Page 34 of The Billionaire's Betrayal
The contrast was heartbreaking, and I knew I was solely responsible.
Faced with her uncertain gaze, the weight of my guilt became crushing.I had dismissed her concerns about Audrey with a wave of my hand, calling them irrational jealousy.Now, confronted with her barely concealed vulnerability, I measured the extent of my blindness.
I set down my suitcase and moved toward her, driven by a visceral need to hold her close.Her familiar perfume enveloped me, awakening in me a sense of fulfillment that I had almost forgotten.
The evening unfolded in a strange normality.We exchanged news as before: my trip, her days, company events.The words flowed easily, but something rang false.Like a familiar melody played in a slightly off-key tone.
Then I felt the change in her attitude.Her voice softened, her gestures became more intimate.She was trying to rebuild that bridge between us, to recapture our tender and physical connection.
My body responded to her presence, but my mind was paralyzed by guilt.The image of Audrey floated between us like an accusing ghost.How could I accept Eva's tenderness when my thoughts were inhabited by another?
"I'm exhausted," I whispered, gently backing away."The trip was grueling."
Another lie in the growing list of my betrayals.
She smiled, a smile tinged with sadness.I saw the pain she was trying to mask, the wound I was digging a little deeper each day.She simply nodded, accepting my rejection with a dignity that made me feel even more miserable.
21.You're suffocating me!
EVA
Tristan hadn't been himself since his trip to New York.I noticed a subtle change in him.In the evenings, he came home at reasonable hours and didn't fail to send me a text when he was running late, but his mind seemed elsewhere.Nothing very obvious, but it was there.He, who was generally calm and self-possessed, began to show signs of impatience, frustration.A new tension inhabited his gestures, his silences.And I feared I knew the reason for this change.
"What's bothering you, Tristan?"I asked gently."You're quiet, completely distracted.I feel like something's eating at you..."
I hoped he would talk to me, that he would admit his attraction to Audrey, because then he would no longer be in denial.If he agreed to confide in me, we could face it together.I wanted him to trust us to overcome this ordeal.Because that's all it was, a trial.A passing crisis that we could get through if only we remained united.
I wanted him to fight for us, but he did none of that.
"It's nothing, just fatigue, don't worry," he replied, giving me a slightly forced smile.
But this situation had been going on for days, and I refused to let him continue burying his head in the sand.I had begun to hear gossip at the office.People whispered that Audrey and he were growing closer, that there was likely something going on, that Tristan was completely smitten.Each rumor was a blow to my heart and my ego.He had refused to make our relationship official, yet he was openly associating with his assistant.This situation was weighing on me more and more.
Tonight, I wanted answers.
"Stop dodging, Tristan," I pressed him."It's not just a question of fatigue, I know that.There's something else.Tell me what?"
I thought I glimpsed a flash of frustration in his eyes.And then, suddenly, his reaction erupted, brutal.
"Since when have you become so clingy?"he snapped."Are you doing this on purpose or what?Let me breathe.You're suffocating me!"
I remained petrified, breathless from the violence of his words.This sudden anger, this burst of impatience...I had never seen him like this.He rose abruptly and left the room, leaving me alone, helpless, with the feeling that something had just irrevocably broken between us.
Tristan became increasingly distant.He had stopped making love to me, and the "I love yous" he once offered no longer crossed his lips.I knew professional stress was weighing on him, but it was deeper than that.He was emotionally detaching from me, and I watched it happen, powerless, unable to reach him, as if an invisible wall had been erected between us.
They say love can overcome anything, but that's a lie.Love is a battle fought by two, and when one gives up, the other can only watch their story sink.My attempts to reach him ran up against his silence, each rebuff digging the gap between us a little deeper.
As the days passed, a terrifying thought crept into me: what if this battle was already lost from the start?
At the office, I kept my head high.I led meetings, made decisions, played my role as CEO with the confidence expected of me.But in the evening, once our front door closed, the mask fell.I sank into a lethargy from which nothing seemed able to pull me.I had never felt so vulnerable, so close to the edge.
The worst was seeing the woman I was becoming.The one I met in the mirror was a stranger to me: suspicious, bitter, consumed by a jealousy that ate at me like acid.The mere sight of Audrey was now enough to trigger a deep rage in me, a primitive anger that threatened to explode at the slightest of her smiles.
To keep my emotions under control, I began taking boxing lessons with a private coach.It didn't take long for him to understand the extent of my rage.During our first session, after a few minutes of shadow boxing, he stopped the timer and observed me for a long time.
"Looks like you've got a lot to unload, right?"
I didn't answer.Instead, I hit the bag with even more force.
