Chapter 4 The First Shift

Tessa talked. Slowly at first, then like someone finally vomiting poison she'd held too long.

She told Mara about the lunches.

The late-night texts.

The excuses Marcus gave her about Mara-cruel, dismissive fictions meant to justify his desire.

"He told me you were... clingy," Tessa said quietly. "That you didn't respect his work. That you'd 'lose it' if he ever took time for himself."

Mara let the words pass over her like cold wind.

Not surprising.

Marcus was never content lying just once-his lies formed ecosystems.

"What else?" Mara asked.

Tessa hesitated. "He said you wouldn't understand him the way I did."

"And do you?" Mara's voice remained calm, but something dangerous flickered beneath.

"No," Tessa admitted instantly. "I don't anymore. I don't think I ever did."

Good. The separation had begun.

Mara leaned forward. "If you want to make this right, Tessa... you won't just step away from him."

Tessa's eyes widened. "Then what do I do?"

"You step toward me."

Confusion, fear, and a strange sense of hope danced across Tessa's face.

"What does that mean?"

Mara smiled faintly. "It means you and I share information now. Quietly. Carefully. When he calls you, you tell me. When he lies, you tell me. When he panics, you tell me."

"And you're not going to... ruin me?" Tessa asked, voice cracking.

"Not if you're loyal." Mara's tone was so gentle it chilled the air between them. "This is your chance to shift where you stand."

Tessa nodded slowly. "Okay. I'll help you."

A New Kind of Betrayal

Two days later, Tessa reached out again.

Tessa: He wants to meet. He thinks we can "fix things."

Mara smiled at the phrasing. Fix things was Marcus's favorite lie. He thought relationships were machines-tighten a bolt, oil a hinge, problem solved.

Meet with him, Mara texted back.

But tell me everything he says.

Tessa agreed.

That night, Tessa met Marcus at a dim restaurant tucked under a flickering streetlamp. She'd chosen a corner booth, the one furthest from the windows, where the shadows softened faces and amplified tension.

Mara wasn't there physically, but she was present in every word.

Their conversation unfolded exactly as Mara expected:

Marcus, defensive.

Marcus, charming.

Marcus, making himself the victim.

"...you just pulled away," Marcus said, voice lowered. "I didn't know what you wanted anymore."

Tessa stared at him, remembering Mara's quiet, razor-sharp composure, the truth in her eyes.

And something in Tessa shifted-alignment, loyalty, perhaps fear-turned-respect.

"Marcus," she said softly, "why didn't you tell me you were still planning the wedding?"

Marcus stiffened. "Tessa, I-"

"Why didn't you tell me anything real?" Her voice trembled, but she didn't look away. "You lied to me too."

His jaw tightened. "I didn't lie. I just... didn't tell you things that weren't relevant."

"Weren't relevant," she repeated.

Marcus's expression faltered. "Look, don't turn this into something dramatic. I care about you, okay? I care about us."

Tessa almost laughed-but instead she said the line Mara had told her to say:

"Do you? Then why do you look so afraid of losing control?"

Marcus froze.

Perfect.

Later that night, Tessa sat on her bed with trembling fingers and typed everything to Mara.

Every word Marcus said.

Every excuse.

Every shift in his expression.

Mara read the messages slowly, savoring them-not for pleasure, but for precision.

Tessa wasn't just apologizing anymore.

She was betraying Marcus for her.

And that was a far more intimate violation than anything sexual could have been.