Breaking Him (Love is War 1)

She was facing Dante, her back to me.

He saw me right away, and whatever he was saying trailed away, his attention properly caught at my presence.

At least I had that.  No matter what he’d done, how he’d betrayed me, at least when I was there, he couldn’t look away from me.

Not even for her.

She caught on quickly that they were no longer alone, but I had enough time to recover before she turned and saw me.

I hated her like every creature since the dawn of time has hated its natural enemy.

Blind, fear-induced, debilitating hatred that never let me see past the moment to the big picture.

She was a threat, my gut told me now.

My gut had been telling me this since I was fourteen.

She needed to be eliminated—was all my mind could ever seem to process when it came to her, because one undeniable truth had always resonated through me—her existence meant the end of mine.

The end of everything I cared about.  The end of the only thing I used to care about.

Still, I’d been so shocked when I’d been proven right.

A part of me, some pathetic thing deep down in my soul, still couldn’t believe it.

I gave her a lie of a smile.  “Tiffany,” I said in greeting, my voice fake friendly.

“Scarlett,” she returned; her soft voice even and unaffected.  She must have known I was at the house.  She’d had warning.

I hadn’t been given the same courtesy.  It was an effort not to glare at Dante for that.

“How’ve you been?” she asked, sounding like she actually cared.

Perhaps she did.  If I was doing terribly, I knew she’d love to hear about it.

I studied her for a time, not answering.  I hadn’t seen her in years, but she hadn’t changed much.  She was still beautiful.  It was an icy blonde, wintry blue-eyed beauty that appealed to men with a taste for the unattainable.

She was slight, rail thin, and petite, but somehow all the more intimidating for it, a delicate princess of a woman.

She, like Dante, was raised with money, and it had always been apparent in the way she dressed, wearing designer clothes even as a teenager.  It was no different now.  Her elegant black dress undoubtedly cost a small fortune, and her lavender stilettos were on point.

I hated her for it.  And I hated that I was still wearing the comfortable, torn-up, old jeans, plain white tank, and worn to death gray Toms I’d traveled in.

I hated that her hair and makeup were done so heavily and precisely that I knew she’d had a stylist do it for the occasion.

I hated that my hair was a messy mane down my back, and my makeup was minimal and what there was likely smeared from travel.

Basically when it came to Tiffany, there was no end to things I found to hate.  About her and myself.

The most toxic relationships in life are defined by the way they make us feel about ourselves.  She and I were the worst of that.  Whatever I was, always felt diminished by what she was.

“Just peachy,” I finally answered.  “You?”

She smiled wistfully, like the question brought her joy, and turned to glance up, up, up at a much taller Dante.

Seeing them next to each other, especially standing so close, made me want to wretch.

It brought out the worst in me, seeing him with the woman he’d thrown me away for.

It made me feel, yet again—story of my life—like trash.

“I can’t complain, can I, Dante?” she asked him.

My eyes shot to him.  I didn’t bother to hide the hate in them from him.

He was still staring at me.  As far as I could tell, he hadn’t so much as twitched since he saw me enter the room.

I almost smiled, not a happy smile, more of a you made your bed now die in it, you fucker smile, because this had to be even more uncomfortable for him than it was for us, and that didn’t make me sad for him.

I almost felt a twinge of pity for him though.

Imagine the burden of being the only person that hateful little me had ever trusted.

Now imagine betraying that trust in all the ways that would hurt me the most.

Hell hath no fury.

Every hard thing inside of me turned harder still against him.  Went from steel to diamond hard.

“I need a word,” I told him coldly, turned on my heel, and walked away.

He could follow me or not, but I couldn’t take even one more second in a room with the two of them.  I’d do something violent if I had to endure any more.

He chose to follow, though I didn’t acknowledge him until I was back in my room, door closed behind us.

I held up the little white box.  “This was in the dresser,” I spoke quietly.  God only knew who was eavesdropping.

Not a muscle moved in his face.  “Yes, I know.  I’d put it somewhere safe before my mother shows up here if I were you.”

I just stared at him.

He shrugged.  “It’s yours.  Gram wanted you to have it.  That much she made clear to me.  It was hers to give.  So take it.  Like I said, keep it safe if you don’t want my mother to take it from you.”

I was shaking my head, but I said, “I can’t believe your mom didn’t already take it.  It wasn’t even hidden.”

“Yes, I know.  I put it in there right before you showed up.  I’m well aware of how my mother operates.  She no doubt ransacked the place before they’d even taken Gram’s body away.”

I took a few deep, bracing breaths and thrust the small object at him.  “I don’t want it.  You take it.  I have no right to it now.”