His Betrayal: Choosing Her Over Me

Leia Shaw’s stomach dropped. She’d walked straight into a trap.

Piper Cooper’s forehead was bruised and bleeding, and Julian Shaw’s hands shook as he held her. His gaze burned with a pain and disappointment so raw it stole Leia’s breath. Seeing was believing. He’d never thought Leia could turn to violence. He’d come back to talk to her, he’d never expected to walk in on this.

When her eyes locked with his, panic crawled through every inch of her body. Her heart felt like it was made of lead.

"Julian, let me explain."

Dead silence followed.

Tears streamed down Piper’s face as she whimpered, "Julian, it isn’t her fault. It’s mine. I shouldn’t have been here. She never wanted me around."

For the first time ever, Julian looked at Leia with icy detachment. The chill in the room was so thick you could almost touch it.

Truly.

"Leia, you’re going to explain what I just walked in on." He demanded.

Leia’s eyes filled with tears. The agony of being wrongfully accused was suffocating. "It isn’t what you think," she begged desperately.

"She stepped on me, I just… I pushed her a little—"

"Who’s gonna buy that?"

"C’mon, really? Who would?"

His eyes blazed with cold, white-hot fury. His words cut through the air like daggers, straight through her heart. Her voice faltered. "If you don’t believe me, what do you want from me?"

"We came here to apologize, and you just let us down like this."

"You’re so petty. You can’t even handle one tiny little slight."

His icy gaze drilled into her as he slowly stepped toward her, like he was staring right through her soul. She met his glare and spat out, "So…"

"Everything’s my fault. I just don’t fit in here, right?"

Seeing her red, tear-filled eyes, he clenched his fists, a dull ache spreading through his chest.

Why had she changed so much after Piper came back?

Was this really the sweet, genuine Leia he’d once known?

Had innocence really curdled into bitterness?

After a long pause, he said quietly, "You were in the wrong. You need to apologize to her."

Behind him, Piper smirked and gave Leia a smug, mocking thumbs-up. It only stoked the fire of Leia’s resentment.

"No way. I didn’t do anything wrong."

"Apologize? Over my dead body."

"Fine. If that’s how you feel, then leave. Our family doesn’t have room for someone that spiteful."

His words were knives, sinking deep into her chest. Her already pale face went deathly white.

Her vivid blue eyes locked on him, but she couldn’t get a word out for what felt like forever. His words replayed over and over in her head, relentless.

He wanted her to leave.

He called her spiteful.

She laughed, but it was hollow. No joy in it at all.

"Fine. If you want me gone, I’m gone."

"I’m not taking a single thing that’s yours. Those divorce papers you dodged last time? Sign ‘em now, and we’ll sort out the rest later."

Her words forced him to bite his tongue to hold back his own pain, the sharp metallic taste of blood flooding his mouth. He was torn—part of him wanted her gone, but the other couldn’t stomach the thought.

This feeling was unbearable.

He stood there silent, while Piper chuckled behind him. Her laughter was salt rubbed straight into Leia’s open wounds. The air felt frozen, time hanging suspended in a suffocating silence.

After what felt like an eternity, she whispered, "Thank you for being good to me all these years."

"Thank you for showing me what we really are. Truly, thank you."

With each word, she stepped back, until her back hit the wall. A sharp, throbbing pain twisted through her lower abdomen, and she bit down hard on her lip to get through it.

Leia’s words hit Julian like a lightning bolt. He couldn’t breathe, the ache in his chest too big to bear.

She thanked him.

What a fucking irony.

He stood there, frozen stiff, for what felt like forever.

Leia pulled herself together and climbed the stairs. When she came back down, she was holding the divorce papers, and she dropped them right at his feet.

"You wouldn’t sign them last time. Sign them now!"

Julian dropped his gaze, staring at the line that read "no marital assets" and a wave of cold, sinking panic washed over him. He couldn’t make himself put pen to paper. But why?

He just stood there, staring at the papers. It felt like they were screaming at him!

Piper shifted, uneasy, and silently urged him to just sign already. When he still didn’t move, Leia turned and went back upstairs.

She pulled her old suitcase out of the closet—the same one she’d brought with her when she first moved in two years ago. Inside were her old clothes, faded and worn thin.

Julian had said back then, "Now that you’re a Shaw, you can get rid of those rags."

She’d been touched, but she couldn’t bear to throw them away, so she’d stored them away instead.

The clothes were plain, washed until the colors had faded soft, and carried a faint, stale musty smell.

She gave a cynical little smile, then pulled on that old-fashioned Victorian-style dress she’d loved back then. She kicked off the gleaming crystal slippers she’d been wearing and went barefoot, stuffed her few things into her suitcase, and headed back downstairs.

Downstairs, he was still standing there, watching her every move intently.

Her Victorian dress was wrinkled and outdated, but it still made her breathtaking. Time hadn’t changed her face much, but she’d grown so much. Seeing her like this dragged him right back to the day they first met.

Charming. A little mischievous.

Brimming with that wild, youthful energy.

That afternoon, she’d burst into his world like a tiny, bright sprite. The sun wrapped around her like a halo as she grinned and held out her hand: "Hi, Julian! I’m Leia, your junior from college."

"I’ll donate bone marrow to Piper, on one condition—you have to do me a favor."

Back then, he’d been shocked. No girl had ever dared ask him for anything, not even Piper. But Leia had always been different.

"What favor?"

Her grin sharpened. "My ex cheated on me. Said a girl like me could never land a real marriage. I want to prove him wrong."

"Heh. Interesting."

"Yeah, I think I’m pretty interesting too. It’s just a fake marriage, a three-year contract. After that I’ll walk away no strings attached, okay?"

"Alright. I agree."

That day, she’d worn this exact dress. She was so excited she tripped and landed right in the grass beside him. Remembering that, he couldn’t help but smile. Back then, she was vibrant, a little awkward.

So endearingly awkward…

But now? She was calculated. Cold. Distant.

How had she changed so much?

Leia dropped the fancy new clothes he’d bought her on the couch and said coolly, "These are yours. I’m returning ‘em. I’m not taking a thing. Wanna pat me down to make sure?"

Julian snapped back to the present. He looked at her pale hands holding out the clothes and shoes, and his brow furrowed.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Returning everything you ever bought me."

When he didn’t reach for them, Leia tossed the whole pile onto the sofa and said coldly, "Don’t forget to sign those papers. I’m leaving."

With that, she turned, dragged her suitcase behind her, and walked out barefoot, tears streaming down her face and carrying all her heartache with every step.

Each tear a haunting, unspoken cry.

Julian let a bitter smile tug at his mouth, thick with regret. As he watched her walk away, a sharp pang of pain clouded his eyes. He shouted, "Is this really how you want to leave?"