After My Fake Death, My Ex Begged Too Late

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After taking my virginity, Oscar wiped the thin sheen of sweat from my temple, indulgent and slow.

Baby, he murmured, give Meryl your direct-admission spot at Kingsley University.

I stared at him. What did you just say?

She was crying underneath me, all pathetic. I was still worked up, so I just told her yes.

Every drop of blood in my body went cold. "And if I say no?"

He laughed softly, folded my hand into his, and unlocked his phone.

The video that filled the screen was us. Minutes ago. Tangled together.

"Baby, you sound so pretty in my arms. I'd hate to share that with anyone else."

"Be good. One more year, that's alland next year I'll come get you myself, walk you right into Kingsley. After we graduate, we get married. You're the only one I love."

My nails dug into my palms until they broke skin.

Oscar didn't know that my mother had already arranged a university for me overseas.

Thousands of miles away.

The future he was promising would never come.

"Baby, you know me. Threatening people is the last thing I'd ever want to do."

"Especially when it's you."

He brushed the damp strands of hair from my forehead and kissed me there, once, twice, so gently.

But the words coming out of his mouth cut like a blade.

"Come on, thoughyou've got to cut me some slack. Meryl took everything off and climbed into my bed. What was I supposed to do, not touch her?"

"You're so scared of pain, baby. I couldn't stand hurting you. So I made sure I practiced enough on her first, got it right, saved the best for you."

I looked at him like he'd lost his mind.

Something behind my ribs tore open, slow and grinding, until I could barely breathe.

"Why?"

My voice was barely there.

Oscar didn't even flinch. He just stroked my bloodless cheek like nothing was wrong.

"There's no why. Meryl's got a nice body, she's clean, and she showed up at my door. What kind of man turns that down?"

Then he smiled, slow and suggestive. "Besides, the technique I practiced? You seemed to enjoy it just fine a minute ago."

My stomach lurched so hard I had to clamp my jaw shut to keep from retching.

He must have seen how white my face had gone.

Oscar frowned, pulled me tight against him like I was something fragile. "Don't be silly. What are you scared of? At best, Meryl's a tool I use to handle physical needs. She's not worth a single hair on your head."

"Besides, she's your best friend. You know exactly what she's like. While you're gone that year before Kingsley, if I'm sleeping with her, at least I'm not out chasing random women. You can relax, right?"

"Meryl's easy about the whole thing. She's not asking for a title, nothing like that. She just hopes that after we're married, I can still have her once or twice."

Every nerve in my body locked. I couldn't move.

Every word made perfect sense. Together, they froze me to the bone.

One of them was the boy I'd grown up with for ten years, who swore over and over that he couldn't live without me.

The other was the girl I'd supported for three years, who swore she'd repay me with her life, the friend I'd treated like a little sister.

I never could have imagined.

One hour ago I'd had everythinglove, friendship, a future bright enough to hurt. And in a single breath, the two people closest to me had gutted all of it. I had nothing left.

I kept forcing myself to breathe, deep and slow, just to push down the nausea and the raw, splitting ache in my chest.

"Oscar. I can give you up to Meryl. But I'm not giving up my direct-admission spot at Kingsley."

The words had barely left my mouth before he laughed. "Stop messing around."

"You swore when you were eight that you'd never marry anyone but me. You've been trailing after me all these years, and everyone knows it. You love me like your life depends on it."

"Without me, could you even survive?"

I felt like a fish hurled onto dry land, suffocating, unable to pull in a single breath.

My parents divorced when I was eight, and I was left with a father who was never home.

The nanny he hired stole every cent of the living expenses he'd set aside, then tried to sell me to traffickers.

Oscar was dragged over a hundred meters behind an unmarked car, nearly killed trying to save me.

He was barely breathing, but before he lost consciousness, he covered my trembling eyes with his hand.

"Don't look, little moon. I'm not going to die. I'm going to protect you for the rest of my life."

The light I'd mistaken for salvationten years later, it ran me through.

When I didn't speak, Oscar pulled a document from the nightstand drawer.

He pressed the pen into my hand, wrapped his arms around me from behind, and smiled. "Give up the direct-admission spot. Be good for me and sign."

The video on his phone kept looping. He couldn't take his eyes off it. "Damn, babe. Look at that body. And that voiceso sweet."

I was shaking all over, biting down so hard my mouth filled with bloodrage or hatred, I couldn't tell which anymore.

A long time passed before I swallowed tears so salty they turned bitter, and forced my ruined voice out. "I'll sign. Delete the video."

"Of course, baby. If you don't like it, it's gone. I promiseevery last second."

His phone rang. The caller ID read My Darling Little Sweetheart.

He didn't answer. He pulled on his pants, picked up the signed document, and on his way out, pressed a kiss to my temple.

"That's my girl."

I sat there staring at his retreating back for a long time.

I didn't move until the tears had numbed me completely, and then I dialed a number I knew by heart.

"Mom. I'll listen to you. I'm coming."

That evening, Oscar came to pick me up for the celebration party.

A celebration for Merylfor the direct-admission spot she'd taken from me.

I reached for the passenger door handle.

The window rolled down first.

Meryl's carefully made-up face appeared behind the glass.

She smiled, eyes curving sweetly.

"Oh, BarbaraOscar said this seat's only for his most important person. You don't mind sitting in back, right?"

I'd gone with Oscar to pick out this car.

A gift to celebrate us both getting into Kingsley University.

The day he bought it, he'd decorated the whole interior to my taste.

He'd stuck a label on the passenger seat that read Wife's Seat Only and swore no other woman would ever sit in the place that belonged to me.

Now the plush charm I'd loved was ripped off and tossed at Meryl's feet, a clear footprint stamped across its white fur.

The seat still read Wife's Seat Onlyand the woman sitting in it was the one Oscar called his most important.

Oscar acted like nothing was wrong. He pinched Meryl's cheek, grinning. "Hey, quit talking about my wife like that. My little moon's not petty enough to care about something like this."

I said nothing. He pushed me into the back seat.

The whole drive, the two of them flirted as if I weren't there.

Meryl was practically draped across him.

She noticed how pale I'd gone and twisted around with a bright smile. "Oh, BarbaraOscar told me everything. Now that you know, I guess I can finally stop pretending."

She loosened her collar just enough to show the dense trail of marks across her collarbone.

The look she gave me was pure, undisguised provocation.

"God, you have no idea how wild Oscar is in bed. I screamed till my voice gave out and he still wouldn't stop. Tell meis he like that with you?"

I looked at her, and my eyelid twitched once, beyond my control.

Like I was seeing her for the first timethis woman who'd followed at my heels for three years, calling me "sis" in that sweet, clinging voice.

When we first met she'd been so timid that my being there was the only thing that gave her the nerve to stand up to Oscar*don't you dare bully her, and don't you dare betray her.*

Three years. That was all it took for her to become the person who bullied me the cruelest, and betrayed me the deepest.

She could even sit there like nothing was wrong, laughing about her own shamelessness like it was small talk.

A flicker of discomfort crossed Oscar's face. He dropped his voice. "Meryl, that's enough."

Meryl rolled her eyes. "What's the big deal? It's not like Barbara's an outsider."

She smiled like it was the most natural thing in the world. "I've got it all figured out. After you two get married, he's mine on weekdays, yours on weekendshow's that?"

When someone leaves you that speechless, all you can really do is laugh.

Maybe I'd already had too much exposure to her shamelessness.

In that moment, I didn't even feel the tearing pain I expected.

My head was numb. My chest was cold, hollowed out.

The car had stopped before I realized my entire body was wound so tight it was about to snap. Oscar took my ice-cold hand, and only then did I come back.

He rubbed his thumb over my fingertips, face full of tender concern. "Babs, don't listen to Meryl running her mouth. You're the one I love mostyou always will be."

I pulled my hand free and laughed. A bitter, mocking laugh.

By the time we walked into the private room, Oscar's friends were already there.

Watching how easily they all greeted each other, it finally hit me.

Everyone knew Oscar and Meryl had been tangled up for a long time.

I was the only fool, strung along by every cozy little "Oscar's girl" they'd folded me into.

A few rounds of drinks in, Meryl was curled against Oscar's chest, crying about how she'd finally made something of herself.

I couldn't take any more. I stood to leave, but her eyes went red and her voice pitched up. "Barbara, why won't you congratulate me? I worked so hard to earn that direct-admission spot at Kingsley. Why do you still look down on me?"

Earned it?

Even if I gave up my direct-admission spot, Meryl's grades were nowhere near high enough for it to pass down to her.

She might as well have had "pulled strings" tattooed across her forehead, and she still had the nerve to say she earned it.

I was so furious I almost laughed out loud, but before I could say a word, Oscar's voice cut through, ice-cold.

"Barbara. It's Meryl's big day. Don't kill the mood."

I looked at the hard set of his face, then thought of the flight information my mother had just sent to my phone.

I took a deep breath and sat back down.

Meryl's lips curled in a satisfied little smirk, and she shot a look at someone nearby.

Right on cue, someone suggested truth or dare.

I was about to refuse when cards were already being drawn.

Oscar was the first one picked for truth.

Amid a chorus of hooting, everyone grinned and nudged each other. "Oscar, come ontell us about the time that felt the best."

Oscar crossed one leg over the other and leaned back.

His fingertip was still tracing lazy circles in my palm, but his hazy gaze had drifted to Meryl.

Half-smiling. "My place. Bathroom. Water running loud."

The room erupted so hard the walls shook.

Meryl's face flushed scarlet. She balled up her fist and thumped his chest, not quite hard, not quite soft. "You're the worst."

Oscar caught her wrist and pulled her onto his lap in one smooth motion.

Their eyes locked, and Meryl wrapped her arms around his neck.

With the whole room egging them on, the two of them kissed like no one else existed.

I was sitting less than six feet away.

The room was warm. But the blood in my veins was going cold, bit by bit.

I don't know how long it lasted before Meryl came up for air, lifting her head from Oscar's chest.

The smile on her face was pure, undiluted malice.

"Barbara I just kissed your boyfriend. You're not going to be upset with me, right?"

Oscar's voice followed, dripping with indulgence.

"Enjoy it while you can. Once I graduate and we're married, I'm all Babs'sbody and soul."

That generous tone, like he was doing me a charity. A cold laugh climbed up inside me.

Oscar never once asked me. He just assumed

assumed I'd choked down every disgusting thing they'd done and kept it down like a good girl.

That I'd stand right where he left me, wait for him to finish playing around, and let him waltz back to marry me when he was bored.

But here's what he didn't know:

Once someone was dirty, I was done with them.

A flash of venom and resentment crossed Meryl's eyes, there and gone.

In the next breath, she was pouting, pointing at the crescent-moon necklace around my neck. "Well, if we're all going our separate ways anyway could I maybe have that necklace you gave Barbara? Just something to remember us by?"

My hand went to my throat on instinct.

I looked at Oscar.

He knew what this necklace meantour promise, the one thing that was supposed to be ours alone. He'd apprenticed himself to a jeweler and shaped it for me bit by bit with his own hands, and the look in his eyes when he'd clasped it around my neck was still so vivid I could feel his fingers there now. "My little moon. You're mineI put my mark on you. As long as the moon's still in the sky, the way I love you won't change."

The moon was still in the sky. But the heart behind those words was already gone.

"Barbara, give it to Meryl."

He'd barely said it before something in his own expression flickered, and he added, "Come on, we've got our whole future. It's one necklace. Your husband'll buy you ten more."

I'd expected exactly this. It still felt like a fist closing around my heart.

I lowered my eyes, forcing back the burn behind them, unclasped the necklace and set it on the table. "You guys have fun. I'm heading back."

Oscar's gaze stayed on my back as I turned and walked away.

Something twisted in his chestsudden, instinctive, wrong.

As if the moment I walked through that door, something between us would break past the point of repair.

He stood up before he even realized it, about to follow, but Meryl caught his arm and pressed herself against him, her voice low and suggestive.

"Oscar, tonight's my celebration party. I've got a little something planned for after. Your favorite. Black lace."

His gaze dropped to the parted collar of her top. His throat moved.

He wavered for a moment, then stepped back and sat down.

It would be fine.

We'd been together for so many years. He was everything I leaned on, everything I believed in. I loved him that much. There was no way I'd actually leave him.

As if that settled it, Oscar pulled Meryl closer and eased back in his seat, perfectly comfortable with himself.

No one saw Meryl toss the crescent-moon necklace into the trash.

Early the next morning, I was still asleep when my door slammed open hard enough to hit the wall.

Before I could even process being startled awake, a rough grip yanked me off the bed.

The instant I looked up,

I was staring straight into the barely contained fury burning across Oscar's face.

"I told youwhat I have with Meryl doesn't mean anything. So why the hell would you do this!"

"What, you won't be happy until she's dead?"

I stared at him, wide-eyed, with no idea what he was talking about. Then his phone came flying at me.

On the open screen were explicit photos of Meryl, too degrading to look at.

The critical areas were blurred, but every curve of her body was on full display.

Below the photos, someone had posted her address and phone number.

The headline was vicious: "Ungrateful charity case fucks her sponsor's boyfriend open for business, come get some."

The comments had already blown past ten thousand, and the sewage just kept rising.

"You can take the girl out of the gutter but you can't take the gutter out of the girl. Poverty didn't limit her imagination and it damn sure didn't keep her legs shut."

"Shameless whore. Gets around like that, pretty sure she'd take anyone."

"Bites the hand that feeds her. Put her down. She's wasting oxygen just breathing."

"On my way. Any brothers want to carpool?"

""

Oscar's face was livid. "Meryl slit her wrists because of you. They barely saved her."

"I've already got the press lined up. You're going to that hospital, you're getting on your knees, and you're going to tell everyone you photoshopped those pictures because you were jealous. You're going to clear her name yourself."

I looked at him like I was looking at a stranger.

"I didn't do it. I'm not going."

Meryl appeared out of nowhere, dressed in a hospital gown that made her look frail and pitiful, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe.

"Oscar, please, don't make things hard for Barbara because of me. I'm the shameless one who fell for you. I don't blame her for hating me. If anyone's at fault, it's me for not being able to control my feelings."

Oscar looked at hershaking, barely able to standand pulled her straight into his arms, something cracking behind his eyes.

"You're not the one who did anything wrong. Nobody gets to blame you for this!"

He lifted his gaze to me, every trace of warmth replaced by ice.

"Barb, I'm giving you one last chance. Post a statement right nowclear Meryl's name and apologize to her publicly. Every platform."

Meryl suddenly broke free from his arms, grabbed my hand, and started slapping it against her own face.

"Barbara, I just got my direct-admission spot at Kingsley University. I don't want my future ruined. Hit me, please. If you're angry, just hit me. Kill me if you want. I'm just begging you to let me walk away with my name clean."

She yanked me so hard I stumbled straight into the sharp corner of the coffee table, and the pain blacked out my vision.

But she was the one who let out a piercing scream and collapsed backward. "Ah! Barbara, don't kick me"

Oscar caught her in an instant, eyes blazing. "Barbara, have you lost your mind? You hit someone right in front of me. Is there anything you won't do?"

He took a deep breath, pulled out his phone, and tapped the screen a few times.

The familiar sounds spilled into the roomand every muscle in my body locked. The floor dropped out from under me.

"You promised me. You said if I signed the form giving up my direct-admission spot, you'd delete the video. You lied to me?"

The words ripped out of me raw, my voice cracking, something in my chest crushed so flat I couldn't breathe.

Oscar didn't flinch. His gaze was cold to the point of cruelty. "I gave you a chance. Eye for an eye. Seems fair."

His finger hovered over the send button, poised to press down.

"Don't!" I squeezed my eyes shut, tears of humiliation hitting the floor. "I'll apologize. I'll clear her name."

I opened my account and typed out a confession to crimes I never committedadmitted I'd photoshopped the images out of jealousy toward Meryl, smeared her reputation, and publicly apologized to her.

Less than two minutes. That was all it took for the tide to reverse.

Every drop of filth swung around and came crashing down on me instead.

Oscar smiled, the lazy kind. "I'll let this one slide. Think of it as a lesson learned. You're going to be my wife somedayI'd rather she not be a vicious woman."

He looked down at mestill on the floor, eyes unfocused, not movingand something in his chest lurched, sudden and wrong, like something slipping out of reach.

A flicker of guilt crept into his voice. "I'll delete the video right now."

He was about to do it when Meryl's face went white and she slumped into his arms. "Oscar, I'm dizzy I feel terrible"

He had no choice but to carry her out. At the door, he tossed back a single line: "Think about what you've done. I'm taking Meryl to the hospital. I'll come check on you later."

The door opened and closed, and then there was nothing but silence.

Ten minutes later, my phone screen lit up.

On the other side of town, Oscar had gotten Meryl to the hospital, waited through every exam until the doctors confirmed she was fine, and only then pulled out his phone to call me.

But the moment the screen lit up, he went rigid.

Everywheretrending, notifications, every timeline he touchedthe uncensored, high-definition video from his phone. The video of me.

Comments beneath the post.

"That two-faced slut tried to run, hopped in a car right outside, but people chased her down and she crashed straight into the river. Current's brutalshe's dead for sure. Good riddance."