“The one with the silver bracelet was peak entertainment,” someone recalled with a grin. “We told her Brendan dropped his anniversary gift in the park, so Chloe spent half the night searching through a torrential rainstorm.”
“She ended up collapsing with a high fever the next day,” Wyatt added.
“And yet she still showed up at his apartment asking if the bracelet had been found,” Brendan’s friend chuckled.
More laughter filled the room, turning my stomach.
They remembered convincing me Brendan was comatose after emergency surgery, sending me to a chapel where I spent the entire night praying.
Then they mentioned the false plagiarism accusation during my final semester at university.
I had spent endless hours trying to prove my innocence and ended up missing my own graduation ceremony.
I had always believed those disasters were terrible coincidences or bad luck. Whenever I cried, Brendan told me I was simply too sensitive.
Then one sentence shattered everything.
“Only three more to go,” Mason declared triumphantly. “Ninety-nine acts of revenge and our deal is officially fulfilled.”
“And what happens right after that?” Wyatt inquired.
“Brendan breaks up with Chloe for good and gets back together with Scarlett,” Mason explained smoothly.
Scarlett.
Hearing her name felt like a blow to my chest.
Scarlett Montgomery had been the favorite to win the regional contemporary dance championship four years earlier. She came from an influential family with private coaches and endless sponsors, so everyone expected her to win.
But I took the trophy.
I was Chloe Bennett, daughter of an accountant from San Bernardino and an elementary school teacher.
I still remembered that night clearly: the applause, my mother crying in the front row, and my father recording everything on his old phone.
I never knew Scarlett had been backstage crying in front of Brendan.
“Chloe stole that championship title right out of Scarlett’s hands,” one of the guys commented.
“That’s exactly why Brendan started dating her in the first place,” another replied instantly. “First he had to make her fall madly in love, and then he was going to make her pay every single day.”
The truth hit me all at once.
For three years, I had exhausted myself trying to be enough. I tolerated his cold silences and subtle humiliations because I believed he simply struggled to show affection.
Then Brendan spoke casually.
“Don’t make such a massive deal out of it, guys. Chloe chooses to get overly involved in everything, so nobody actually forces her.”
