Beneath the Velvet Lies

SHARDS OF TRUST

Chapter 1: Shards of Trust

After a long day at work, Nayah felt a sense of relief as she arrived home. She has a lot of things to tell her fiancé, things that she is looking forward to as their marriage is near. Sebastian Cole "Seb" Vexler was her longtime fiancé. They met way back in college at university. They first became friends, but everything went deeper.

When Nayah arrives home, the soft murmur of voices carries through the half-open door to their bedroom. Her steps become heavy as she approaches the ajar bedroom door. She approaches, pulse-pounding. She hears laughter—their laughter. She feels like a knife penetrated her chest. As she steps inside, her world seems fracturing.

"I hope I'm interrupting something." Her voice echoed throughout the whole bedroom.

Their eyes met hers. The silence became deafening. No one dared make a move or speak.

"You know, I've seen some shit messed-up blueprints in my whole damn life. Twisted designs. But this...this is the most fucking ugliest mess I've ever walked in on." She's trembling in anger, but she remains calm, anger is boiling inside her, tears cloud her vision, and her voice starts to stutter.

She never thought that one day, she would walk into one of her friend's stories.

"Nayah, listen. Just—" His voice was so calm as his looks remain innocent.

She scoffs. Listen? Why would she be fucking listen?! To hear all the lies? But fine, she will listen. "Listen? Oh, believe me, I'm listening. Come on, let's hear it. Darling, I've got my night free so weave me a story that makes this—" She paused, looking disgustingly. "—make any sense."

"Nayah, it's not—"

What?

"It's not what I think, Ciarra?!" she smirked. "The fuck! How can you say it's not what I think?! You were damn naked in my bed with my fucking fiancé! And it's not what I think it is?! Then what the fuck were you doing?! Playing rock paper scissors? Reading? Damn! I'm not a fucking kid, Ciarra. Don't you ever kid me!" How could she?! That was her fiancé for God's sake!

And Ciarra?! Her fucking best friend!

Her voice becomes venomous; she can't control her words anymore. "You were my best friend for God's sake, Ciarra. A sister in every way that mattered, and this is how you would show it? By crawling into my bed? With my fiancé?"

"I'm sorry... I never wanted—"

Nayah laughs, cold and mirthless. "You never wanted? What exactly do you want, Ciarra? To betray me thoroughly I'd never breathe without choking on it. To steal everything, you could?"

Seb steps forward, his voice desperate and his looks pleasing. "Nayah, love, you must believe me. It wasn't planned. It just... happened."

She realized that her fiancé had no emotional intelligence at all. A glint of joy sparked through her system knowing that she would not be tied with this kind of guy anymore. Luckily, this betrayal leads to her freedom. They want to cover up the truth by manipulating her, they want to make her believe that they didn't betray her at all.

"Don't you dare to insult me! 'Just happened'? What the fuck, you tripped and fell off into betrayal? For fucking six months? You looked me in the eyes every fucking single day. Lied. Kissing me with that damn same mouth you used to whisper promises while lying beside her." Her words were sharp, and her eyes swelled with tears. It pained her, knowing that her fiancé's affair with her best friend.

As she turns to Ciarra her looks become colder and sharper. "Did you enjoy it? Every time you fuck at every corner of my house. Does it give you a thrill?"