20
###Chapter 20
Victor hadn’t even opened his mouth yet when I stepped forward and yanked the phone from his hand, Colin’s voice still howling through the speaker.
“Colin.” My voice sliced through the air like a blade-cold, clear and merciless. “You’re the one who cheated. You’re the one who betrayed what we had. Never me.”
“We’re over. Completely. Who I’m with, where I live, what I do-it’s none of your damn business.”
There was a beat of stunned silence on the line. He’d never heard me like this before. Full of rage. Cold. Unflinching.
“Wait-Anne, I didn’t mean it like that! I panicked. Please, don’t take it to heart. Where are you? I’ll come get you, I’ve already planned the wedding again-grander, bigger this time. Just come home and we’ll-”
“Enough.” I cut him off, every word seething with frozen rage. “Stop lying to yourself. We are done. Forever. Go play house with Piper.”
“I don’t love her! I love you, Anne!”
“Love?” I almost laughed. A dry, bitter sound rose in my chest-no tears, just contempt.
“Your ‘love’ crushed the woman who loved you. You humiliated her, destroyed her dignity, left her gasping in the dark.
“That Anne-Anne who adored you-died by your hand. The person speaking to you now is someone you buried alive and who clawed her way back up from the grave. She feels nothing for you now but loathing.”
He started rambling again, his voice choked with desperation, trying to say it wasn’t what it looked like. That Piper reminded him of me. That he had made arrangements for my mother’s burial, found the best cemetery money could buy and that we could start fresh-
“No.” My voice was frighteningly still, as cold and still as black water.
‘I forgave you when you defended Piper the first time. I even swallowed the fake marriage license. But when she killed my mother and you took her side… that was the line, Colin. That was the end.”
My mother-my softest place. My one unbreakable boundary.
‘Don’t do this, Anne. I have the real papers now. We’re legally married-this time for real!”
He was still clinging to the idea that some piece of paper could bind me to a love he’d burned to ashes.
‘That document means nothing to me.” My voice was final, sharp as a guillotine. “We’re finished. For good.”
Just as his voice on the other end climbed toward another feverish plea, the phone slipped easily from my hand. Victor had taken it, his movements calm but precise.
He held it to his ear, let out a sharp, derisive breath. A sound thick with disdain.
“Save your breath, Colin. Stop harassing my fiancée. Trash like you doesn’t even deserve to say
her name.”
“Fi-fiancée?!” Colin’s voice cracked, stunned into confusion. “What the hell are you talking about?!”
Victor raised an eyebrow, his tone laced with faux innocence and venom. “Oh, did I forget to tell you? Anne and I are engaged. Just waiting for the right date to throw a little celebration.”
He tapped on his phone, pulled up a photo and sent it over.
A beat passed.
Then Colin’s agonized howl exploded through the speaker. “No-no way! That dress… that was the one… Piper said she accidentally ruined it-”
“Accidentally”?” Victor scoffed. His laughter was poison dipped in velvet. “You still think that was an accident? No wonder you lost everything-your money, your allies, your reputation. You’re just pathetic.”
His tone turned cutting, brutal.
“When we pick a date, I’ll be sure to send you an invitation. Though… let’s be honest. You probably won’t have the balls to show up.”
And with that, Victor ended the call.
Dead silence.
He pocketed the phone and turned toward me, the garden lights casting gold across his sharp features.
Then he looked at me-steady, calm and dangerously persuasive.
“I think,” he said, “this might be the most complete, most satisfying revenge you could ever give Colin.
“Marry me.”
