ANA

his." I stared at her. This was the woman who held my hand when I cried. The woman who slept in my bed during college. The woman I called my sister. "How long?" I asked quietly. She looked away. "How long, Vanessa?" I repeated. There was a long pause before she answered. "It wasn't planned," she said. "It just... happened." I shook my head slowly. "That wasn't my question." She sighed. "Almost a year." My heart dropped. A year. A whole year of smiles. A year of phone calls. A year of pretending. "A year?" I whispered. "So when you sat with me in fertility clinics... when you prayed with me... when you told me to be patient with my husband... you were already sleeping with him?" Her eyes filled with tears-but I wasn't fooled. "Yes," she said. The word sliced through me. "Did you ever feel guilty?" I asked. She hesitated. "At first." At first. "And after?" I pressed. She lifted her chin slightly. "After a while, I realized it wasn't just about you." I turned fully toward her now. "What does that mean?" She took a deep breath. "Lucas was lonely. You were always strong, always in control. You didn't need him the way he needed to be needed." I stared at her in disbelief. "So you betrayed me because I was strong?" "That's not what I said-" "No," I interrupted. "That's exactly what you said." She stepped closer. "You had everything, Ariana. The company, the respect, the perfect image. I was always in your shadow." "So you decided to steal my husband?" My voice shook. "I didn't steal him," she snapped suddenly. "He chose me." The room went silent. I felt something inside me crack-but not in the way she expected. I smiled. A small, tired smile. "You know what hurts the most?" I said calmly. "Not that you slept with my husband. But that you watched me