Jose’s POV

"This is ridiculous," Silvia snorted exasperatedly.

The dark-haired woman ran her hands through her hair and glared at the object of her frustration.

José remained composed, his icy blue eyes and dark sleek hair seemed unbothered. He was used to her by now; after all, their relationship was already over a decade.

Everything felt strained, though, and that was why when she proposed a field trip, he had jumped on the idea. Anything to get his old Silvia back. But if the past few days were anything to go by, José had been contemplating whether or not he wanted any Silvia in his life.

"You do realize that we are stuck in the middle of nowhere thanks to you—"

"Silvia—"

"Don't try to defend this or play the victim!" The woman roared sharply and took a step away from him. José frowned.

"Silvia, the tow truck will be here anytime soon. I did want to take the car for repairs but—"

"But what?" The green-eyed woman retorted. "You were too busy at the office or no…" She trailed and took a step forward. "You are too busy seeing her!"

"Who, Silvia?!" José raised his voice but felt Alex grip his arm. The man bit back the response and yanked his arm from his best friend.

He loved Silvia. Genuinely. But lately, it felt like the woman was working overtime to turn his love and admiration into disgust and hate.

"What woman?" He breathed heavily, the frustration from her taunts since she found his laptop last week had finally caught up to him. "Tell me, Silvia! Who is it? What other woman do you see here? Huh? Who am I getting married to? Who has a ring on her finger?! Who—"

Alexander had been too shy to go on a date, so his dumb friend had put his photo on a dating profile. Silvia found out and it just reinforced her trust issues.

"It's me!" The woman sobbed in return. "I am the one with a ring on my finger, the one who is going to walk down the aisle with you, yet I still feel like a stranger! Like a decoration to you! Like I'm nothing!" She shrieked and crumbled to the ground while Christine tried to console her.

"Like you're nothing?" José raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "This is getting old." He licked his lips and clenched his fist. "This is getting too freaking old!" He growled out and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Of course," the woman continued. "Just stand there and pretend to be perfect! Yes! Mr. José Torres! CEO, businessman, the perfect fiancé—you are nothing but a lie! You don't love me! You don't love anyone!"

"Silvia, Wait—" Ah, even Alex could tell she was crossing a line.

"No stay out of this Alex! Let him say it! Let him say what he has been itching to say because I can see it in his eyes!"

José tasted his blood as his teeth sunk into his lips at her words. The suit-clad man closed the distance between them and grabbed her, so they were close enough that he would feel her breath on his skin.

"What do you see?" He gritted out, and Silvia matched his gaze.

"I see a man who is sick and tired of me because he has found someone else." Silvia snorted. She pressed on, and a tear rolled down her cheek. "Because he no longer loves me, because nothing matters to him anymore, because he's no longer mine," her face contorted with pain, and she pushed him away to catch her breath.

"If I leave you, Silvia, believe me, it won't be for another woman."

Silvia's nose flared at his words. "Then why don't you just freaking do it already! It's what you want to do, right? So freaking do it! Please."

"Why? So I can be the bad guy? Huh? You want out, but you don't want to be the one who ends it?" José shot back at her, and his eyes stung with tears. Silence loomed over them for a few seconds before he rolled up his shirt sleeve and looked into the eyes of the woman he was willing to wait for at the aisle.

"Fine, this is over Silvia. All of this. This circus is over. I want nothing to do with you," Silvia's jaw slacked, and before he could utter another word, she took off in the opposite direction.

Christine gasped. "You jerk!" She glared at José, who just ran his hands over his face.

"You need to go after her, bro. We can't leave her here all alone, this place is deserted," Alex tried to reason, but José shook his head.

"No, she's a big girl now. She knows what she should and should not do, and I will not be playing her games anymore. She can believe whatever the heck she wants," he breathed and relaxed in their car.

"You are a piece of crap; you are just going to let her go like that? Silvia loves you a lo—"

José stopped the auburn-haired woman's rant before she could go any further, but Alexander was quick to get in between them before things escalated.

"I see you are back," José drew everyone's attention back to the dark-haired woman who had stormed off.

"I don't deserve this José, not after everything we have been through…"

It seemed like her ego had deflated, and she almost sounded like she was pleading, almost. "...not after how much I have loved you, no, I don't—"

"Well, I don't deserve this either. I don't deserve this pain or to be labeled a piece of crap whenever you feel like it. I don't deserve all this distrust, and I don't see us surviving together if we cannot even trust each other enough to believe one another."

"But you gave me reasons!" The woman argued. Her mascara had smeared, and her voice was hoarse. "You gave me plenty of reasons! You lied! You kept secrets! You did things, you messed up—"

"And I asked for forgiveness each time!" He boomed.

"Yes! I messed up! I made mistakes! But who doesn't?" José continued. "You paint me like a monster, but it's you who cheated!" He spat in her face.

"You chose your job over our relationship! You tried to steal my company from me! You lied to my face multiple times to save your best friend," José walked over to her, and they locked eyes. He watched as her bottom lip quivered, and her eyes welled with tears.

The CEO's heart ached. But this had to be done; being with each other was doing them more harm than good.

"I think that I am not the problem," José admitted more to himself than her. "The problem is that you are terrified that I will betray you in the same ways you betrayed me, and I will not sit around and be hurt by the broken pieces of your mistakes." He explained and took off his engagement ring.

"If you walk out of my life today," Silvia's breath hit José's face. "Do not come back."

"Believe me, I won—"

"Hey!" A soft serene voice cut José mid-sentence like a light at the end of a tunnel. The man spun around to see the most beautiful woman in the world smile back at him in a Rolls Royce.

"You look like you need a bit of help?" A small mischievous smirk played on her plump red-coated lips.

Oh. If she was offering, José wanted any help she could give.