Whitney descended the stairs, clad in a silk nightgown that flowed gracefully around her. She had thrown on a knitted cardigan, its fabric soft against her skin, as she hurried down. Her long hair was swept back, revealing the elegant curve of her neck.
Carter’s gaze lingered on her fair-skinned chest and delicate collarbone, a wave of longing washing over him. He swallowed hard, fighting to maintain the composure he desperately tried to project.
Whitney had rushed downstairs, her mind racing with thoughts of avoiding a scene. But as she caught the way Carter’s eyes roamed over her, a wave of disgust washed over her, prompting her to pull the cardigan tighter around her shoulders.
“Carter, if you’ve got something to say, just spit it out!” she snapped, her voice laced with irritation.
Carter, momentarily lost in thought, snapped back to reality.
“Was it you trending topic out there?” he asked, his eyes narrowing as he tried to gauge her reaction.
“Are you really that jealous of her? Jealous enough to pay for a smear campaign?” he pressed, his voice rising slightly.
Carter took a step closer, the tension between them palpable. “If you were really jealous, you could’ve just refused to call off the engagement. Then you’d still be Mrs. Harris.”
Whitney rolled her eyes, her patience wearing thin. “Cut it out! Stop making these pointless assumptions,” she shot back, her voice cold and impatient. “First off, I didn’t pay for that trending topic about Emily plagiarizing. I don’t have the kind of pull to keep her a trending topic all night.”
With a sneer, she continued, “If I really did have that kind of power, wouldn’t you be able to get it taken down yourself?”
Carter felt a pang in his chest, a mix of frustration and something deeper.
He knew she was right, but he wanted to see just how deeply Whitney was entangled in this mess. A flicker of hope ignited within him; if she truly acted out of jealousy, perhaps, just perhaps, he still held some significance in her life.
Over the past month and a half since their breakup, Whitney had systematically chipped away at his confidence.
Carter was desperate to find even the slightest shred of evidence that she had ever loved him. He couldn’t quite explain why this mattered so much to him, but the possibility that there was still a connection between them filled him with a hope that overshadowed his anger.
“Even if you didn’t pay for the trending topic, you were the one who took that singer boy to a lawyer to make trouble for Emily, weren’t you?” he challenged, his voice firm.
“Can you honestly say you didn’t have any ulterior motives?” he pressed, his gaze unwavering.
Carter stared deeply into her eyes, searching for any sign of remorse or guilt.
But to his dismay, she responded with a mocking smile, her expression cold.
“No. No jealousy, nor ulterior motives. I’m just sick of you both,” she declared, her voice as frigid as ice.
“Your wedding is next month, Carter. So have some self-respect and stop bothering me,” she added, her words striking like a dagger.
Carter was taken aback, the realization hitting him like a punch to the gut. “You already know?” he stammered, confusion clouding his thoughts.
Then it dawned on him. “Did my cousin tell you?” he asked, a hint of desperation in his voice.
Whitney responded with a faint smile, “No. As soon as you two set the date, your dear Milly couldn’t wait to come brag about it.”
“Congratulations. You finally got what you wanted. And congratulations to me, too,” she said, a hint of bitterness creeping into her tone.
Congrats to me for finally being free from all this drama, Whitney thought, a sense of relief washing over her.
Carter’s irritation flared. “Whitney, what do you mean?”
Her words felt like a blow to his ego, shattering whatever confidence he had left.
“Oh, shouldn’t I be congratulating you?” Whitney raised an eyebrow, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “She’s the girl you’ve loved for years, the one you’ve always held close to your heart. Now you two can finally be together without hiding. Of course, I should congratulate you.”
“Whitney, I don’t want to hear it. Stop acting like you’re so above it all, alright?” Carter muttered, his voice low and tense, the frustration evident.
Whitney narrowed her eyes, her smile unwavering. “Who’s pretending? Oh, by the way, I have a boyfriend now. So, congrats to you, and congrats to me.”
“Wait, what?” Carter blurted out, completely thrown off guard by her revelation.
For a moment, he stood frozen, grappling with disbelief.
Whitney shot him a scornful smile, relishing his shock. “I said, I have a boyfriend.”
A recent image flashed through Carter’s mind, the photo of Whitney with another man. The anger surged within him as he grabbed her wrist, his voice tight with frustration. “Whitney, are you really going to throw yourself away for some old man?”
“You really think being some old man’s sugar baby is something to brag about? What’s he got, money? I’ve got money too. Why don’t you just come crawling back to me instead?” Carter snapped, his voice rising.
In an instant, a sharp slap landed across Carter’s face, the sting echoing in the silence that followed.
Whitney’s eyes turned ice-cold. “Carter, don’t project your dirty mind onto me.”
“Since we broke up, I’ve said it a million times. I don’t love you anymore. I don’t care who you’re with; it’s your own business,” she declared flatly, her resolve unyielding.
“If you harass me again, I’ll call the cops,” she warned, her tone leaving no room for doubt.
With that, she turned on her heel and walked away, not daring to look back.
She wasn’t lying. The reality of their breakup had extinguished any lingering feelings she once had for Carter.
Now, all she sought was payback.
Carter stood rooted to the spot, lost in a sea of confusion and despair.
His heart felt as if it were being crushed by an invisible fist, the weight of her words suffocating.
How could she just stop loving me? he wondered, dazed and bewildered.
How could she let go so easily? The thought gnawed at him, leaving him reeling.
She had once loved him so fiercely. How could their world have shifted so dramatically?
The original reason for his visit had evaporated from his mind, replaced by a single thought: Whitney was now with someone else, and worse, it was an older man who couldn’t possibly compare to him.
Jealousy surged within him, spiraling out of control, an emotion he had never anticipated feeling so intensely.
How ironic. In the end, he was the one consumed by jealousy.
As Carter wandered away, looking utterly shattered, Whitney returned to her apartment, feeling nothing but irritation.
She hadn’t taken her phone with her, but as she noticed the screen glowing on her nightstand, she picked it up with a sigh.
Ten missed calls and several unread messages lit up the screen.
[The new bed gets here next week.]
[Wanna break it in together?]
[You asleep? Or are you mad at me? I just meant, it’s gonna be our bed soon.]
[Seriously, are you mad?]
[Sorry I made you upset, my bad.]
[Whit, pick up the phone.]
Whitney scrolled through the messages, a strange mix of emotions swirling within her.
‘Klein really sounds like he’s trying to please his girlfriend,’ she mused, a hint of amusement creeping in.
She had never thought of herself as Klein’s girlfriend. They were simply two people using each other to get what they wanted, nothing more.
Klein had been kind to her, always looking out for her, but the heartbreak of falling for a man, loving him deeply, and then being betrayed was a wound she couldn’t bear to revisit.
Maybe it was okay to be selfish, just this once.
Whitney wasn’t in the mood to respond tonight. With a heavy heart, she pulled the covers over her head and surrendered to sleep.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.