Her Favourite Mistake

Laura's POV

I stared down hard at my phone as the notification lit up the screen… “Adrian Moore.”

My grip tightened around the steering wheel. Of course it was him.

I rolled my eyes and pressed harder on the accelerator, the engine responding with a loud growl beneath me. The car surged forward, swerving through the busy streets.

I didn't bother opening the message. I already knew what it was going to say. Something stupid. Something pathetic like:

‘I'm sorry.’

‘Please listen to me.’

‘It was an accident.’

Like that was somehow going to change the fact that ten minutes ago I had walked into my bedroom and caught him in bed with my best friend, Olivia Carter.

The name alone made my stomach twist violently.

The city lights blurred past my window as the wind rushed through my hair from the half-open window. My pulse was still racing, my chest rising and falling fast.

I couldn't breathe properly.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, my knuckles slowly turning white as the car picked up more speed.

The streetlights flashed past me in quick intervals. Yellow. Darkness. Yellow. Darkness.

My mind felt exactly the same.

Flashes of memory.

Flashes of rage.

Flashes of betrayal.

The sharp ringing of my phone pierced through the car again.

My jaw clenched. I glanced at the screen.

Adrian Moore calling. Again.

A wave of irritation pulsed through my body. Without hesitation, I hit the decline button harder than necessary.

I should have thrown the phone out the window. Actually, no.

I should have smashed it against the dashboard.

Anything to stop seeing his name blowing up my screen like he still had the right to reach me. Like he still mattered.

Another call came in.

Adrian Moore.

Persistent b*st*rd.

I snatched the phone from the passenger seat, my nails digging slightly into the edges of the device before swiping the answer button.

“What!” I snapped.

“Laura,” Adrian's voice came through, shaky and soft like he was afraid of me. “Please listen to me.”

I rolled my eyes so hard it almost hurt.

His voice only made the anger inside me spiral faster.

“I told you never to contact me again,” I hissed. “Is English that hard!?”

“I'm sorry,” he said, his voice cracking slightly. “It was an accident.”

I barked out a harsh laugh.

“Well, Mr. Moore,” I snapped coldly, “that sure didn't look like a mistake to me.”

Images flashed through my mind again.

The soft moans, tangled sheets, the way they looked at each other with so much passion. Olivia's bare body beneath him as he slammed into her with a hunger I've never seen before. He's never been that way with me. But Olivia? Heaven, she got the best part, huh?

“Laura, please calm down,” he pleaded. “I love you.”

My foot pressed harder on the accelerator. The car leaped forward again. A bitter laugh slipped out of my mouth.

The words that once used to warm my heart now felt like acid in my ears.

“Pathetic,” I muttered.

I swerved across the lane, barely missing a taxi that blared its horn angrily.

“Laura, you're driving too fast,” Adrian said nervously. “Please pull over. You could get hurt if you continue like this.”

The irony almost made me laugh again. Now he cares? Now he was worried?

I scoffed sharply, my eyes darkening. “Don't ever contact me again.”

“Laura….”

“Lose my number, Mr. Moore,” I cut him off coldly. “There's nothing between us anymore.”

Before he could say another word, I ended the call.

I tossed the phone carelessly toward the passenger seat where it bounced once before sliding onto the floor.

Then I laughed.

Not the normal kind of laugh.

The kind that came out when you were too angry to cry.

The kind that made your chest hurt.

I tilted my head back slightly, the sound echoing through the car as I continued speeding down the street.

An accident?

Three years.

Three whole years of being together.

Three years of loving him.

Three years of believing in him.

Three years of sacrificing my time, my energy, and even my money just to help him build his stupid company from the ground up.

I remembered the late nights helping him review business proposals.

The early mornings bringing him coffee while he worked.

The endless reassurance whenever investors rejected him.

I believed in him even when he didn't believe in himself.

And this is what I get?

An accident?

The scene replayed in my mind like a cursed movie stuck on repeat. My chest tightened painfully. I'd always suspected Adrian of flirting with women sometimes.

He was charming.

But I never imagined this.

Never imagined he would betray me with her.

And Olivia?

My hands trembled slightly on the steering wheel. Olivia had been my best friend since we were kids.

Scratch that.

Best friend didn't even describe it.

She was family.

When her parents died in that car accident six years ago, she had nowhere to go. I took her in. I let her live with me. Paid her school fees. Helped her through therapy. Stayed up with her when nightmares kept her awake.

I held her when she cried. Protected her like she was my own little sister.

And this…

This was how she repaid me.

I felt anger rise so violently in my chest that it made my vision blur.

“A f*ck*ng accident!?” I shouted to no one.

The world's biggest fool had to be me. Because the signs were there.

They were always there.

The hugs that lasted a little too long.

The way Olivia sometimes looked away when I walked into a room.

The quiet conversations that stopped when I approached.

Late nights when Adrian claimed they were “reviewing documents.”

I trusted them like an idiot.

I brushed everything aside, thinking Adrian was just being kind.

Thinking Olivia was simply grateful.

Well.

Look where that stupidity got me.

“Ugh!”

I slammed my hand against the horn as I sped past another car.

The loud blast echoed through the street as more drivers began honking angrily behind me.

I barely noticed.

My phone started ringing again.

The sound cut through the air inside the car. My blood boiled instantly.

“F*ck you, Adrian!” I snapped.

My gaze shifted away from the road as I searched for the phone on the floor.

Where the hell did it fall?

I leaned slightly to the side, stretching my hand down.

My fingers brushed the edge of the device.

Just as I grabbed it…

A loud crash exploded in front of me.

A violent force slammed my head hard against the steering wheel.

The world jolted.

Horns blared all around me as the deafening sound of shattering glass filled the air. For a moment, everything felt distant.

Muted.

My ears rang loudly.

A throbbing pain spread through my skull as my vision blurred.

My hands were still gripping the steering wheel as I slowly lifted my head. My heart pounded violently in my chest.

I blinked. Then blinked again.

Trying to make sense of what I was seeing through the cracked windshield.

My breath caught in my throat.

My stomach dropped.

Holy sh*t. I hit someone.

Laura's POV

I stared at the damaged rear bumper of the Bugatti La Voiture Noire in front of me. My breath catching in my throat. I swallowed hard, my eyes calculating the damages.

The sleek black body of the car reflected the streetlights like liquid glass, making the damage even more obvious.

A deep dent sat right in the middle of the rear bumper.

And that dent?

Yeah. That was me.

My gaze slowly traveled to the cracked and crooked front bumper of my own car.

Well, that was definitely worse.

I dragged a hand slowly down my face.

This car isn't just expensive. It's really expensive. And I just slammed into it.

A freaking Bugatti.

Not a Toyota.

Not a Honda.

A Bugatti.

Well, Laura, that's what you get for letting an Adrian into your life.

I sighed heavily and kicked a loose piece of plastic from my bumper with the tip of my shoe. It clattered against the tarred road and slid away.

The night