“What’s she doing here?”
“I don’t know.”
“I want to come with you.”
Amber glanced at her. “You don’t need to do that.”
“I know.” Nia glanced at the driver. “Stan, I’ll be just a second.”
“Take your time, dear.”
Amber and Nia walked in the front door, and right away, she could hear voices coming from Cesar’s office.
Nia grabbed her hand. “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s go listen for a moment,” Nia said.
They crept up to the doorway.
“I’m so glad you’re finally coming to your senses, dearest,” Bianca said.
“Men can be dense sometimes, darling,” Cesar said.
Amber pressed her fingers to her mouth and looked to see the same horror on her friend’s face.
“What should we do now? You’ll have to tell Amber,” Bianca said.
“I know,” Cesar said.
Amber didn’t hear anything and peeked around the corner to see Cesar with his arms around her sister and kissing her.
Bile crept up her throat as she turned away. This was a nightmare she’d had several times, and now it was coming to life.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here,” Nia said and started pulling her toward the front door.
Amber nodded. She was too numb to think about anything. Eventually, the pain would come, but she just wanted to get as far away as possible before she broke down.
Nia got her into the back of the car.
“What’s wrong?” Stan asked.
“Cesar broke her heart. Please get us away from here.”
“Oh, you poor dear,” Stan said and immediately started the car and drove away.
Amber looked out the side window.
“We’ll figure this out,” Nia said and wrapped her arms around her.
At that moment, Amber didn’t care about anything. Every bit of self-confidence was stomped out, and she couldn’t see it ever coming back. He’d told her he loved her and wanted her forever but then turned and threw her away for her pretty sister without giving her a thought.
She never wanted to hear words that were supposed to build her confidence again because they didn’t mean anything. She meant it when she’d told him she loved him, but now she felt it all slide away, leaving her empty and frozen inside, and that was the way she wanted to stay. The fact he’d never said it back to her should have been a clue.