He Never Noticed Me Until I Loved Someone Else novel Chapter 268

Stella slid onto the sofa next to Summer, her heart twisting with concern. "Summer, what's going on? You're scaring me."

Summer threw back half her drink in one violent swallow. She stared into the amber liquid for a long, suffocating moment. When she finally spoke, her eyes were rimmed with red. "I want to break up with Lucca."

Stella was completely stunned. Lucca Sterling was a nightmare who constantly pushed Summer to the edge, but in all their years together, Summer had never once uttered the words 'break up.'

"What did he do this time?" Stella asked softly.

As Summer spilled the agonizing details, the horrifying picture clicked into place. Ever since their five-year anniversary, a toxic, suffocating wall had slammed down between them.

Lucca's 'business trips' had multiplied exponentially. Even when he was in Royal Oaks, he rarely came home. Whenever Summer asked, he threw the generic 'I'm swamped with work' excuse in her face.

Initially, Summer had violently gaslit herself into believing him. He was a CEO; of course, he was busy. But then he stopped sharing his itinerary with her, and she started noticing massive, unexplained drains on his personal accounts.

Unable to stomach the paranoia any longer, Summer hired a private investigator to track the cash. Every single wire transfer led straight into the bank account of another woman.

A background check revealed the woman was a senior in college. Her mother had recently fallen critically ill and required immediate surgery. Lucca had personally pulled strings to get the best surgeon in the city, and he had footed the entire medical bill.

Even more damning—Lucca had secretly taken the college girl with him on two of his recent 'business trips.'

"That massive wire transfer I told you about a few weeks ago? Yeah. It went straight to her."

Summer looked utterly destroyed, the exhaustion carved deep into her features.

Stella felt a sickening jolt of recognition. "Is her name Aria?"

Stella had met Aria the night she and Cassidy Lane dragged the girls to that dive bar. Aria had played the tragic victim perfectly—the impoverished, struggling student who was terrified of a rich playboy like Lucca ruining her life.

Summer didn't deny it. She picked up her glass and took another aggressive swallow. "You literally warned me that Lucca was acting sketchy. I was just too blindly in love to listen."

Stella had tried to sound the alarm, but Summer's absolute loyalty to Lucca had made her refuse to see the red flags.

"Did you confront him? What was his pathetic excuse?" Stella demanded.

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