Page 63 of The Wrong One

I didn’t push it. I walked out and wondered if I had really just lost my best friend.

ChapterTwenty-Seven

Izzy

Irushed out of the lab. My heart was shattered. I couldn’t bear to think of my brother furious with me. He was so disappointed. I felt his disappointment from a mile away. I was pretty sure I was feeling every emotion on the spectrum. I was elated to hear Cam say he had fallen for me. I felt the same way. I loved him. I was furious with Patrick for showing up. How dare he try to destroy my life by destroying my brother. Ramsey was my hero and Patrick had just turned him against me. He said what he said on purpose because he wanted to fuck things up for me.

Cam couldn’t be in the same room with me. Neither could Ramsey. And it was all because of Patrick. I rushed out of the lab, intent on destroying him like he tried to destroy me. He wasn’t satisfied to just break my heart. He needed to completely crush me by trying to ruin the one good relationship I had. I was sure it was because he was jealous.

I rushed downstairs and burst outside. I spotted the security guards escorting Patrick off campus. I chased after them. “Excuse me!” I called out.

They stopped and looked at me. Patrick smirked. He looked very smug when he saw me. “Can I have just a minute with him?” I asked the security guard.

“We’ll be close,” the guard said.

I stood in front of Patrick and saw him, like really saw him for the first time. He still had that smug look on his face that I had the urge to slap right off his mouth.

“Miss me already?” he grinned. “I knew you would come to your senses. Don’t worry, I won’t hold any of this shit against you. Let’s get your stuff and get the hell out of this place. I’m ready to leave Boston behind. We’ll go home and fix this. We love each other, we can make this work. If you want to get married tomorrow, I’ll do it.”

I stared at him and found myself seeing him for the first time like Ramsey saw him. He was an attractive man on the outside, but he was horribly ugly on the inside. I couldn’t believe I actually wanted to marry him at one point. If he had shown up before that first night with Cam, I would already be on the plane with him. I would have married him tomorrow if it wasn’t for Cam showing me what a man could be like. How a real man treated a woman.

This was it—the moment I had been dreading, yet simultaneously preparing for. I took a deep breath, my hands trembling slightly as I mustered the courage to confront him, to finally speak my truth. “Patrick,” I began, my voice steady but laced with raw emotion. “I want you to listen carefully.”

His eyes met mine, a flicker of guilt momentarily crossing his face before he masked it with a practiced smile. “Sure, babe,” he replied casually, as if unaware of the storm brewing within me. “We could make a detour to Vegas. We’ll elope.”

I looked into those eyes—the same eyes I once believed held nothing but love for me. I felt a surge of anger rise within me. “You cheated on me, Patrick,” I stated firmly, my voice quivering with a mix of sadness and resolve. “And not just once, but multiple times. How could you betray my trust like that? What makes you think I would ever want you back? You’re dishonest. You’re a fraud. You’re a liar and a cheat. I cannot think of a single redeeming quality about you. I was ready to give up everything for you. I would have married you and I probably would have tolerated all the shit you tossed my way.”

For the first time since I caught him cheating, he actually looked remorseful. “Look, I made some mistakes, but it didn’t mean anything. I still love you.”

I scoffed, my eyes blazing with a fire he had never seen before. “Love? Is that what you call it? Love doesn’t cheat. Love doesn’t shatter someone’s heart into a million irreparable pieces.”

Tears welled up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. This was my moment, and I wasn’t going to let him see how much he had broken me. Not anymore. “We were engaged, Patrick,” I continued, my voice trembling with a mix of anger and sadness. “We were supposed to be building a future together, to trust and support one another. But instead, you chose to throw it all away for temporary moments of pleasure. You know those girls would never make you as happy as I could. You’re old to them. You don’t have enough money to get one of them to throw away their youth on you. You threw away the one really good thing in your life—me. What do you think happens when it gets out you’re sleeping with the coeds? You risked your job. Your entire career might go up in smoke because you wanted to get laid. You had me. It wasn’t like you weren’t getting it. You just didn’t want it from me.”

His face contorted with a mix of regret and frustration. “I messed up, okay? But can’t we work through this? Can’t we move past it?”

I leaned forward, my voice dripping with disdain. “Move past it? You don’t get to decide when and how I heal from this, Patrick. You don’t get to dictate the consequences of your actions. You had a responsibility, a commitment to me, and you failed miserably.”

He shook his head as if I was still the one to blame. Like I should just accept his failures and deal with it. Like this was on me. “Look, I’m not the first guy to cheat on his girlfriend,” he said. “There are plenty of couples who move on. You’re really making this a bigger deal than it needs to be. It’s not like I loved them or promised them anything. It was just sex.”

“Them,” I snorted. “Of course.”

“You’re overreacting again.”

“I deserve better than this,” I declared, my voice filled with newfound strength. “I deserve someone who will cherish me. Someone who understands the definition of monogamy.”

“If you would have given me a chance to explain, we could have avoided all of this,” he said.

“You’re really going to blame me for this?” I scoffed. “You came to my work and tried to fight my brother.”

“And your boyfriend,” he sneered. “Don’t act like you’re so perfect. Were you fucking him when we were together?”

“Would that bother you, Patrick?” I asked with a smirk.

“I can’t believe you would do that,” he said with disgust. “Shame on you.”

“Oh, poor Patrick,” I cooed. “Always the victim. You go out screwing around and yet I’m the bad one. I’m so glad I’m done with you.”

“You’ll never be done with me,” he said. “You and I both know you’re always going to want me. You can’t get enough of me.”

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