Bitter Awakening

The glow of the phone screen lit up the dark bedroom as a fresh Instagram upload from Mallory appeared, showing an empty, rumpled bed. Below the image sat a pointed caption: [They say the true measure of a man's love is how badly he wants you.]

Mallory still didn't have the nerve to drag her affair with Gideon out into the open on social media. After all, she had no legitimate claim to stand on.

Stretched out on her own mattress, Cordelia felt warm liquid trickle from her nostril. A nosebleed had started without warning. She stayed still in the quiet room for a long stretch, a persistent tremor running through her hands and feet.

Turning her current reality over in her mind, she realized there was very little left worth holding onto. Her mother had died years ago, and her father had quickly moved on to a new marriage. Her stepmother had treated her horribly, leaving behind deep childhood scars that once made Cordelia terrified of men altogether. If not for that lingering fear, with her striking looks, she never would have resorted to blind dates and a rushed marriage.

Drawing a long breath, Cordelia raised her fingers to her face and felt the dampness on her skin. Those tears weren't from heartbreak; they came from pure rage. Measured against life and death, almost nothing truly mattered, yet she had genuinely loved Gideon.

Cordelia opened her own Instagram, selected a photo, and typed out a caption before hitting post: [Spring has arrived, and this little one at home is going into heat again. I'm taking her in to get spayed tomorrow.] The picture showed her Ragdoll cat.

The feline was gorgeous, with bright blue eyes and a sweet, affectionate nature. Cordelia had brought the little Ragdoll home the previous winter and named her Marshmallow. Oddly enough, Marshmallow had always been quite attached to Gideon. Because Gideon had made his dislike for children clear early on, Cordelia had chosen to raise this cat to fill that empty space instead of having a baby.

Mallory's post about gauging a man's love through physical desire hit a raw nerve for Cordelia. Across the entire four years of their marriage, Gideon's attitude toward her had remained lukewarm at best. While they shared a polite, comfortable closeness, their relationship was completely devoid of real heat. Maybe physical passion required actual love to spark it in the first place.

Sleep completely eluded Cordelia that night. Four years had gone by just like that. How many four-year chapters did one person even get in a single lifetime? Ever since the day she married Gideon, she had poured her whole heart into building their life together.

A bitter laugh escaped her lips in the quiet room. Since sleep wasn't coming anyway, she pulled up Mallory's profile, copied her name and photo, and forwarded the whole thing to her childhood best friend. Her friend was currently studying in Valerius, attending the exact same university Mallory had graduated from.

A reply popped up almost immediately: [Hold on, isn't this that senior from my school? She's a total social butterfly with quite the reputation around campus. She knows how to wrap anyone around her finger and once pulled out all the stops chasing some handsome guy in our department.]

By sheer coincidence, Cordelia's closest friend, Bianca Vargas, knew exactly who Mallory was.

Cordelia's fingers shook against the glass screen as she typed back: [She's Gideon's ex-girlfriend. She works at his company now, and he's cheating on me with her. As we speak, he's in her bed.]

That single, brief sentence carried a crushing weight behind it. On the other end of the line, Bianca went completely quiet. The top of the chat screen showed the typing indicator appearing, vanishing, and starting up all over again.

After a long pause, a single word finally came through: [Damn!]

Cordelia skipped right past the shock and zeroed in on the useful detail, asking: [You mentioned Mallory chased after a good-looking guy in your class?]

Bianca clearly didn't know how to comfort her right now. Her first instinct was probably to curse Gideon out, though she held back for Cordelia's sake and texted instead: [I'll send you a picture of him right now. Hang in there for me. I'm booking a ticket home. I was planning to fly back in a few days anyway, so I'll just move my trip up.]

Seconds later, an image loaded in the chat. Even standing in a crowd of seven or eight people, the man in the photo stood out effortlessly due to his height. He carried a striking, magnetic presence, with sharp features that could easily belong to a movie star on television. Strange as it was, Cordelia felt a vague sense of familiarity looking at his face.

She thought it over for a moment before tapping out another question: [Is he from Oakhaven too? Can you get me his contact info?]

Bianca's reply practically radiated fierce determination: [You bet! The second I land, I'm going to rip that fake little angel's mask right off myself!]

Cordelia rubbed at her eyes, wincing at the dull ache behind them, and wrote back: [I already have a plan in mind. Stay put for now. I'll come to Valerius to meet you.]

Bianca shot back an eager sticker along with her text: [Got it!]

Cordelia lifted a hand to her face, only to find fresh blood trickling from her nose again. Wiping it away, she sent one more message: [What kind of family does this guy come from? Does his background outrank Gideon's?]

Instead of typing, Bianca sent a voice note straight through the app. "His name is Killian Thorne, and he keeps a really low profile. Nobody knows the exact details of his family background. Rumor has it he's the heir to the Thorne family, the most powerful clan in all of Oakhaven, though Killian has never once confirmed it."

Cordelia pressed the record button and spoke in a cool, steady voice. "Okay. Get me everything you have on this heir in three minutes."