Chapter 106: The Confession
Diane’s POV
The sound of Natasha’s sobs echoed in my ears as I watched her retreating figure disappear between the trees. My legs felt like lead, but something deep inside me—maybe it was the mother’s instinct already growing within me, or perhaps just the desperate need for truth—propelled me forward. I had to know. I had to hear it from her own lips.
I found her behind an abandoned maintenance truck near the edge of the park, crumpled against the rusted metal like a broken doll. The sight of her stopped me in my tracks. She was hitting herself, her small fists pounding against her thighs as she sobbed.
"You’re useless, Natasha," she was saying to herself, her voice raw and broken. "You hurt and destroy everything around you. You’re trash... you’re nothing but trash."
My heart shattered watching her self-destruction. Despite everything, despite the growing suspicion that was eating away at my insides, seeing someone in that much pain made my own tears start falling. I stood there for what felt like an eternity, watching this beautiful young woman tear herself apart with words that sounded too familiar.
Finally, I found my voice.
"Is it true, Natasha?" The words came out as barely a whisper, but they might as well have been screams for the way they made her freeze. "Please, Natasha. I need you to answer me. Is it true... were you sleeping with my husband?"
She couldn’t bring herself to face me. Her shoulders shook as she slowly, painfully, nodded her head once.
That single nod broke something inside me that I didn’t know could break any further. I cupped my face in my hands and let out a sound I didn’t recognize—somewhere between a sob and a wail of pure anguish.
"Why... God?" I cried out to the sky. "What have I done in my former life to deserve this kind of treatment from people close to me? Where have I gone wrong?"
The questions poured out of me like blood from a wound. Every betrayal, every lie, every moment of false comfort crashed over me in waves. First Liam, then Sophie, and now Natasha—the girl I’d been trying to save, the daughter of a man I was learning to trust, the woman I’d offered my friendship to just hours ago.