DYLAN
There she was….
The love of my life.
She was dressed in a baggy shirt and sweats, her hair was up in a messy bun, and she looked like she had lost some weight, but she couldn’t look any more beautiful if she tried. Perhaps, I was speaking like a love-struck fool, but even if Brielle were to be clad in the filthiest of rags, I was pretty sure she was still going to be as resplendent as a ravishing queen in my eyes. Only one feeling echoed in the depths of my heart in that moment;
Regret.
This was all because of me.
I had done this. I had torn us apart. I had failed to give her a second chance, to hear her out, and now… it was my turn to be the guilty party, because through it all… Brielle had emerged,
Blameless.
A lot of things were running through my mind as we both stood there, staring at each other.
I thought about the past month and how it had been unbearable. I thought about how I had held on only thanks to my foolish hard-headedness.
God, I really had been foolish.
When Ryan had turned up at my apartment, it had taken an unbelievable amount of restraint to not pounce on him, much less invite him in and listen to what he had to say… but it had been worth it.
Oh, it really had.
Lucia broke the silence. “D-Dylan. W-what are you doing here?” She seemed very much shaken; and I was too lost absorbing all of her features to even think up a response to her question, so I just stood there looking at her, an unreadable expression on my face. Brielle looked back at Ryan, and then at me, her eyes widening slightly as some kind of comprehension dawned in her eyes. “I know how this looks like, Dylan… but I promise there’s nothing going on between Ryan and me-”
Oh, she didn’t realise we had come together.
I placed my hands on her shoulders in a bid to calm her down. “I know.” I cut her off with a soft whisper, brushing past her to take a seat on one of the sofas. Heaven knows I really needed that.
To be honest, I was still reeling from the shock of what Ryan had told me, and I had been too angry, and too ashamed to even show my face at her apartment, but Ryan was right. He wouldn’t have been able to convince her alone, so it was imperative that I join the meeting.
Brielle shut the door behind her and softly padded over to us. “Can someone tell me what is going on? What have I done this time?” She quizzed, her gaze flicking from Ryan to me.”
“Lucia,” Ryan started. “I think maybe you need to sit down for this. This may take a while.” He told her. She did as he said without saying a word.
“Lucia, look… I owe you an apology for everything I have put you through in the past month and-”
“If that’s why you’re here, then you can get up and leave!” She barked harshly. “I don’t know why you dragged Dylan here for that… but if this is some ploy to clear your conscience and rid yourself off any guilt, I’m afraid I can’t help you. You may have gotten that from him, but you will never ever get it from me!” She threw at him, her eyes narrowed in anger.
“I understand your anger Lucia, but I had no choice-”
“You had a choice, Ryan. You fucking did.” Brielle seethed. This was honestly not going anywhere. I had to do something.
“Brielle, Ryan did this to you because he was being blackmailed by Madeline.” I explained, cutting off their banter. She was silent for a moment. “Wait, what?” She said, looking to Ryan for confirmation. He nodded. “It’s true, Lucia. Madeline Decker was blackmailing me.”
BRIELLE
I could not believe my ears.
Just how much power did this woman have to be able to blackmail someone from one of the most affluent families in the city?
“Well, what are you waiting for?” I asked, still quite in shock. “Tell me everything.”
Ryan took a deep breath. “Okay, so it was the night that I met you at the club,” He started.
Oh, it was that unfortunate night.
I honestly wish that night never even existed.
“Madeline visited me at my home,” He continued, snapping me out of my reverie. “Her agenda was simple. She wanted to know if I had any feelings for you.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Dylan clench his jaw. I forced myself to pay attention to what Ryan was saying instead. “I told her that I wasn’t sure how I felt about you was any of her business. She laughed and said it was, because if I did have any feelings for you, she had the perfect way to make me have you all to myself.”
I didn’t see where this was going. So far, all it was making me do was remember that day, and along with remembering came the even worse bouts of guilt that almost drove me to a frenzy, and it wasn’t really helping matters that Dylan was here.
“Look Ryan,” I interrupted. “Can you get to the end already? I honestly don’t know where you’re going with this long tale.”
He nodded. “I told her I had no more feelings for you, Lucia… and she said well that was too bad because she needed my help to get Dylan to leave you.”
Wait, what?
“So you weren’t lying when you said you had gotten over me.” I mused out loud. Ryan chuckled softly. “No, I was not. Everything I told you that night was true. Madeline had access to some important family secrets that would have ruined the whole family had I let her bring them to light, Lucia. And I’m not justifying what I did, coming between you and Dylan like that, but it was the only way to bid for more time, which I had none of at that particular moment.”
“What kind of family secrets were those, Ryan?” I asked in silent wonder. His gaze was sharp. “The kind that the press would have feasted on in delight…” He answered. “…The kind that would have sent my old mother and aunt right to the grave, Lucia.”
“But, how did you even know I was going to be at that particular club?”
“She told me she had been keeping tabs on you, so all I had to do was turn up at the Novelty, and take you home with me.” He answered.
I stood up and began to pace, it all suddenly seemed too much. I hadn’t been making it up then… it hadn’t been a figment of my imagination, someone had really been following me that whole day. I already felt sick to my stomach. Heaven knows I’d been really struggling to sleep at night because of the whole experience.
“So what exactly did you do to me Ryan? How did I end up at your place? I asked. “Because I was vaguely aware that I did not drink nearly enough to be that intoxicated.”
“I spiked your drink.” Ryan told me point blank, my mouth opening in shock at his admission. “I slipped a sleeping pill in your drink when you weren’t looking.” He had the decency to look ashamed. Dylan couldn’t take it anymore, he just stood up from his seat and walked to the door and out of the apartment. I was too invested in Ryan’s tale to care where he was going.
“I did not sleep with you, Lucia.” He shook his head. “Nothing happened that night. I was supposed to, and take pictures after we were done to send to Dylan if I wanted my family’s secrets protected.” He explained.
“How the fuck did I end up in your bed then?” I asked, still trying to take it all in.
“I realised I could ease my conscience slightly if I made you believe you and I slept together.” He told me softly. “I figured once you found out, you’d definitely tell Dylan about it… and I wasn’t wrong.”
This was all too much.
“But I woke up naked-”
“I got one of my maids to get you out of your clothes, Lucia. I spent the whole night in one of the guest rooms.” He interrupted. I collapsed into my seat, head bent, fingers rubbing my temples in gentle circles to soothe the raging headache I could feel coming on. Dylan came back into the apartment in that moment.
I stood up again, my hands gesturing for emphasis. “So let me get this straight,” I mused out loud. “I didn’t cheat on Dylan?”
Ryan shook his head. “No Lucia, you didn’t cheat on him,” He confirmed. “And I would have told you about it sooner, but I had to keep everything quiet if I wanted to make it look credible. To be honest, I was hoping that Dylan would have given you a second chance, then Madeline’s plan would have failed and I would have had some kind of redemption for what I did, but it didn’t happen.”
Dylan had the decency to avoid my gaze.
Great.
I laughed mirthlessly. “How am I to know you’re not lying to me right now, Ryan?” I asked. “Because at this point, it is fair to say that I’m quite skeptical of every word that comes out of your mouth.”
“He’s not lying, Brielle.” Dylan came to his rescue, much to my surprise. “I have been over to his house, I’ve interrogated his staff, and I’ve gone through camera footages from that night… everything he says is the truth.”
I scoffed. “I wonder how he managed to convince you to hear him out, Dylan…” I told him angrily. “Because I quite remember how adamant you had been when I tried to talk to you about all of this.”
I could clearly see the look on his face now;
Pure regret.
Well, it seemed a little too late for that now.
“Bree-”
I cut him off. “I’m not done talking, Dylan. I think I’ve heard enough, and as you must have realised… this is a lot to take in.” I took a deep breath. “I think you two need to leave.”
There was a look of hurt in his eyes that was suddenly concealed under a blank mask of indifference, and I couldn’t help but feel like perhaps, I should have asked him to stay. But the thing was, a lot had happened in the past month;
I had changed, I had done some growing up of my own, and I bet he had too… and I really needed to take this all in. I didn’t know if I could forgive him for treating me so unfairly, and I didn’t want to rush into accepting him back…
Wait, did he even want me back?
They both stood up, the action taking me out of my musings. Ryan glanced from Dylan to me. “Uh, I guess I am done here… and for what it’s worth, I really hope you two will come to forgive me for all the pain I’ve caused you.” He walked out of my apartment without another word.
Dylan and I were left alone in the room, the atmosphere was so full of tension that you could cut it with a knife if you tried. My gaze was everywhere but on him. “I thought I asked you to leave, Dylan.” I told him, my voice soft.
“I would if you’d look me in the eyes, Brielle.” He replied, inching closer and closer to me, even as I took tentative steps away from him. My back hit the wall, and I realised quite too late that there was nowhere else to run to. I looked up at him, love and desire shining ever so bright in my eyes and, I may have been hallucinating… but I swear, the same emotions reflected in his.
I closed my eyes to avoid his beautiful blue ones, to cut off all the loud screams that begged me to press my lips against his.
Because sometimes, love was just not enough.