Hiding Me in the Name of Love Chapter 07
red didn’t leave right away. He stayed downstairs until noon, sending me a relentless barrage of messages from right outside of my front door.
He told me he had already deleted all of Yvette’s contact information.
He promised me he would make up for all the years he had kept me hidden.
He said if I was willing to forgive him, he would do whatever it took to win over everyone in my life.
I didn’t reply to any of his messages.
That afternoon, Zoe called me again. This time, she no longer sounded as confident as she did that night. Instead, she sounded exhausted.
“Tasha, do you really have to take things this far?” she asked.
I was sitting by the window, holding the cup of warm water Mom had given me. “What exactly did I do?” I asked calmly.
“Jared flew back overnight because of you. Yvette’s crying so hard she’s having a breakdown. She genuinely didn’t know you and Jared were still together. She’s a victim in this too!” Zoe said.
“So?”
There was a brief silence on the other end.
I continued, “Am I supposed to comfort her, wish her well, and hand Jared over to her?”
Zoe lowered her voice. “That’s not what I meant. I just think since things have already come to this, someone has to give in.”
I let out a quiet laugh. “Why does it have to be me?”
Zoe didn’t answer.
I suddenly remembered years ago, when Jared and I had our very first fight. Zoe was the one who sat with me by the school field. That day, she had furiously cursed Jared, swearing that if he ever hurt me again, she would be the first to make him pay.
Back then, I had laughed through my tears and told her, “Zoe, you have to promise to always be on my side.”
And she had said, “Of course.”
But some promises would only hold true until new interests and shifting loyalties get in the way.
“Zoe, I used to think of you as my best friend.”
Her breath hitched for a moment. “Tasha, I see you as my friend too. That’s why I couldn’t bring myself to tell you. I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to handle the shock.”
“That’s not what you were afraid of.” I cut her off. “You were afraid that once I found out, Yvette and Jared wouldn’t be able to keep playing house.”
It was like I had hit a raw nerve. Zoe’s voice turned instantly sharp. “Then what do you want now? For everyone to know Jared was two-timing you? You want to turn Yvette into a joke? Do you want me to be humiliated alongside them?”
I looked at the light rain outside the window and lost the last shred of faith I had in her.
Sshe knew exactly how embarrassing the truth would be once it came to light. She had simply never factored in how humiliating it was for me to be kept in the dark for three entire years.
“Whether you’re embarrassed or not has nothing to do with me.”
After hanging up, I began auditing every single expense related to Jared over the years.
Half the funds in our shared bank account had come directly from my salary and bonuses. Looking through the statements, the truth was blinding. A huge portion of the jewelry he bought for Yvette; the hotels he booked, and the parties he hosted had been funded by that very account.
I never cared to look closely before because I foolishly believed those transactions were building our future together. Only now did I realize that my sacrifices had been weaponized to fund romantic memories for another
woman.
I took screenshots of the bills. Then, I organized everything else into a single folder, including the video I took at the hotel that day, the recording of him admitting he was seeing both of us, and the screenshots of his social media posts.
By the time I was done, the sky outside had gone completely dark.
Shortly after, Jared called me again, and I answered.
His first words weren’t an apology. Instead, he demanded aggressively, “Tasha, what do you mean by organizing those bills?”
I could hear the muffled chatter of people in the background. It sounded like his friends were with him.
He lowered his voice, hiss-whispering into the receiver. “We’ve been together for seven years, and now you suddenly want to settle accounts with me?”
“Yes,” I replied.
He let out a bitter, disbelieving laugh. “You never used to be like this.”
I looked down. He was right. I was never like this.
I had loved him completely, so I chose never to keep score. But his fatal mistake was assuming that because I once chose to let things go, I didn’t have a breaking point.
“Jared, I’ll send you everything that needs to be handled at 10:00 am tomorrow,” I said evenly.
The line went completely dead silent.
After a long pause, his tone finally shifted. “Tasha, do you really have to ruin me?”
I tightened my grip on my phone and said softly, “I’m not the one ruining you. You did this to yourself.”
