Chapter 10

Demetri Anderson POV:

The automated voice in my ear felt like a death knell. The number you have dialed is currently unavailable. My heart clenched, a sudden, sharp pain piercing through my chest. It felt like a vital part of me had just been ripped away. She was gone. Truly gone.

Jordan emerged from the studio, her expression grim. "Well, that was quite the show, wasn't it, Demetri?" Her voice was laced with a chilling sarcasm. "Your fiancée is currently being attended to by paramedics. Seems the truth was a little too much for her delicate constitution."

I felt a flush of shame crawl up my neck. I couldn't meet her eyes. My carefully constructed world, built on what I thought were principles and justice, had imploded in a spectacular, public fashion.

"Josie..." My voice was a raw whisper. "Where is she? How..." I trailed off, unable to articulate the depth of my regret, the burning question of how she had endured these past three years.

Jordan scoffed. "How do you think? While you were living in your gilded cage, being adored by your manipulative fiancée, Josie was fighting for survival. She was working herself to the bone, trying to pay off your parents' debts, trying to keep Bennie out of trouble. She moved into a rundown apartment in the city's worst neighborhood. She took a degrading job at a nightclub, enduring humiliation after humiliation just to put food on the table! All while you, her brilliant, principled ex-boyfriend, sat in judgment, believing every lie Claudia spun."

My stomach churned. The memory of the club, of Josie in that uniform, of my cutting words to her-it all came rushing back, a tidal wave of guilt. "She... she was at The Serpent's Kiss? That's what you mean?"

Jordan's eyes hardened. "That's exactly what I mean. And do you know what else, Demetri? That night at the club, when Claudia publicly shamed Josie, and you just sat there, passive and indifferent? Josie was forced to apologize on her knees for something she didn't do, just to escape further torment. All while you watched, judging her, thinking she deserved it."

My blood ran cold. The image of Josie, kneeling, her head bowed, flashed before my eyes. The humiliation I had witnessed, the subtle sense of triumph I had felt, believing she was finally facing consequences for her 'actions'-it was all a grotesque perversion of justice. My vision blurred, the ground swaying beneath me. I had accused her. I had judged her. I had stood by while she was publicly humiliated for my mistake, for my blindness.

"Where is she?" I rasped, the words tearing through my throat. "Please, Jordan. Tell me. I need to find her. I need to apologize."

Jordan looked at me, a mixture of pity and contempt in her eyes. "You don't deserve her, Demetri. You never did." She turned, walking away without another word, leaving me alone in the biting wind, the echoes of my colossal failure ringing in my ears.

I felt like I couldn't breathe. My lungs burned, my head swam. I had to find her. I stumbled to my car, the expensive leather of the seats feeling alien beneath me. I drove, blindly at first, then with a frantic desperation, towards The Serpent's Kiss.

The club was a blur of neon lights and pulsing music. I pushed through the throng of people, my eyes scanning, searching, frantic. I bumped into a group of laughing patrons, sending drinks spilling. "Josie! Where is Josie Cohen?" I yelled, my voice hoarse.

Caron Wolfe, the manager, appeared out of nowhere, her face a mask of annoyance. "Demetri Anderson? What on earth are you doing here?" She recognized me. Of course, she did. I had been there, judging Josie.

"Josie," I gasped, clutching her arm. "Where is she? I need to know. Is she here?"

Caron looked at me, a strange mix of emotions in her eyes. "Josie? She's not here. She quit. Left town."

My jaw dropped. The words hit me like a sledgehammer. "Quit? Left? But... but why?"

Caron sighed, shaking her head. "Because she finally got what she came for, I suppose. Enough money to pay off her debts and get her brother the medical help he needed. Funny, isn't it? You, the big lawyer, actually helped her achieve that, even if you were too blind to see what was really happening."

My head reeled. "Debts? Medical help? Bennie? What are you talking about?"

Caron looked at me, her expression hardening. "You really have no idea, do you? Josie worked here, enduring God knows what, to pay off her parents' massive debts and to cover Bennie's medical bills after he got into that fight. She took that terrible job tonight, the one you witnessed, the one you judged her for, because she was desperate. She needed that money to save her brother from juvenile detention, the one you threatened him with." She paused, her voice laced with accusation. "She was even going to make a public apology, against her will, because you demanded it for your fiancée's lies. She was ready to sacrifice what little dignity she had left, all for her brother. And you just stood there, so smug in your righteousness."

The air left my lungs. I stumbled back, my mind reeling. Josie... enduring all that... because of me. Because of my blindness, my arrogance, my unwavering belief in Claudia's lies. The pieces snapped into place, forming a horrifying tapestry of my own complicity.

Caron turned away, leaving me standing there, a hollow echo in the vibrant, thumping club. I walked out, the sounds of music and laughter fading into a dull roar in my ears.

I drove, my hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles were white. Where would she have gone? Her old apartment. It was the only place I knew.

The familiar, rundown complex in the city's older district. I parked my car, the sleek black vehicle looking ridiculously out of place amidst the rusted sedans and beat-up trucks. I walked up the creaking stairs, the scent of damp concrete and cheap cooking oil clinging to the air. Josie had lived here. My Josie.

As I reached her door, my breath hitched. Splashes of bright red paint defaced the door and the wall beside it. Crude, hateful words were scrawled in black spray paint: WHORE. LIAR. PAY YOUR DEBTS.

My stomach twisted. This was what she had faced? This was the "life" she had built after I had cast her aside? The violent threats, the public shaming... while I was living in my pristine, perfectly ordered world, convinced of my own moral superiority.

My heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, aching so much I couldn't breathe. The guilt was a suffocating weight, pressing down on me, threatening to crush me.

I raised my hand, my knuckles trembling, and knocked on the door. It was a futile gesture, I knew. But I had to try.