Chapter 82 — The Betrayal Revealed
Auri's POV
The hum of the city outside Dante's company was a muted backdrop to the storm roaring inside me. I had decided, with trembling resolve, to confront the gnawing unease I'd been feeling for days. He had been distant, cold, distracted… and my intuition screamed that something had happened. Something I didn't want to imagine.
I took a deep breath and entered the glass-walled lobby, my heels clicking lightly against the polished floor. The receptionist greeted me politely, directing me to Dante's office. My hands were clammy, my heart racing, but I forced myself to step inside.
Waiting in his office
Dante's office was impossibly large, imposing, and yet it felt empty without him. The skyline glittered behind his massive desk, but the view couldn't calm the panic that coursed through me. I seated myself in the plush chair, trying to appear composed.
To keep my hands busy and my mind from spiraling, I opened my phone and began DM'ing Marcela. Her messages were light, chatty, filled with her usual energy. I giggled softly at her ridiculous jokes, but even her cheer couldn't erase the knot tightening in my chest.
I reached for the keyboard absentmindedly, scrolling through Marcela's messages. Then, with a careless flick, my hand nudged the mouse. The screen lit up suddenly, displaying Dante's desktop.
And then I saw it.
The email that shattered me
It was an email notification, bold and bright, from a sender I didn't recognize:
Celestine
Subject: Last night was great…
I froze. My breath caught.
I opened it.
Last night was great. I love how aggressive you were. Can't wait for next time…
The words blurred before my eyes. My chest tightened violently, like a bee had stung straight into my heart. Pain shot through me, sudden and searing, as though someone had ripped open a wound I thought was healing.
I dropped my hand from the keyboard. My fingers trembled. My lips quivered. My mind spun uncontrollably.
No… no… this can't be real. He wouldn't… he couldn't…
Tears welled up, and I tried to blink them away, but they fell anyway, warm and unrelenting. My whole body shook, a mixture of grief, fear, and disbelief.
I sank lower into the chair, clutching the edge as my body betrayed me with tremors. The world narrowed into the screen in front of me, the email glowing like a beacon of my worst nightmare: Dante had cheated.
The confrontation begins
"Ms. Valdez?" a voice called from the door, hesitant.
I didn't move. I couldn't. My mind was caught in a spiral of images I didn't want to see, didn't want to imagine, but could not escape.
And then… the door swung open.
Dante.
He looked immaculate, every inch the powerful, commanding figure he always was—but the moment he saw me, his confident mask faltered.
I didn't even notice him at first. My eyes were glued to the email, reading the words over and over, each repetition a fresh stab to my heart.
"Auri…" His voice was low, cautious, like stepping onto thin ice.
I looked up at him, tears streaming freely now, chest heaving. "Dante… what is this?" My voice cracked, raw with pain. "What… who is this?"
His face went pale. The mask dropped entirely. For the first time in months, I saw Dante Moretti the man—not the perfect, untouchable CEO, but the flawed, desperate, guilty man beneath.
"I… Auri…" he began, and stopped. His hands curled into fists at his sides. "I can explain…"
But the words sounded hollow, even to him.
Auri's pain explodes
"Explain?" I shouted, rising to my feet despite my shaking knees. "Explain what, Dante? That you… that you slept with her? That you—" My voice broke completely. I sobbed, clinging to the edge of his desk. "I trusted you! I… I healed… I fought to smile again, to feel alive again, and you—"
I couldn't continue. My body was trembling violently, my chest aching, my eyes red and stinging.
Dante's lips parted, but he said nothing. He couldn't.
I continued, tears falling freely now. "I watched you come home every time after your trips, hoping… hoping you were still the man I loved. And you… you betray me?"
His head sank. His hands twitched, gripping the edge of his own desk. The guilt in his eyes was unmistakable, raw, almost painful to witness.
"I… Auri… I didn't—"
"You didn't what?" I screamed. "You didn't what, Dante? You didn't cheat? You didn't betray me?"
His throat bobbed. He couldn't speak. Every breath came ragged, heavy.
Dante's unbearable guilt
"I… I… I didn't—" he finally croaked, voice shaking. "Auri… I made a mistake. I… I lost control… I was… weak. I…"
His hands buried his face in his palms, the very picture of a man breaking under his own guilt.
I wanted to throw something. I wanted to shake him until he explained himself. I wanted answers.
"Weak? Weak? You were with another woman, Dante!" I sobbed. "You were in a hotel with her! You… you… betrayed everything we've been through!"
He froze. I could see every ounce of guilt crushing him, the weight of knowing he had hurt the woman he loved most.
"I didn't… I didn't let it happen," he admitted quietly, almost painfully. "I swear, Auri… I never… not with her. I… I—I can't…"
The words tumbled out, broken and desperate. His voice cracked, full of remorse.
I shook my head violently, tears streaming. "You—look at what you've done, Dante! You… you let her… get close to you. You let yourself… almost—"
"I know!" His voice rose, a mixture of anguish and fury at himself. "I know, Auri! I know I let it happen! I… I almost… but I didn't! I swear to you, I—"
I stumbled back, shaking my head, unable to reconcile the man before me with the betrayal I felt in my chest.
The storm between us
We stood in the office, the sunlight streaming through the windows, but it felt like the room was suffocating. The city below continued unaware of the storm raging above it, inside these walls, inside our hearts.
"You need to understand, Auri!" Dante shouted, hands shaking, voice cracking. "I never… I never touched her. I didn't… I swear! I wanted to… but I stopped myself!"
I sank into the chair again, covering my face. "You… you almost… you almost ruined everything, Dante. Everything! I… I… I don't know if I can trust you anymore. I don't know if I… if I even… love you right now…"
The words hung in the air like knives. I hadn't meant to say them—they had escaped in my anguish—but the truth of my heartbreak was undeniable.
Dante's hands shook. His chest heaved. He could barely meet my eyes. "Auri… please. Please… I am so sorry. I… I am so, so sorry. I swear… I didn't… I would never—"
I cut him off, sobbing. "You almost did! And you know that! You almost… and that's worse than if you had!"
His entire body trembled. The man I loved, the man I trusted, was crumbling. And I could do nothing but watch, my own heart breaking at the sight.
The unbearable aftermath
We sat there in silence after that. My tears fell freely. Dante's hands gripped his knees, shoulders shaking with guilt. Words had failed us both.
The email still glowed on the screen. Celestine's manipulation had pushed us to the brink, and I could feel the weight of the betrayal—even if nothing had physically happened.
Dante's voice finally broke through the silence, barely a whisper.
"I… I don't deserve you, Auri. I… I don't…"
I looked at him then, tears streaking my face, chest heaving. My heart felt like it had shattered, but part of me—still foolishly, hopelessly—wanted to reach for him, to tell him I still believed he loved me.
But I couldn't. Not yet.
Not until the storm passed. Not until trust could be rebuilt.
And as he knelt there, head bowed, chest tight, guilt radiating off him like heat, I realized—this was only the beginning of the fight for us.
The beginning of everything he had almost destroyed.