What if this was a trap and someone was trying to lure me into admitting the relationship just so that they could use it as proof later? I felt a slight burst of panic, and then it faded almost immediately.
What was done was done. Chance and I had had a relationship, and it had been perfect… At least for me. I wasn’t going to deny it now because the honest truth was that I was proud to have been his girlfriend, even if the relat
ionship hadn’t lasted forever.
“You don’t have to deny it,” the woman said. “I already know everything. Including the fact that Chance broke up with you recently.”
I frowned in confusion. “What is your interest in my personal life?” I asked. “And how do you know so much about me?”
“There’ll be time enough for that explanation later,” the woman said. “For right now, all you need to do is trust me and go meet Chance.”
“Why?”
“Because he lied to you.”
“What?”
“He lied about the reason he wanted to break up with you,” she told me. “That was not the real reason.”
I hated how fast the hope rushed up inside me. “Then what is?” I asked.
“Jason.”
My fingers went cold when I heard his name. “Excuse me?” I said. “Jason had something to do with why Chance broke up with me?”
“Jason had everything to do with why Chance broke up with you.”
“How can that be?”
“Shortly before the breakup, Jason cornered Chance in his office and basically gave him an ultimatum. He threatened to expose your relationship unless Chance ended things with you himself.”
“Are you serious?” I demanded.
“Deadly serious.”
“And Chance just…went along with that?”
“He would have lost his job in a heartbeat for you,” the woman replied. “But Jason reminded him that Chance wouldn’t be the only one affected if the news of your relationship came out. You would be expelled.”
I bit my lip. “I knew that,” I said. “And, I was willing to risk it.”
“But Chance wasn’t,” she told me. “He loved you too much to allow you to sacrifice your education for his sake. He claimed that loving you meant protecting you and that was what he needed to do. That was why he broke up with you.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “That’s… I… Sorry, I’m just processing.”
“Understandably.”
I let the silence sit for a few moments before I spoke. “So, the reasons he gave me for the breakup were all lies?”
“Unequivocally.”
“He did it just to protect me?”
“He did.”
I felt a tear slip down my cheek. “He was really convincing.”
“He knew he had to be,” the woman explained. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have accepted it.”