Betrayed and Dumped: She Rose Stronger Than Ever novel Chapter 46

Only a handful of people could have snapped that picture so perfectly clear. Rebecca ran through the list in her head. It was just her, Justin, and Bruce’s team. She and Justin were together that whole time, so it couldn’t be either of them. Bruce and Sonja wouldn’t have posted it, which left three others. The two male engineers? No way. They weren’t the type to share something like that. Which left one person… Lottie.

Rebecca had to be sure. She scrolled through the user’s older posts, each one making her heart sink a little further. On the day she’d come back from her business trip, the same day she’d overheard Bruce tell Sonja that he’d never stopped thinking about her, Lottie had quietly posted, “No wonder she’s his one and only. She’s miles better than her. They’re a perfect match, honestly. *starry eyed*”

After that, Lottie kept posting about Bruce and Sonja, sprinkling in not-so-subtle jabs at “a certain someone.” Rebecca’s grip tightened around her phone, her knuckles turning pale. Her chest ached, a sharp and steady pain that wouldn’t go away.

She’d always thought Lottie just admired Sonja, never realizing what had happened between Sonja and Bruce. She’d figured Lottie was just being careless, a little thoughtless. She never imagined things could be so much uglier, that people could be so complicated.

A tear landed on the back of her hand. Rebecca wiped it away fast and glanced at the hospital bed. Her mother was still asleep, thank god.

Rebecca squeezed her eyes shut, trying to hold herself together. She couldn’t help but wonder when it all started, this strange hostility from Lottie. They’d been inseparable once.

She remembered being twelve, when new neighbors moved in next door. Lottie and her foster mom rented the place beside theirs. Lottie’s foster mom worked late most nights, and Lottie was often left hungry. One day, little Lottie peered out from her apartment, watching Rebecca eat a roasted corn, her eyes wide with longing. Rebecca hadn’t even hesitated. She ran straight to the kitchen and grabbed a fresh corn for her new friend.

Rebecca and her mom begged Lottie to come back home, but she wouldn’t. The Bernans were wealthy, after all, and whatever they bothered to offer her were more than what the Harpers could give. Over the years, the Harpers always kept a room ready, but Lottie drifted farther and farther away.

Maybe it was for the best. Rebecca didn’t need a sister who’d turned out like this.

That night, her mind was a mess. Rebecca didn’t go home. She crashed on the sofa in her mother’s hospital room instead. The next morning, after breakfast, she threw herself into helping her mom get discharged, doing her best to keep busy and not think about any of it.