CHAPTER 95

RILEY 

When both Ciara and Noah stopped coming home for weeks, I knew something had happened. 

I just wasn't sure what. 

A part of me was worried — about Noah, of course — but he wasn't picking my calls. He didn't respond to any my text messages either, and it bothered me a lot more than I wanted it to. 

I knew they had to be together, and a part of me wished they weren't. 

I wished for their relationship to stay the way it was, full of secrets, miscommunication, and distrust.

That maybe if I could not have Noah, then Ciara would not have him either.

But the moment the door opened after they had been gone for so long, the moment my eyes fell on Ciara's face, on the fact that they were holding hands. The moment Noah looked as though he had never been happier in his entire life, was the moment I knew I had lost.

And then, like a nightmare came true, she purred at me like a very satisfied cat and said, "Hello, bitch."