He Loved Me When You Didn't

Chapter 2

Word Count: 825 | Released on: Today at 18:16

n Bart

f another woman was truly tiresome. I felt a knot of anger tighten in my stomach. The entire

friends, social media updates, and a flood of shared videos. Everyone was reacting to the awkward scene Edwin and I had just m

rtably in a plush armchair, swirling

kinds of situations, Edwin?" a

in his voice. "She comes from nothing. She' s fragile, easily hurt." He looked directly at the camera, as if addressing an unseen aud

ays getting her way. She doesn't back down from anything. Sometimes she doesn't even realize how sharp she can be." He paused, a troubled look on his face. "I just need to protect Kacy. I can't let anyone upset her." He then shared a specific inciden

fined me. He had twisted my independence into aggression, my confidence into cruelty. My vision blurred. I couldn't decide what I felt more strongly: pure, unadulterated r

hting the surge of emotion. My p

s here," she asked, her voice laced with concern.

ricaded her in the corner. And she's... well, she's definitely 'tea-flavored.' All sweet smiles and batted eyelashes, but you ca

on't let Edwin paint you as the bad guy. You need to come and rip that little manip

I had done nothing wrong. I had no reason to run, no reason to hide. I was Kaitlyn Barton. I had a right t

waiting for the drama to unfold, fueled my resolve. If Edwin wanted to turn this into a spec

made my way back to the private lounge Edwin had originally pointed to, the designated meeting spot for our closest fr

ible. I must have ruined her evening. I am so sorry." She paused, then added, her voice dropping to a near whisper, "Perhaps I should just leave. I

Chapter End

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He Loved Me When You Didn't

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“Kaitlyn Barton POV: After three years building my family's hotel empire abroad, I came home to New York, expecting a warm embrace from my childhood fiancé, Edwin. Instead, he greeted me with a warning. He told me to be gentle with his new girlfriend, Kacy, painting me as a villain before I even knew her name. At my own welcome-home party, he let her stage a dramatic fall and then publicly blamed me for it, his eyes burning with a hatred I'd never seen. He cradled her in his arms as if she were a fragile doll I had broken. "Happy now, Kaitlyn?" he snarled, shattering twenty years of our shared history in front of everyone we knew. In his eyes, I was no longer his love, but a monster he needed to protect his new flame from. As he stormed out, my phone buzzed. It was a text from Everett Rowe, the man who had quietly loved me for five years. "If you are truly ready, I will marry you. Right now. Just say the word." My fingers moved on their own. "Yes," I typed. "I'll marry you." The moment I stepped back onto New York soil, a city I had once shared completely with Edwin, he greeted me not with a hug, but with a warning about his new girlfriend, painting me as the villain before I even knew her name. Three years abroad, cultivating my family's hotel empire, had prepared me for many business battles, but nothing for the cold, calculated betrayal that awaited me at home. He had replaced me, and then twisted our shared history, turning me into the aggressor he now needed protection from. This was not the reunion I had envisioned, nor the Edwin I remembered. My heart, which had swelled with anticipation, now froze into a solid block of ice.”