Let the Liars Have Each Other

I clutched the envelope containing my positive pregnancy test, practically floating as I walked into my mother’s house. I wanted to surprise her.

We were sitting down for dinner when she looked up, her expression suddenly turning nostalgic. "Do you remember when you were little and you'd come to my office?" she asked, setting her fork down. "One of my coworkers, Mrs.

Gallagher—her son used to run over just to play with you.

Jack." I smiled, a warm flush rising to my cheeks. "Of course I do." Mom smiled too, but there was a quiet, heavy look in her eyes. "And do you remember Darcy? Mrs.

Michell's girl from next door.

She was such a tomboy, always wiping mud on your face just to get a reaction out of you, and Jack would always chase her down to get back at her for you." My ears burned at the mention of his name.

My fingers slipped into my bag, ready to pull out the lab results and slide them across the table.

Then, Mom spoke, her voice dropping to a soft, cautious whisper. "Jack is marrying her this Wednesday." My hand froze inside my bag.

Before the words could fully process in my brain, the front door clicked open behind me. Mrs. Michell walked right in, Darcy and Jack trailing closely behind her. It was Mrs.

Michell's first time marrying off a daughter, and she had come to consult my mother about the final wedding details. Beneath the table, I slipped my phone out.

My last text exchange with Jack was from yesterday. His message read: "Wait for me.

I’m going to marry you, I promise." When I looked up, Jack and Darcy were standing side by side, her hand tucked comfortably into the crook of his elbow.

The sight of them blurred into a smear of agonizing color. "Jack, you lied to me." … "What's wrong, Iris? Are you not feeling well?" Mrs.

Michell glanced at me, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Is it because our Darcy is getting married and you're sad to see her go? It makes sense.

You two have always been best friends." The corners of my mouth twitched into a hollow mimicry of a smile.

I kept my head down, watching a single, heavy tear escape my eye and splatter onto the pregnancy report tucked under my thigh. "Yeah," I whispered.

I forced myself to look up, holding Jack’s gaze. "I’m really going to miss her." I saw his hand clench into a tight fist at his side.

He looked at me, his eyes swimming with a dark, indecipherable complexity. Darcy tightened her grip on his arm, leaning her head against his shoulder. "Don't worry, Iris.

The three of us grew up together.

Even after Jack and I are married, we’re never going to leave you behind." My fingers crumpled the paper in my lap, a sharp, physical ache slicing through my chest.

I couldn't sit there for another second. I stood up abruptly and bolted upstairs to my bedroom, slamming the door behind me.

The tears came in violent, suffocating waves, but I stuffed a fist into my mouth to choke back the sobs. How could I even begin to explain this?

How could I tell my mother that Jack had been my secret lover for five years? That I was carrying his baby?

That he had promised, just yesterday, to spend the rest of his life with me? I slid down the back of the door, pulling my knees to my chest, weeping in the dark.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed. A message from Jack. "I can explain everything. Please don't make a scene here.

It's not good for Darcy." The phone slipped from my fingers, clattering onto the hardwood floor. The tears on my lips tasted bitter and cold.

I stood up, walked over to the trash can, and threw the pregnancy report inside. The baby was only eight weeks old.

I had spent the morning dreaming of the moment I would tell Jack he was going to be a father. Now, there was no point. I opened my desk drawer.

Resting inside was a relocation contract for a multinational firm’s overseas office. The signature line at the bottom was still blank, waiting for my name.

I had received it a week ago, but I had put it aside because Jack had promised he was ready to marry me. Now, all I wanted was to run.

To be as far away from them as humanly possible. Without another second of hesitation, I unscrewed my pen and signed my name.

Just as I set the pen down, the door clicked open behind me. "Iris." It was Darcy.

She walked over and took my hands in hers. "I know you and Jack have been together." My head snapped up.

I stared at her, my heart hammering against my ribs. "You... you knew?" Growing up, Darcy had always been the mischievous one.

She loved to tease me, often driving me to tears, but she was also fiercely protective. She was my only real friend.

In middle school, when a boy stuck chewing gum in my hair, Darcy had lunged at him, punching him until his nose bled.

Her mother had beaten her ragged for it when they got home, but Darcy had just leaned against the wall, flashing me a crooked, gaptoothed grin.

The next day, Jack had waited until that same boy fell asleep in class and smeared a handful of gum all over his head.

On our walks home from school, Darcy and Jack would bicker and tease each other, refusing to back down until they dragged me into it, demanding I choose which of them I loved more.

Those golden sunsets had witnessed the slow, beautiful unfolding of our lives.

But I never could have imagined a day where they would stand before me as husband and wife—let alone a day where Darcy would look me in the eye and tell me she had known about my secret relationship all along.

My fingers went icy. I shook so hard I could barely form words. "Then... then why? How could you..." Darcy’s lips curved into a sweet, flawless smile. "Iris, think about it.

Since we were kids, I've always let you have everything. I've always protected you." She squeezed my hands. "Just this once, let me have Jack.

Okay?" "What—" Before I could even process her words, she threw herself backward, her shoulder slamming into my trash can and knocking it over.

I instinctively lunged forward to catch her, but the door burst open. Jack rushed in and shoved me hard. I flew backward, my head cracking against the sharp corner of the bookshelf.

A blinding white pain flared behind my eyes, and I gasped, clutching the back of my skull.

Jack was already on his knees, holding Darcy, his face pale with panic. "Darcy, are you okay?" Then he looked up at me, his eyes stripped of all tenderness, leaving only cold, furious accusation. "Why the hell did you push her?!" I pulled my hand back from my head.

My fingers were slick with bright, warm blood. Jack froze. A flicker of deep guilt washed over his features. "I... Iris, I'm sorry. I just panicked.

Are you okay?" Darcy let Jack help her to her feet, shaking her head weakly. "It's fine, Jack. I just lost my footing. It wasn't Iris's fault." Downstairs, Mrs.

Michell called up, asking them to come down and decide on the catering menu. I didn't say a word. I pulled myself up using the edge of the desk, keeping my back to them.

Darcy led Jack out of the room. Just before he crossed the threshold, he paused, throwing a complicated, lingering look back at me.

That night, a text message lighted up my screen. "Iris, I'm so sorry about earlier. Does your head hurt?" I didn't reply. The next morning, I went to the clinic.

I never expected to run into him there. He intercepted me in the lobby, his face etched with genuine concern. "What are you doing at the hospital?

Are you sick?" I ignored him, trying to step around him toward the elevators. Jack blocked my path, his expression desperate. "Iris, please. Just let me explain.

I—" "Jack?" Darcy’s voice cut through the sterile air of the lobby. "What are you two doing?" She marched over, her eyes already brimming with tears. "Iris, I know you’ve always loved Jack.

But our wedding is in three days. Do you really have to do this now?

Do you really have to chase him here?" She looked at me, her voice trembling with theatrical betrayal. "We are supposed to be best friends.

How can you be so cruel to me?" The people waiting in the lobby began to turn, whispers rising like a slow tide. "What's going on?

Is she trying to steal her best friend's fiancé?" "Right before the wedding?

How shameless." "People have no morals these days." The murmurs were low, but each one felt like a physical blow against my chest. "That's not what this is!" I gasped, my eyes darting to Jack, pleading with him to say something.

Anything. Just one word of truth. But Jack took a step back, positioning himself firmly at Darcy’s side, directly opposite me. He looked at me as if I were a stranger.

Five years ago, on the night he confessed his love to me under the city lights, he had sworn he would never let me suffer. He had promised to protect me from the world.

I bit my lower lip so hard I tasted copper, forcing the tears back.

I turned to leave, but Darcy lunged forward and snatched the medical folder from my hands. "You're pregnant!" she shrieked, her voice echoing off the high ceilings of the lobby, ensuring everyone heard. "Whose baby is it?

Is it... is it Jack's?" Her voice cracked, tears streaming down her face. Jack’s head snapped toward me, his eyes wide with utter shock.

But a second later, Darcy let out a choked sob, collapsing against his chest.

He instinctively wrapped his arms around her, shielding her like a precious treasure. "That's impossible," Jack said, his voice flat, looking at me with cold detestation. "I've never even touched her.

I have no idea whose baby that is." I stood frozen, a chill spreading through my veins until I couldn't feel my fingers. My mind flashed back to two months ago.

The way he had held me in the dark, tracing my jawline with his thumb. "Iris, I want to build a home with you.

I want a family." Now, he was holding another woman, telling the world he had never touched me. A sudden, volatile wave of fury erupted from the hollow ache in my chest.

Why should I protect him? Why should my five years of devotion be dragged through the mud while they played the victims?

I let out a cold, sharp laugh, looking them both dead in the eye. "Yes," I said, my voice carrying clearly through the silent lobby. "The baby is Jack’s." "We've been together for five years.

Three days ago, he promised he was going to marry me. Darcy, if anyone is the homewrecker here, it's you." The whispers in the lobby died instantly.

Darcy stared at me, her mouth hanging open, utterly blindsided by my willingness to tear down the facade in public. Jack looked paralyzed.

He had kept our relationship hidden for years, always pleading that the timing wasn't right, that we had to wait.

And because I loved him, because he was so sweet to me and always made me feel like his priority in private, I had agreed. I had waited five years.

I had thought this pregnancy would finally bring us into the light. Instead, it brought me his wedding announcement to someone else. It was a sickening joke.

I looked at Darcy one last time. "But don't worry. You can keep him.

I don't want Jack, and I don't want this baby." Without waiting for a response, I pushed through the crowd and walked out.

I thought I heard Jack call my name from somewhere behind me, but I didn't care anymore. The operating room was freezing.

The anesthetic needle stung like ice, and the overhead surgical lamps were so bright they made my head spin.

I closed my eyes, letting a final tear slip into my hair, whispering a quiet, private goodbye to the tiny life that would never be.

An hour and a half later, I walked out of the clinic, keeping one hand pressed against the wall to steady myself.

The dull, throbbing ache in my lower abdomen was excruciating, but I forced myself to keep moving. My phone buzzed. A text from Jack. "Iris, don't you dare get rid of the baby.

Just wait until after the wedding. I will explain everything to you!" I didn't reply. I turned the phone off.

By the time I reached our neighborhood, dusk had fallen, painting the sky in shades of bruised purple.

As I approached our building, the neighbors—people who had known me since I was a child—stared at me with cold, disgusted eyes. Mrs. Michell was standing by the mailboxes.

As I walked past, she spat on the ground. "Shameless," she muttered. I stopped, my hand clamping tightly around her wrist. "What is your problem, Mrs.

Michell?" She shoved my hand off with sneering disdain. "Why don't you go inside and look at your mother? You're practically killing her." My heart dropped.

I didn't waste another second arguing. I bolted up the stairs and threw open our front door. My mother was lying on her bed, her face paperwhite, gasping for air.

I fell to my knees beside her, grabbing her hand. "Mom! What's wrong? Is it your heart?

Did you take your medicine?" I reached frantically toward her nightstand to find her inhaler and pills, but she clutched my sleeve, her grip weak but desperate.

Her eyes were red, filled with a devastating mix of pain and love. "They're saying... they're saying you're pregnant with Jack's baby.

Iris, is it true?" I froze, the silence stretching between us like a physical weight. I lowered my head, and the tears fell silently onto her bedsheets.

Suddenly, Mom let out a violent, hacking cough.

A thick splatter of dark red blood spilled from her lips. "Mom!" I panicked, trying to catch the blood with my bare hands, watching in horror as it stained the floorboards.

She squeezed my hand with a sudden, terrifying burst of strength. "Iris... tell me. Did Jack... did he lie to you?" I nodded, choking on my own tears.

Mom’s expression hardened, a fierce, protective fire flaring in her pale eyes. "I’m going to kill that bastard." Summoning some impossible reservoir of maternal rage, she pushed me aside and stumbled out of the room.

I tried to follow, but my foot slipped on the slick floor. By the time I scrambled up and ran outside, Mom was already crossing the street.

Across the road, Jack and Darcy were walking handinhand, laughing as they shared an iced coffee. Mom was yelling, blind to everything but them.

She didn't see the heavy delivery truck barreling down the avenue. "Mom!!!" In that split second, the world lost all sound.

The only thing I could see was my mother’s body hitting the pavement, the violent spray of red against the asphalt.

I fell to my knees beside her, cradling her head in my lap, my chest tearing open with a pain so vast and sharp I couldn't breathe. "Mom... please... wake up... please..." The tears blinded me, but through the haze, I saw Darcy grab Jack’s arm on the other side of the street.

He made a move to run toward us, but Darcy shook her head, holding him back. And he stayed.

He just stood there on the pavement, his hands clenched into tight fists, staring at us as my mother died in my arms. At the funeral, Jack and Darcy showed up.

The moment I saw them, a wild, primal rage took over. I lunged forward, shoving them toward the exit. "Get out!

Get the hell out of here!" Darcy looked at me with wide, sorrowful eyes. "Iris, please.

We just wanted to pay our respects." "Shut up!" I grabbed the collar of her coat and delivered a stinging slap across her face. "Don't play innocent with me, Darcy!

I know who spread those rumors! Why did you do it? My mother loved you!

She treated you like her own daughter for years!" I raised my hand to strike her again, but Jack lunged forward, grabbing my wrist. With a harsh shove, he threw me backward.

I collided with the memorial table, and my mother’s framed portrait slid off, crashing onto the floor.

The glass shattered into a million pieces. "Enough!" Jack yelled, stepping in front of Darcy to shield her. "Darcy has been worried sick about you, and you're acting like a lunatic!" "Do you even know what you've—" "Jack!" Darcy interrupted quickly, pulling at his arm. "Don't.

Her mom just passed away. She's grieving. I understand why she's angry." She looked past Jack’s shoulder, meeting my gaze with a chillingly sweet expression. "We'll leave.

We can come back another day." Darcy wrapped her arm tightly around Jack's. "Iris, you're my best friend. Our wedding is tomorrow. Please... you have to be there." They walked out.

I collapsed onto the floor, clutching my mother’s ruined portrait to my chest, screaming until my throat was raw.

In less than fortyeight hours, I had lost my baby, my mother, and the man I thought I would spend forever with.

I stared at the empty doorway where they had just walked out, a cold, dark resolve settling over my grief. "You want me at your wedding?" "Fine. I’ll be there.

And I'm bringing a gift." The next day, I wore a sleek, elegant dress and high heels. I pushed open the heavy double doors of the chapel.

Jack and Darcy were standing at the altar, preparing to exchange rings. As soon as I entered, the entire room fell dead silent. Mrs.

Michell immediately marched down the aisle to intercept me. "What are you doing here? Today is my daughter's wedding! Don't you dare ruin this.

Get out!" She reached out to grab my shoulder, but I stepped aside, letting her stumble past. Jack’s mother, Mrs. Gallagher, stood up next. She didn't look as angry as Mrs.

Michell, but she walked over and took my hand with a look of patronizing pity. "Iris, sweetheart. I know you and Jack grew up together, and it's natural to have feelings.

But he’s marrying Darcy today. If you have any respect for our families, please don't do this." Every eye in the room was pinned on me, heavy with judgment.

I let out a soft, humorless laugh, pulling my hand away and flashing the goldembossed invitation. "They invited me.

Is there something wrong with a best friend showing up?" Darcy, holding up the hem of her white gown, hurried down the altar steps toward us. "It's fine, Mrs. Gallagher.

I invited Iris. We're best friends, after all." Mrs. Michell glared at me, her voice dripping with venom. "Her house is still practically warm with death.

It’s bad luck to have her here." I looked at her, my face completely expressionless. "Mrs.

Michell, when you needed a down payment for your house last year, my mother handed you fifteen thousand dollars from her savings without a second thought.

And now you're talking about bad luck?" I held out my hand. "Pay it back, then. Fifteen thousand, six hundred. Since we were neighbors, I won't even charge you interest." Mrs.

Michell’s face turned an ugly shade of purple. Jack stepped down from the altar, his brow furrowed in irritation. "Iris, do you really have to make a scene like this?" Mrs.

Michell sneered, her voice rising so the entire room could hear. "Everyone knows why she's here! My poor daughter was blind to think this girl was her friend.

She's been trying to seduce Jack for years, and now she's trying to ruin her wedding!" Gasps rippled through the pews. "I heard she tried to claim she was pregnant with his baby." "To do that to her own best friend?

How awful." "Her mother literally died of shame because of her. Unbelievable." I clenched my fists so hard my nails bit into my palms, the physical pain grounding me.

I looked at Jack, then at Darcy. "Don't worry," I said, my voice smooth and steady. "I'm only here to give you your wedding gift." Darcy’s shoulders relaxed slightly, a look of smug relief washing over her face.

Only Jack remained guarded, his eyes scanning me suspiciously. I walked right past them, stepping up to the altar, and took the microphone from the stunned officiant’s hand.

Turning to face the crowd, I spoke clearly into the mic, my voice echoing off the stained glass windows. "Everyone, I am here today to offer my deepest blessings to the bride and groom.

To celebrate their love, please turn your attention to the projector screen."