[Nadine, you know if Raphael’s parents would never approve of a Delaunay, right? So, you better prepare, since they have arranged our engagement. They’ve wanted this for years.]
The air in the room seemed to vanish.
I re-read the message, disbelief twisting into something sharp and bitter in my chest. My classmate who had pretended to be nothing more than an amused onlooker, watching my love story unfold like a passing drama.
Only then did I realize—she had been part of the script all along.
My hands trembled. I knew Colette and Raphael had known each other since childhood, had attended the same prestigious schools, and had walked the same privileged paths.
Unlike me, the stranger who had barged into his world uninvited, she had always been there.
Yet, I had never imagined the betrayal would be this close.
A horrible thought struck me. "Could it be that she was there too?"
My voice came out in a whisper, my mind racing back to the cruel laughter of Raphael’s friends, the way they had mocked me, discussed my body as if I were nothing more than a scandal to be exploited.
Before I could process it, my phone buzzed again.
The words sliced through me like a blade, cold and merciless.