Chapter 18
Chapter 18
The room seemed to close in around Colette as the suffocating realization of Matt’s devotion to Iris became a crushing weight on her chest. Her heart pounded in her ears, a relentless drumbeat of despair. With a sudden burst of defiant strength, she wrenched herself from Matt’s embrace, shaking off his desperate attempts to pull her back.
“Take me home!” she demanded, her voice a raw edge of fury and pain. The words were almost too heavy to utter, but she forced them out, each one a piercing accusation.
“Itty.
darling.” Matt’s voice was a pitiful murmur, laden with frustration and confusion as he reached for her again. But Colette was resolute, her eyes burning with unshed tears and untold anger. “NO! Matt! NO!” she shouted, shoving his hands away with fierce determination. “If you’re so desperate for a quick night of sex, you should probably ask your secretary to arrange a one- night stand for you. Unless she takes the task onto herself.”
Her final, cutting words hung in the air like a bitter, stinging wind. With that last declaration, she turned on her heel, her movements swift and unyielding. She had no intention of waiting for Matt to make things right. If he wouldn’t drop her off, she would find her own way. Within minutes, a taxi pulled up, but just as she was about to get in, Matt’s black Range Rover skidded to a stop in front of her.
The drive was shrouded in an oppressive silence. Matt, his face a mask of strained composure, had taken the wheel. The vehicle felt like a steel cage, the darkened windows offering no solace from the cold, unspoken tension inside. He opened the passenger door for her with a curt, mechanical gesture, his demeanor almost robotic.
“Get in. I will drop you off,” he said, his voice flat and devoid of warmth. Colette, though bruised by his words and actions, slipped into the seat with a resigned grace. She fastened her seatbelt with deliberate slowness, her hands trembling slightly.
“Are you sure it’s okay if you drop me off?” she asked, her voice laced with a bitter sweetness that belied her inner turmoil. “Have you asked Iris if it will be okay?”
She watched as Matt’s jaw clenched tightly, his face flushing with a fierce, angry red. The tension was palpable, a storm brewing beneath his stony facade. “She was only trying to help,” he muttered through gritted teeth, his voice laced with venomous frustration.
Colette’s heart ached as she took in his response. “I’m sure she was,” she replied, her words. dripping with sarcasm, the pain in her voice barely masked. Her weariness was overwhelming, the
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puftres cute of arguments and mieunderstandings hearing her drained. The unspoken truth was That no matter what the sold or did, Mate’s decorish to frit remained unshaken.
The the than that of the car tires on the pavement felt like a harsh reminder of Colette’s internal Turmoil. As they crocord the downtown bridge. Ma apology cut through the heavy silence. “Look, I am sorry,” be montered, his voice tinged with regret
Colete’s eyes flared with anger. “Sorry for what?” she snapped, the words barely containing the
arm inside her.
“I’m sorry because I made you angry. I shouldn’t have brought up Iris at all,” he said, his tone earnest but lacking understanding.
At that moment, Colette saw red. “You should be sorry because you shared our personal matters with an outsider. You shared MY personal matters with a woman I dislike!” Her voice cracked with
frustration, the dam of her patience finally breaking.
Her shouting reverberated in the confined space of the car. When she finally quieted, the silence that followed was suffocating. She stared out the window, feeling a deep, aching solitude. This man would never understand the depth of her hurt. No matter how many times they fought, no matter how many times she explained, he would always fall short of grasping the enormity of her
pain.
When they arrived outside Zoe’s apartment, Colette didn’t wait for Matt to open her door. With a swift motion, she threw it open and jumped out, eager to escape the suffocating tension. “Itty!
Wait a second,” Matt’s voice called after her, laced with desperation.
Reluctantly, she paused, turning to face him with a mixture of exhaustion and resignation.
“What?” she asked, her voice a hollow echo of what it once was.
“About Danny’s birthday… Will you come with me to Roxy’s and her husband’s next week?” His eyes were filled with a hopeful, almost pleading expression.
“No!” Colette’s response was immediate, her voice firm and resolute. “It’s your family celebration. You should go there.” Her gaze was fixed on the ground, unable to meet his eyes. The prospect of spending days in close quarters with Matt, under the current circumstances, was unbearable.
Roxy lived in Queensland, and going there meant a prolonged ordeal of forced proximity. Colette couldn’t fathom enduring it. “Evie, Damon, everyone will ask for you if I show up there alone.
What do you think I should tell them then?”
Colette finally turned to face Matt, her expression a blend of bitterness and resignation. It was clear what he was doing–a subtle ultimatum wrapped in a hopeful request. Either she
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Chapter 18
accompanied him to Queensland or he wouldn’t go at all.
“Forget it then, I have some important business to attend to next week anyway,” Matt said, his tone indifferent but laced with a veiled challenge.
In that moment, Colette’s resolve crumbled. She knew she was being manipulated, but the need for family, the longing she had harbored for so long, pushed her to agree. She loathed her own weakness, her inability to stand firm against the manipulative tug of Matt’s request.
Back inside the apartment, Colette felt the weight of her decision. As she prepared for bed, her thoughts were a chaotic mess. Matt had used her deepest vulnerabilities against her, exploiting her longing for a family she had never truly had.
Matt’s siblings, though kind, were emotionally distant, never really beoming the real type of family she wanted. The realization that Matt had leveraged her deepest desires to coerce her into compliance left her feeling raw and exposed.
