Trouble in Paradise (Romantic Suspense, Completed)

Chapter 28

When I opened the door, a vision in blonde hair extensions stood before me. Petite, pretty in an artificial sort of way, and obviously pregnant.

She put her hands on her hips. "Are you Callie Shawcross?"

"Yes—"

Before I could get out "And you are?" she slapped me hard across the cheek.

"What the...?"

"You slut!"

How did having slept with two men, ever, qualify me as a slut?

"Perhaps you'd care to explain?" I said through gritted teeth.

"Did you or did you not go out with Bryce Featherstone last night?"

How did she know that?

"Well, yes, but..."

She raised her hand again, but this time I managed to grab her wrist before she made contact.

"Owwww!" she yowled. "You're hurting my arm."

"Stop hitting me!"

"Stop stealing my fiancé!"

Her...fiancé?

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Bryce, of course! We're supposed to be getting married in three weeks, and yesterday I found out he'd been seeing another woman. You!"

She glared at me. If looks could kill, I'd have been pushing up daisies. I lifted the hand I was still hanging onto, and sure enough, there was a ring. Three small diamonds in a twiddly gold setting. Almost identical to the one Bryce had given me, in fact. What did he do, get them on BOGOF?

I sighed. Perhaps I should have been angry, but quite frankly, I was out of fucks to give.

"You'd better come in."

The girl stepped over the threshold and stood just inside the door, hostility rolling off her in waves. Should I leave the door open in case I needed an escape route?

"What's your name?"

"Mandi. With an 'i.'"

"And you already know I'm Callie. Whatever Bryce has been up to, I think it's safe to say he's been playing both of us."

"What do you mean?" she asked sulkily.

"Did he tell you we were engaged for three years?"

Her jaw dropped open, then her eyes narrowed. "You're lying."

"I met him when I was sixteen at the amateur dramatics society."

"You're lying," she said again, but with less conviction this time.

I opened my desk drawer and lifted out the photos that had once been displayed on top of it. My life with Bryce was now reduced to a few snapshots in dusty frames.

Mandi's face crumpled as she looked through them.

Bryce and me having Christmas dinner at my mum's. Bryce and me ice skating. Bryce and me on his twenty-first birthday. Bryce and me at my graduation.

"I-I-I can't believe it," she said, and then the tears came.

I could hardly believe it either. I mean, I'd come to the conclusion that he was a slug, but a philanderer as well? How could Bryce have had the gall to take me out last night, knowing Mandi was waiting at home for him?

Luckily, Mum had stocked up on tissues before I went to Egypt, and I still had seventeen boxes left. I fetched one for Mandi-with-an-i.

She swiped at her eyes, then howled louder when she realised one of her false eyelashes had detached itself. It crawled across the wadded up Kleenex like a small, sad caterpillar.