Page 110 of The Heart of a Villain

“I hate being so dramatic,” I mutter under my breath, shaking my head and willing myself to stay true to the promise I made.

Forget Rush and everything that happened on the island.

Who falls in love at eighteen anyway? Maybe I’m attached to him because he was my first… practically everything, and if I meet someone and then….

Revulsion rushes through me at the thought of another man, and I groan, resting my forehead on the mirror and fogging it a bit while hating myself for this weakness.

My body stays loyal to a man who abandoned me. How pathetic can a person get?

The elevator reaches the penthouse, and the doors slide open, making me widen my mouth in a huge, fake-ass grin, which is so pointless, since my friends will quickly call my bluff.

Nevertheless, I enter the hallway as cheerful as I get and walk to the living room, only to stop abruptly at the picture greeting me.

Elena laughs, twirling around in her white dress as Pierre holds her fingers before pulling her toward him, their chests bumping, and he fists her hair, tilting her head back. “My love, you’re gorgeous.” And then he leans forward, connecting their mouths in a deep kiss as Elena moans, gripping his shirt and pressing herself harder against him.

I close my eyes tightly, thinking for a second that maybe I’m hallucinating all this. But when I snap them open again, the view doesn’t change.

In fact, my ex-boyfriend slides his hands under Elena’s ass and hikes her up, her legs wrapping around his waist, completely oblivious to my presence.

Which means their passion and desire for one another keeps going strong.

How does a person react when they find their ex sexing up their best friend?

I’m too stunned to speak. The cake box falls to the floor, and the loud thud freezes them as they both glance in my direction.

Elena tears her mouth away from Pierre. “Oh my God!” she screams, getting back on her feet while Pierre breathes heavily, his cheeks reddening, but I barely pay attention to him as Elena repeats, “Oh my God.” She adjusts her dress and darts to me, but I step back, which makes her pause. Tears fill her eyes, her voice trembling, and my heart pangs at seeing her distress. “This is not what it looks like.”

A chuckle slips past my lips at such a cliché, and it’s hilarious, all things considered. They are acting as if I caught them cheating, while in fact I’ve been broken up with Pierre for more than five months. “Isn’t it?” I mutter, but my friend misses the teasing note in my tone and winces, hooking the strands of her hair behind her ear.

“Aileen… this is not… I mean… we never did anything while you guys were together,” she promises, then groans, running her fingers through her hair. “I’ve been in love with him since we met him.”

My brows furrow, and I whisper, “Oh, no.” Is that why she always acted weird in our company and rarely joined us if Pierre came to visit? She was nice to him and invited him to parties, but generally she preferred to not be with us during any outings.

I know it hurt Pierre, who considered her a friend too, but now the picture is clear, and my hands are itching to hug Elena hard and apologize for this whole mess.

However, my softly spoken words have a different effect on her, and she understands them wrong and clasps her hands together. “I never did anything, I swear. We made out for the first time on my birthday.” Guilt etches on her features, and that’s when Pierre comes closer to her, circling his arm around her waist, giving her his support. “We were so drunk, and he was so mad you kissed someone else. He couldn’t have cared less about me.”

“That’s not true,” he says and then grabs her chin, turning her focus on him as he wipes away the tear sliding down her cheek. “I never touched you with Aileen in mind.” Anger coats his voice, and she gasps a little when his hold on her tightens. “Don’t ever think like that again.” Our gazes clash. “She’s mine, and you never were. If you want to be angry with someone, it needs to be me. I chased her and seduced her, not the other way around.”

Well, it looks like Elena awakened Pierre’s possessive side. Who knew he even had one?

“Stop it,” she mutters and then looks at me again. “Then we just sort of started dating, and you wouldn’t answer your phone. And your dad was in the hospital. There was just never the right time to tell you about us.”

Before I can reply on all this shocking information—because honestly, how could I have been so blind to her crush that’s so obvious to me now, as the flashbacks of our past pop into my head one after another—Caroline’s voice pierces through the tension in the air. “I’m sleeping with Dante.” We look at her as she pads barefoot to the living room, wearing shorts and a T-shirt, her hair a mess while dark circles under eyes speak about her heartache and exhaustion.

“With Uncle Dante?” Elena clarifies, blinking several times, and taps her chest. “My uncle. Dante? As in Dad’s brother?”

Said uncle happens to be a financial genius who earned himself billions, but still, it didn’t save him from going to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He got out a year ago, angrier than ever, and refused to speak to his brother, who didn’t save his ass back in the day. Technically Caroline is not related to him at all.

A man who is ten years older than her, with scars marring his face and body, has anger issues to last him a lifetime, and who used to be the biggest whore back in the day. He vowed revenge on those who crossed him, and I know he won’t rest until he gets it.

“Yes, with Uncle Dante,” Caroline says and then extends her hand to us with a white stick in it. “And I’m pregnant.”

“You’re what?” Elena shouts at her. We haven’t even processed her forbidden romance, and she springs a pregnancy announcement on us? “What in the hell did you do, Caroline?”

She ignores her sister’s outburst and instead says, “Around four weeks.”

“And you decided to tell me just now because…?” Elena asks, disbelief written all over her face, but also fear. Considering Uncle Dante is not known to be nice or even civil on most days, her reaction is very valid. “How long has this been going on?”

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