After Seven Years, I Destroyed My Cheating Ex and His Mistress

When our number was called at the marriage registration office, Phil Gilbert stopped in his tracks.

"The truth is, the person I really love is Clarissa."

"Last month, when you were away on your business trip, I took her to the Maldives. That's when we slept together."

"Last night, she cried and begged for one last time. She promised she'd never come between us again. But I just... I can't stand seeing her hurt."

"Clarissa's too innocent, too fragile. She can't live without me. I can't abandon her."

I stared at Clarissa Sullivan, standing meekly off to the side with that timid look on her face.

Just days ago, she'd thrown her arms around me, sobbing with gratitude for the five years I'd spent funding her education. She'd called me her big sister.

Now she hid behind Phil, eyes rimmed red. "I'm sorry, Serena Blackwell. But love doesn't follow a schedule..."

Phil glanced at the household registration booklet in his hand, his tone almost casual.

"Serena, I don't want to keep lying to you."

"Don't worry. You'll still be Mrs. Gilbert. Clarissa just needs to stay by my side. That's all."

"Whether you want to go in and sign the papers is up to you."

——

Silence.

I fixed my gaze on Phil, then slowly shifted it to Clarissa, cowering behind him.

This was the man I'd loved for seven years.

This was the scholarship student I'd supported for five.

They'd been tangled in each other's sheets in the Maldives behind my back. They'd been at it again the night before we were supposed to register our marriage.

I tore the number slip to pieces.

The shreds drifted down, scattering across the floor of the registration office.

Phil's expression darkened instantly.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Serena?"

"This is a government office. Have some decency."

I didn't spare him a glance. My eyes were locked on Clarissa.

"I supported you for five full years."

"I paid your way through college. I bought your clothes, covered your tuition, even footed the bill for your mother's medical treatments."

"And this is how you repay me? By crawling into your benefactor's fiancé's bed?"

Clarissa flinched. Her fingers twisted into the hem of Phil's jacket, and she stammered out a broken explanation.

"That's not... Serena, you come from a good family. You're talented and capable. You'd be fine even without getting married."

"But Phil is all I have. If you... if you really can't accept this, then I'll just throw myself against that pillar right now and end it all!"

She stumbled backward as she wept, and she actually lunged toward the concrete column beside the entrance.

Phil grabbed her and pulled her into his arms in one swift motion, then whipped around to glare at me.

"Enough, Serena!"

"It's bad enough you walk around acting like you're above everyone."

"Clarissa has severe depression. Did you know that? Are you not going to stop until you've driven her to her death?"

Depression?

A cold laugh escaped my throat.

"She wasn't depressed when she was spending my money on shopping sprees."

"She wasn't depressed in a bikini on a Maldives beach."

"But the second she gets called out as the other woman in public, suddenly it's depression?"

Panic flickered behind Phil's eyes. He recovered quickly, squaring his shoulders and raising his voice.

"I'm the one who took her there!"

"She's been under too much pressure. She needed to decompress."

"Can you stop being so damn aggressive for once in your life?"

I looked at this man I'd been with for seven years and felt like I was staring at a stranger.

I'd given up the chance to study abroad for him. I'd stood beside him when he had nothing, helped him build his company from the ground up until it went public. And he'd taken every ounce of my sacrifice and treated it like something he was owed.

Clarissa nestled deeper into Phil's arms, her voice small and trembling.

"Don't blame Phil, Serena."

"This is all my fault. I couldn't help falling in love with him."

Her shamelessness was so staggering it almost made me laugh. I raised my hand, palm open, ready to slap the words right off her lips.