"I thought that was you! I was drunk and she looked like you..." Mike pleaded, desperately trying to reach her icy heart. "You need to understand—I don't care about her. It's always been you, Brianna."
Brianna simply ran a slender finger through her hair, her expression one of pure exasperation.
Her tone dropped flat. "Then what am I supposed to do with that information? Why are you telling me this all of a sudden?"
Mike was taken aback. "Because—with everything happening to you... you need someone who loves you—"
Brianna raised one hand, cutting him off. "Let me stop you there."
"I don't need you. I don't need anyone. Understood?"
Mike was stunned. This wasn't the reaction he had expected after pouring his heart out. He expected tears, perhaps a moment of shared grief—not this wall of clinical indifference.
"Brianna—"
"No. This should be the last time you utter this nonsense, Mike."
"You have Reyna. You have two beautiful children. Focus on them and leave me alone."
She brushed past him toward the door, but on reaching the threshold, she looked over her shoulder. "And move on. God, it's pathetic that you're still so obsessed."
Seeing the icy indifference in Brianna's eyes, Mike realized that while he had been living in a dream of the past, she had already moved to a future where he didn't even exist as a memory.
Mike felt a bitter, metallic taste in his mouth. He watched the back of Brianna's head, and felt a wave of nausea.
Brianna on the other hand paused briefly at the door. Taking in the state of the twin in front of her. Her gaze dropped to Reyna's balled fists by her sides.
A soft smile appeared on her face. "He's all yours, Reyna. Since you worked so hard to steal him, you should really do a better job of keeping him quiet. His 'love' is starting to stain my floors."
Reyna's mouth opened, but before she could say anything, Brianna brushed past her. She felt a strong urge to pull her head back, but before she even lifted a hand...
"What are you doing here?"
Reyna's eyes locked on Mike's. After humiliating her before her sister, he had the guts to ask her that?
"What am I doing here? You didn't show up for your children's birthday that's what. And now their school has resumed yet you haven't sent the money for their school fees—"
"Didn't I send money to your mother for their school fees last week?!" Mike's voice made the children whimper in fear.
The employees of YKC News slowed their pace, their eyes darting between the enraged Mike and the woman he was currently dismantling in public.
Reyna froze as the realization hit her like a physical blow; Bobbie Sue had pocketed the money again, leaving Reyna to play the beggar in the middle of a corporate lobby.
Noticing the paleness on Reyna, Mike thought she was pulling another stunt again. "You stupid bitch."
He stepped so close that Reyna could feel the heat of his rage. "You're trying to steal from me again, aren't you? Is that why you climbed into my bed? So you could spend your life picking my pockets?"
The judgmental glances and murmurs from the staff surrounded Reyna.
"Look at her dressed all neat when she's a thief leaving off from someone's sweat."
"Poor Mike, trapped by a woman like that."
Reyna felt the humiliation seep into her bones, making her bite her bottom lip.
"Listen carefully," Mike sneered, though his eyes flicking toward Brianna's office. "I don't ever want to see you or those bastards around me again."
He brushed past her, his shoulder hitting hers with such force she stumbled.
Reyna shrieked desperately. "Mike! Where do you think you're going?! They're your children! It's your responsibility! I'm not raising them alone, Mike!"
But the elevator doors slid shut and he was gone.
Reyna stood there, her chest heaving from the shout. She looked around momentarily at the stares she was getting.
Then her toddlers began to cry, clutching at the hem of her skirt. She fought to pull herself together, pushing her hair from her face with trembling fingers. But when she turned around, her composure broke.
"Y-you!"