by the house, and thankfully, she agreed without hesitation.
When she arrived, Adrian still wasn’t home, so it was just the two of us. She stepped inside with her usual bright smile, the kind she always wore when she greeted me with. But the moment she saw my expression, the smile disappeared instantly.
“Elena? What’s wrong?”
I didn’t answer. I simply handed her my phone.
She scrolled once. Then twice.
Her expression twisted instantly from confusion to shock, then straight into disgust. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “No. No, he didn’t. Elena, I—I can’t—”
She dropped the phone on the table as if touching it any longer might poison her.
“Elena, I’m so sorry.” Her voice shook. “I’m so damn sorry my brother did this to you. You don’t deserve a single second of this.”
She reached for my hand, squeezing it tightly. “I swear, I support whatever you decide. Anything. And please, take care of yourself. Don’t let this stress you too much. The baby needs you healthy.”
A flash of anger crossed her face, sharp beneath the sympathy. “I know my brother,” she said, shaking her head. “He’s a good guy, but this? This is beyond stupid. This is him being a complete idiot.”
A humorless laugh escaped her. “No—you know what? He’s more than an idiot. He’s a fucking disaster right now.”
I let out a shaky breath, tears threatening again.
Avery moved to my side and pulled me into a hug. A tight, genuine one.
“Be strong,” she whispered. “You’re not alone. I’m always here for you. And believe me, I will deal with him myself. I’ll curse him out so bad he won’t know what hit him. Falling for some cheap woman like that? Really?”
She shook her head in pure disbelief. “He’s out of his damn mind.”
When we finally pulled apart, she hugged me once more, gentler this time. “You’re family to me, Elena. And I will always be on your side.”
And I suddenly felt it, not relief, not healing, but the smallest flicker of air in my lungs. Because someone else was finally carrying part of the weight with me.