Twenty-Six receipts of betrayal Novel novel Chapter 20

Chapter 20

This was the first time Nicholas was seeing this side of Valentina–unhinged, vicious, and cruel.

The woman in his memory, from the day they met, had been the picture of vibrant, polite youth, radiating the boundless energy of a recent graduate.

In the way she moved, the way she talked, the way her eyes lit up when she looked at him–he had glimpsed echoes of a happier, bygone era.

Nobody pitied him for what happened to Elara. Everyone blamed him instead. Expected him to step up, take responsibility, sacrifice everything.

Nicholas wasn’t just carrying his own future and Elara’s–he was carrying the weight of everyone’s judgment. Their constant, silent surveillance.

After the accident, he never slept through the night again. Either he was drowning in nightmares or lying awake till dawn, staring at the ceiling.

He had never once considered leaving Elara, never thought of shirking his duty.

Not before the crash. And definitely not after.

But life doesn’t give a shit about your plans.

Elara got crushed under one tragedy after another. And Nicholas couldn’t handle watching everything fall apart. He could only watch himself sink into the mire, sinking deeper with each passing day.

In a marriage that felt more like a tomb. In a life that was just the same grey day on repeat.

Nicholas found himself yearning for the sun–drenched days of his youth, for the Elara who existed before she was eighteen, for everything that was irretrievably lost.

He didn’t actually like Valentina–not really.

What he liked was what she represented. That pulse of life. That feeling of being alive again, even if just for a few stolen hours.

Being with her was the only time he could breathe.

He wasn’t blind to the potential fallout. He had imagined the earthquake it would cause, had agonized over how Elara would react.

But after the guilt and the anxiety and the shame, he’d go back anyway. Tell himself it was the last time.

After countless “last times,” he grew numb, addicted to the escape, no longer in control.

Until it was too late to fix any of it.

Now, standing in the doorway, Nicholas was drowning in those memories.

The silence stretched on.

Valentina stared at him–at this hollow shell of a man who wouldn’t even look at her–and felt rage boil over.

“You’re really gonna throw your life away for someone who’s DEAD-”

Nicholas’s head snapped up.

His eyes–dull and lifeless a second ago–suddenly locked onto hers like a blade,

Valentina’s heart skipped. The words died in her throat.

12:20

Twenty–Six Receipts of Betrayal: My Silence Was the Countdown to His Eternal Regret

18.3%

Chapter 20

She opened her mouth to backtrack, to explain, but before she could get a word out, she heard footsteps behind her.

Then someone grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked.

She yelped, stumbling backward, and then she was shoved hard to the ground.

She hit the floor with a gasp, ready to scream, but found herself staring into the cold, furious face of a middle–aged woman who bore a clear resemblance to Nicholas.

“Elara might be gone, but she’s still part of this family. You don’t get to talk about her like that.” Her voice was cold. Cutting. “My son is NEVER getting remarried. And I will NEVER let someone like you anywhere near him. Get out.”

Being cursed out and humiliated by Nicholas’s mother left Valentina flushed with shame and pale with anger. Without another word, she scrambled to her feet and fled.

Once she was gone, Nicholas’s mother turned around slowly and stared at her son.

For a long moment, she just looked at him. Then she raised her hand.

Crack.

The slap echoed in the hallway.

A bright red handprint bloomed across Nicholas’s gaunt, hollow face.

“That bitch,” his mother said quietly, voice shaking. “Elara gave up because of HER, didn’t she?”

(2)

(0)

12:20

Twenty–Six Receipts of Betrayal: My Silence Was the Countdown to His Eternal Regret

18.