Chapter 3
The restaurant Jake brought me to was unlike anywhere Ryan had ever taken me—a charming seaside place with twinkling lights and the sound of waves crashing nearby. The menu had no prices listed, which immediately made my stomach clench with anxiety.
"Get whatever you want," Jake said, noticing my hesitation. "It's on me."
"I can pay for my half," I insisted automatically.
Jake's eyes met mine across the candlelit table. "When was the last time someone treated you to dinner, Sophia?"
I opened my mouth to answer, then closed it again. I couldn't remember. With Ryan, I always ended up covering the bill when he inevitably "forgot" his wallet or had some emergency expense that drained his account just before our date.
"That's what I thought," Jake said softly. "It's not normal, you know. In a relationship, there should be give and take. Not just take, take, take."
"Ryan's just going through a tough time financially," I defended, the words sounding hollow even to my own ears. "He'll pay me back when he can."
"Like he paid you back for the birthday gift? Or the rent last month? Or the emergency car repair the month before?"
I flushed, uncomfortable with how much Jake seemed to know about my financial relationship with Ryan. "My mom always said that when you love someone, you support them through hard times."
"Your mom sounds like an amazing woman," Jake said, his voice gentler now. "But there's a difference between supporting someone and being used by them."
The waiter arrived with our food, saving me from having to respond. But Jake's words lingered in my mind long after we'd finished eating and were racing back along the coastline on his motorcycle.
* * *
Two days later, I was studying in the library when my phone buzzed with a text from Ryan.
*Hey babe, need a favor. Can you transfer $500? Need a textbook for my new class. Will pay you back next week.*
My fingers hovered over the screen. Five hundred dollars for a textbook seemed excessive, but Ryan was taking that specialized business seminar. Maybe the materials were expensive?
Before I could overthink it, I opened my banking app and made the transfer. *Done. Good luck with the new class!*
His response came immediately: *You're the best. Love you.*
Three simple words that used to make my heart soar. Now they just left me with a nagging doubt.
That evening, I searched my email for the receipt Ryan had promised to forward for the last "emergency" expense—a $300 certification exam he'd needed to take. Nothing. I scrolled back further, looking for any confirmation of how my money had been spent over the past few months. The more I searched, the more my stomach twisted into knots.
"Where's the receipt for that exam you took last week?" I asked when Ryan came home, trying to keep my voice casual.
He didn't look up from his phone. "What exam?"
"The certification one. The $300 one."
"Oh, that." He waved dismissively. "They email those later. Why?"
"I just wanted to see it. And what about today's textbook? Which class was that for again?"
Ryan's head snapped up, his eyes narrowing. "Why the interrogation? Don't you trust me?"
"Of course I do," I said quickly. "I just—"
"Just what? Checking up on me?" He stood up, towering over me. "I thought we were past this after your little Instagram stalking episode."
"I wasn't stalking—"
"You know what? I don't need this." He grabbed his jacket. "I'm going out. Maybe when I get back you'll be done with this paranoid bullshit."
The door slammed behind him, leaving me alone with my doubts and the growing realization that I had no idea where my money was actually going.
* * *
"It's not paranoia if he's actually lying to you," Madison said the next day, sliding into the seat across from me at the café. Her "surprise" visit during my shift wasn't fooling anyone—I knew she'd been worried about me since I'd texted her about the fight.
"Keep your voice down," I hissed, glancing around nervously.
"Sorry," she whispered, leaning closer. "But Soph, this is textbook manipulative behavior. He asks for money, gets defensive when questioned, turns it around to make you feel guilty, then storms out so you're left feeling like the bad guy."
I wiped down the counter with more force than necessary. "You don't know that."
"Then prove me wrong," Madison challenged. "Ask for receipts. Check his enrollment in that class. Look for the textbook. If he's telling the truth, there will be evidence."
What Madison didn't know—what I hadn't told her—was that I'd already looked. There was no business seminar on his schedule, no new textbooks in our apartment. Just more questions I was too afraid to ask.
Neither of us noticed Jake sitting in the corner, nursing a coffee, his eyes fixed on our conversation with an unreadable expression.
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