Aiden stood in his penthouse living room, watching the city lights twinkle below. Behind him, Sophia's footsteps echoed as she paced furiously, her arms crossed tight across her chest.
"Say that again," she demanded, her voice trembling. "I want to hear you say it."
He turned to face her, meeting her eyes with as much honesty as he could muster. "I'm falling for multiple women, Sophia. Not just you. Isabella, and... I think Victoria too."
The words hung between them like shattered glass. Sophia's face cycled through emotions—disbelief, hurt, anger. Her hand trembled as she pushed her hair back.
"How can you stand there and tell me that?" Her voice broke. "I opened up to you. I let you past all my walls, and this is what you tell me?"
"I didn't want to lie to you," Aiden said quietly. "You deserve the truth. You've always been immune to the superficial parts of me. That's why you matter so much."
"I matter so much that you're pursuing other women?" She laughed bitterly. "Do you hear yourself?"
Aiden took a step forward, but she held up her hand, stopping him. "I've never felt this way before," he continued. "Not with Jessica, not with anyone. But I'm also not going to pretend I don't feel connections with others. You taught me that honesty matters more than comfort."
"Don't you dare use my words against me," Sophia snapped. Tears glistened in her eyes now. "I thought... I thought what we had was special. Different."
"It is special. It is different," Aiden insisted. "But that doesn't mean—"
"Stop." She grabbed her bag from the couch. "I can't do this. I can't be one of many to you. That's not who I am."
"Sophia, please—"
"No, Aiden." She walked toward the elevator, her shoulders shaking. "You need to figure out what you really want. And I need to figure out if I can ever trust you again."
The elevator doors closed on her tear-stained face, and Aiden was left alone with the weight of his honesty. The system interface flickered in his peripheral vision, but he ignored it. No reward could fix what he'd just broken.