The next day, Chloe and I booked flights to Miami and escaped to South Beach.

The sun and the ocean breeze were healing. The world underwater was beautiful.

One afternoon, as we were sunbathing on the beach, I got a friend request on my phone.

I had a feeling it was Sabrina.

Sure enough, after I blocked her last time, she was now using a new account. A second later, she sent me a picture of a ring, her message dripping with triumph.

[Looks like Damian cares about me more, Miss Vance.]

At the same time, Chloe screamed and shoved her phone in my face.

“Oh my god! Elara, look at this! This shameless bitch!”

I took the phone. Sabrina had posted a new Instagram picture. Her eyes were red and puffy, and on her ring finger was a huge, sparkling diamond ring. The caption read: [I knew you wouldn’t let me suffer for a second.]

During her years in Europe, she had become a minor influencer.

Her followers in the comments were going crazy, speculating about who the mystery man was.

Chloe, furious that Sabrina was taunting me so openly, went straight to the comments and let her have it.

“How dare you brag about being a homewrecker? Your mom was a mistress, and now you’re a mistress. Is this shit hereditary in your family?”

“Like mother, like daughter. And look at your nose, it’s so crooked it’s about to fall off your face. You should find a surgeon to fix that before it’s too late.”

...

I took her phone and clicked on Sabrina’s profile.

It was filled with clues of her and Damian showing off their love.

The earliest post dated back to Valentine’s Day, six months ago.

It was a picture of Damian with her at an amusement park, watching fireworks.

My heart felt like it was being stabbed with a thousand needles. That night, Damian and I had planned to go to a three-Michelin-star restaurant.

But I came down with a bad flu and had a high fever. I couldn't even get out of bed.

When Damian found out I was sick, all he said was, “Then I’ll cancel the reservation. You get some rest.”

I felt so disappointed and hurt. I wanted to say something more, but he had already hung up.

He didn't send a single text after that to check on me.

I thought he was busy with family business. I never imagined he was with Sabrina, watching fireworks.

The truth is, I knew there had been problems between us for a while.

Ever since Sabrina came back to the States at the beginning of the year, I could feel him pulling away.

I tried to talk to him about it so many times, but he would just ignore the problem and then buy me expensive jewelry later to smooth things over.

I had been torn apart by this for six long months.

I turned off the phone and took a deep breath.

My turbulent emotions slowly began to settle.

Whatever was going on between Damian and Sabrina, it had nothing to do with me anymore.