Abigail

"Excuse me?"

I glanced behind me. She had to be referring to someone else. I didn’t hear right. That had to be it.

She gave the most humorless laugh I had ever heard from a human being.

"Of course he didn’t tell you." She scoffed. "We’ve been married for many years and yet the world never knows about us."

My mouth dropped open, and I eyed her warily. This had to be some sort of prank. Or maybe she was one of those delusional women who fancied themselves married to Finnegan.

Her words were in English but the meaning of them kept sliding off my brain like water rolling off glass because it didn’t make sense.

It couldn’t make any sense, Finnegan was not a cheater. He wasn’t married.

"I’m going to need to see some identification," I remarked in a clipped voice, trying to ignore the earthquake happening in my head right now.

"And I’ll need to know how you got up here because this floor requires executive clearance, Miss."

"How dare you?!" She spat, all the fake pleasantness was gone.

"How dare you stand there in my husband’s office that I have every right to be in and lecture me about clearance. You little, homewrecking slut."

"Do not call me that!" I spat.

"That’s what you are. Stealing my husband from me? You have some nerve."

A twisted smile curled on my lips. No, no, she was delusional. There was no way she was telling the truth.

He wasn’t like that.

He wasn’t Drake. Drake was a liar and a cheater. Finn was different. Finnegan was...secretive, yes, but not a cheater.

The elevator dinged and I glanced over my shoulders to see him strut out. His eyes twinkled when they found me but the lights in them died so quickly when he saw her.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He barked, halting in tracks.

The panic that I had been trying to hold back, they came rushing up as his face morphed with guilt.

"Hi honey." The woman called brightly. "Just paying a quick visit to your little sidepiece here."

"Is she your wife?" I whispered, my eyes wide with horror. My bag trembled on my shoulders and I hoped, I hoped like hell that he would say no.

I desperately hoped that he would tell me that he was not married to this woman for fifteen fucking years and yesterday he had looked at me like that while he fucked me.

A married man. I was sleeping with a married man. Nausea rolled up my throat.

I was going to be sick.

"We even have a daughter, did you know?" Victoria continued holding up a polaroid photograph of a little girl.

The dark hair and green eyes were terribly familiar.

The whole world came crashing down around me. The room tilted and spun around, my legs staggered forward and I gripped the door frame to keep myself from falling.

I turned to Finnegan shaking my head, begging with my eyes like a fucking fool as fear and shame climbed up my throat.

Please, say something. Say it’s wrong, say the photograph is wrong. Say any of it is wrong and I will believe you, I will believe you because I need to believe you, I need...

He took two steps toward me and stopped, his eyes flickering with guilt.

Oh my god. Oh my god, I had been sleeping with a married man.

Shame crashed through me and my vision blurred with tears.

I was like Alicia. I was the thing I despised, the thing that had torn months out of my life and left me wrecked and angry.

I was the other woman.

I had hated Drake and Alicia for what they did to me. And would you fucking look at that?

I wasn’t better. I was a homewrecker, he made me a home wrecker.

"I only came here to warn you," the woman, his wife, continued.

His wife.

"Victoria, that’s enough," he snapped, taking a few more steps forward. "Abigail, let me explain,"

A bitter smile twitched at my lips. "So you’re not... You’re not married to her?"

"It’s not that simple," He muttered, his face scrunching up in agitation.

"What’s not simple? Are you married or not?"

"Please, just listen to me."

Hadn’t Drake said those words? Let me explain, it’s not what you think, it’s not what it looks like, listen to me. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Shame and fury burned hot inside me, pushing against my skin with nowhere else to go. I had to get the hell out of her or I would lose my damned mind.

"Abigail-"

"Do not come near me. Don’t even think about coming near me!" I screamed, gripping my bag tightly and darting towards the elevator. My fingers stabbed the button furiously.

"Abigail, please!" Finn called behind me. "Please, just let me—"

"You have a wife." I spat, still facing the elevator doors as they slid open, refusing to look at him.

"You have a daughter. You had them this entire time and you... You touched... How could you be... I don’t even, Fuck! Finn, how the fuck could you even do that?!"

I climbed quickly into the elevator, my entire body spasming, tears burning the corner of my eyes.

"Abby!" He grabbed the door before it could close, his hand on the frame, his emerald green eyes fixed on me.

"I can explain. All of it. I was going to tell you. I need you to let me explain,"

Explain what? How could he look at me like that?

I thought I could read him like a book. I thought I knew him. I... Tears burned the corner of my eyes..

"Let go of the door, please," I hissed quietly.

His jaw tightened. "Come with me, please. I’ll explain it all, baby-"

"Don’t call me that!" I screamed fishing into my bag for the stupid key card he gave to me last night.

My fingers tightened around it for a second before hurling it at his chest. "Let the doors go! Let it go, you jerk!"

He let go and the doors slid close.

I stood in the elevator alone as it descended, staggering backwards until my back pressed against the wall.

Breathe. Breathe, there was no way I would cry over something like this.

There was no way. I held my breath until I reached the ground floor, stalked out of the building, searching the car park for my car before the water works exploded.