This is for Kerimack, who was wondering what the letter contained. You know, when I was reading your stories years ago, I never really thought I'd write one. It's odd how these things go...

Chapter 23: The Betrayal

"He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore."

-Sigmund Freud

One week left.

Thirty minutes after Belinda was found, Kathryn Merteuil received a disturbing phone call and she quickly arrived at the hospital, her beautiful face ashen Blaine was already there, her only source of comfort since Mathieu didn't seem like he was himself. He didn't want to go see Belinda because he looked uncomfortable, saying he didn't want to see someone he loved so much dead.

"Jesus." She gasped when she saw her sister and her green eyes widened as Blaine whispered consoling words in her ears. Their mother soon followed, but with no one around to see her, Tiffany glanced at her and then walked out the room.

"Kathryn, the wedding will still happen." Tiffany told her daughter, who stared in disbelief. But as it was, she nodded slightly. Never show any sort of weakness. Belinda would have understood. That was what her mother told her, Belinda would have wanted you to be happy. We're people of immense power and the only things we really have are our reputations.

She never knew Belinda. Not really. But then again, neither did she.

Four days left.

The funeral was quick, but there were a lot of people because of Belinda's fame. She kept her eyes on the ground as she went up to the podium, her black hat covering half her face. Those who didn't know her whispered among themselves, especially Belinda's acquaintances for the fashion industry. Who was this gorgeous creature that would speak at the elusive Belinda Van Ryan's funeral?

"Belinda had been reputed to be elusive about her family," She began, her green eyes sharp and confident as she swept across the crowd. She saw him; Kathryn would know those blue eyes anywhere. Just seeing him and him not going to her like he would've done made her ache, but fuck Sebastian. He was the past. "But to those of you who were wondering, she was my sister. She was born three years before I did. Due to family problems, I moved to New York and she was left with my father, who was an alcoholic and repeatedly beat her up."

Tiffany gasped inaudibly and glared at Kathryn, who stared right back with an unbelievable amount of defiance. Never taint the name, Kathryn. That's what she'd been taught. Well, mother, the name had been fucking tainted even before I was born and we both know it.

"When he died, she became an orphan until she was rescued by a man named Mathieu De Comte, my fiancé and the man whom she loved very much because he served as her mentor and family. I feel guilty for having lived a life of luxury in Manhattan while she suffered for our father's loss, I moved to Paris three years ago and while it may not have been able to take back those days when my sister was alone, I hope that the time I've spent with her made up for some of it."

She caught Mathieu's eye and he smiled reassuringly.

"I'm getting married in four days, and while I know she's gone, I also know that Belinda would be happy to know that I'm marrying a wonderful man. She was a complex person, but she had her reasons…" she paused to wipe a single tear from her eyes before going down the stage. Tiffany was bawling like there was no tomorrow but like her daughter, she was just putting on a good show for the crowd. Merciless as they were, they couldn't help it. They were Merteuils, and even Belinda would have done the same thing had she been alive.

Three days left.

"No offense, Valmont, but you look like shit."

His blue eyes glared at the smirking now peroxide blond Blaine, "Shut it, Tuttle. You have no idea what I've been through for the past month."

"I think I do. Hmm… Let's see… You followed Kathryn back to Marseilles, and she miraculously doesn't bite your head off. She gets in a fight with that fiancé of hers, and you both end up walking to her old mansion, end up staying the night and making loooove… Only to have her walk out on you for that delicious but very scary French biscuit, then you go be a total moron and fuck some slut, she catches you in action, then her sister gets killed, and now she's getting married three days from now, you're miserable, and you look like shit."

His stumped reaction was so priceless Blaine would have given his left nut just to have had a chance to photograph it, "What-How-"Valmont stuttered, adding to Blaine's delight. So the smooth Sebastian Valmont was indeed capable of stuttering.

"What am I talking about? How did I know? Your darling stepsister had been pestering me for the past few weeks, looking for you and I managed to get her to tell me what happened under the pretense that I actually knew where you were, when I really didn't." His friend winced at the memory, "Of course, when she found out I'd tricked her; she almost castrated me with a corkscrew… Let me tell you, Valmont, that wasn't a pretty sight. Tricking Kathryn is not such a good idea."

"She was looking for me?" he asked quietly, wanting to squash that damned flicker of hope left in him.

He rolled his eyes, "No, I just made that up to watch your reaction."

"But she left me for that asshole."

"So? You left her for teen queen rahrah girl Hargrove. I think it evens the ground a bit, don't you?"

He remained silent for a while, deeply contemplating.

Blaine chuckled, "I assume you won't be buying the usual pot?"

But his words were met with silence as Sebastian dashed out, his keys ready and he'd almost made it to the Jaguar when Court Reynolds stepped in front of him, a menacing look on his face and that unmistakable scar on his hand from where Mathieu had stabbed him.

"Going somewhere, Valmont?"

There were instances in a man's life wherein just backing down for the sake of fulfilling more important things was a much more reasonable choice. Kathryn would probably be leaving for the Hamptons in a few hours and he could only hope that he'd catch her without that annoying fuckhead of a fiancé of hers. The need to be with her caused Sebastian to feel alive, and there was no way in hell an alcoholic fag like Court Reynolds would stop him. So Mathieu was in league with this moron, and what was his purpose for sending Court to Sebastian anyway? To stop him? He almost laughed out loud; it was a ludicrous idea for De Comte to believe that he was going to let some loser get in the way of taking back what was never Mathieu's to begin with. With a disinterested look in his attractive face, a faint image of Kathryn, the way she'd looked that night at the Merteuil mansion, flashed in front of his gaze before he cocked his head and clenched his fists. He felt guilty for not approaching her during Belinda's death, but he had to stay away. She was poisonous, and he was tired of drinking something he knew would ultimately kill him. Sebastian was tired but his mouth craved more.

"Alright, you faggot. I kicked your ass once, and now I'm terribly motivated to do it again. And please watch the paint job on the Jag; I'll staple your homosexual dick on the wall if you even get a single scratch on it."

---

In three days, she was going to become Kathryn Merteuil-De Comte. Her mother, finally getting past her 'grief' for her daughter's death, had gone ahead to the Hamptons earlier this morning, but she chose to stay behind. She didn't know what it was that drove her to stay, maybe it was the mere fact that she simply couldn't stand being stuck in the limo with her neurotic mother or maybe it was the fact that she only had today to be utterly alone in the large house, and she treasured her solitude. In thirty six hours, she would never be alone again, and she wouldn't be back in this familiar blue and gold yellow room that had become a playground for her debauchery and mischief and had also bore witness to those rare instances that Sebastian would come over to watch her sleep while writing in that journal of his. Mathieu had thankfully stopped watching over her as if he thought there would be some insane wacko who would try to kill her in her sleep and was attending to his business via phone, as usual, he was also having their things sent over there because that would be where they would live once they were married.

Marriage. She shuddered at the mere word, a binding commitment that would be of permanence once the contract was signed and the vows were said. Her gaze went over the dozens of luggage scattered all over her bedroom, giving another heavy sigh.

Damn him. Damn Sebastian with his fucking proposal and damn him for following her. Damn Sebastian's unopened letter that lay gathering dust and time in her drawer, and most of all, damn herself for keeping secrets from him when she should've just told him regardless of whether or not he would get mad. It was his right to be furious, of course, but at least by telling him, she would've given it a chance. It was funny, though, she'd come with Mathieu to avoid him knowing the real reason why she went to that cottage in Helen Rosemond's estate, but she'd lost Sebastian anyway. That fucking asshole had turned and screwed another woman even before the day was over. Jerk.

The door opened and the same golden haired man she'd been mentally cursing stumbled in, his face bruised and his arms bore small cuts. His white collar was tinged with blood and yet despite the physical pain he seemed to endure, his blue eyes lit up when he realized she was still there.

"Sebastian! What the fuck happened to you?"

"Reynolds got a few lucky shots." He muttered, struggling to right himself.

"Looks like you were on the losing end." She returned sweetly, her green eyes dancing in amusement at his disheveled form. The red liquid on his face only reminded her of that red haired bitch he'd been fucking and it fueled her need to goad him some more. So he got beat up, if she didn't hate Court, she would have given her ex a pat on the back for doing to Sebastian what she'd been wanting to do ever since she came to his hotel.

"I'm sorry about what happened to Belinda." He offered his condolences quietly, even though he'd never really liked her mainly because he didn't know where her true allegiances lay.

"Thanks." She said; pointedly looking at the door as if mentally telling him to get out.

" Blaine told me you were looking for me." He said bluntly, wincing as he sat down beside her. "Why?"

Stupid queer. "Because I wanted you to be present at the wedding." She answered steadily.

The hopeful look disappeared, "I see. Come to twist the knife a little deeper?"

"Sure, why not?" They were better this way, when they were arguing.

"You're lying."

"Your brain's suffered from an internal hemorrhage from your fist fight with Court."

"Then why can't you look at me?"

"Because your right eye's swollen shut you idiot."

"Why are you wearing the ring I gave you?"

Fuck! "Because I was waiting for the chance to give it back."

"Are you aware that your eyes avert to my far left when you lie?"

The blood flowing from his face reminded her of when he took care of her after Court had beat her up, it made even Valmont look pitiful that she decided to get a clean washcloth to at least lessen the pathetic look on his bruised face. It made her pity him less, because after cleaning him up, she was able to see that annoying as hell arrogant look she hated. "They do not."

Despite the gravity of the situation, the corner of his mouth turned up. "You just did it again."

"What are you, a fucking lie detector?"

"You're hiding something from me, I know it. That's why you came with him; it wasn't because you wanted to leave. It's because you had to." He paused, holding her wrist. "I understand that now."

"You understood wrong." She placed the washcloth in his hand, "I'm getting married, Sebastian. Stop interfering. That stupid fling we had had been fun, sure. But that's all it was."

"Do you love me?"

"No."

"Your eyes just went way past left. That indicated a big lie."

"Well, my fist on your face would indicate a big bruise if you don't stop it with that. If you're going to continue with this nonsense, I suggest you leave. Mathieu should be along any minute, we're driving to the Hamptons together."

He groaned, falling back against the soft bed to provide some sort of comfort against his aching body. "Cut me some slack, Kathryn. I just got into a fight because I kicked the crap out of Reynolds for you. The least you could do is let me rest."

"Ah, so you finally admit to that."

It would be so easy to just reach out to her, to just touch the smoothness of the same arm that had reached out to him that night at the Merteuil estate with such haunting exquisiteness that it still caused him much pain when he remembered it. But he couldn't, he didn't know what it was going to be like with Kathryn, and even though this was one of the traits he loved about her, it was also the same one that kept him at bay.

"I've got nothing to lose." He replied, dabbing the washcloth to his handsome face. "You want the truth?"

She didn't reply, but she didn't say no either.

"That night… At your old house, I've never felt anything like that. After you fell asleep, I just lay there, torn between writing every bit of that event in my journal so I would never forget it and just staying as I was, with your arm draped around me and your face looking so peaceful. I decided on the latter, because I didn't need a fucking journal to remind me of everything that happened… When you came back, my life turned into a total chaos, but it was the best kind of blissful chaos I'd been craving for in your absence."

He was making it so difficult for her to hate him when it should be the only emotion she should ever feel for Sebastian Valmont.

"The letter… You did get it, didn't you?"

"Yes." She answered, making no move of protest when his finger intertwined with hers. White and tanned, yin and yang, perfectly fitting so well together… Each time they were joined felt like the first.

"Let me guess, you never opened it."

The Bet. The betrayal. The car. Her body. Sex. Games to attain power. She had spent the better part of her three years cultivating this hatred for him, she spent her nights recalling his indifferent words, remembering when she saw him happy with that twit Annette in her dreams if only to deepen the desire to destroy him and everything he stood for. Love. A laughable word, but hate, however, was not. While love brought down the strongest of people, hate was what helped them afterwards. And here he was, taking her hatred away from her… How would she survive without it?

"Don't, Sebastian." She said softly, scared that she was actually starting to feel her loathing slip away under his gaze and at the sound of his smooth, deep voice. "Don't take it from me, it's all I have."

His blue eyes were hypnotic as he slowly pulled him to her, their hands never letting go of the other. "Let it go." He murmured, the physical pain leaving him when Kathryn was so close. Her hair brushed against his neck while she lay beside him, her obvious concern for his physical state inwardly making him smile. "The letter," he began, bringing her limp hand to his pink lips and feeling as if the balance had once again been restored between them. "I'll tell you what it said."

She didn't know what it was, if it was the answer to the prayer she'd said, if indeed there was a divine presence that decided to grace her plea, but just being with him again, even after everything they've said and done to each other, she needed this. Even if it might just be for the last time. It was in the Merteuil tradition, an iron clad rule in their blood that should never be forsaken. Never marry someone the family disapproves of, and even if she indeed married Sebastian, how would it look like if people knew she'd married her stepbrother, for crying out loud? Even though they did manage to break Edward and Tiffany up, the harsh labeling would still be there, and Kathryn prided her reputation above all things. Maybe even him. No, Mathieu was good for her. Granted he was scheming, manipulative and perhaps even a bit like Sebastian, at least she would have a challenge. She knew Mathieu was and would never be Sebastian, but in any case she felt like she was getting the next best thing. It would have to do. She'd have to settle for Mathieu, he was the safest thing, and choosing Sebastian was like stepping off a cliff with your eyes blindfolded. The exhilarating feeling of dropping to the ground with immense speed might be fun for a while, but then again, you ended up with your organs scattered all over when you hit an abrupt stop. But it didn't hurt to not deprive herself of that feeling before she resigned to a life in Paris, so what the hell.

He sensed her sudden shift, turning toward her with the twinkle in his eyes returning. She felt guilty when he did this… Great, now he could make her feel guilt as well? What was next? Kathryn placed a gentle hand on his face and he would have given anything to have the secrets that threatened to destroy the only form of happiness he'd ever experienced ruined and utterly obliterated. He wished he could just grab some form of remote and hit pause. Stop time from taking her away from him because after that night in Marseilles, Sebastian Valmont could only realize and understand one thing. He could never lose her.

"Dear, Kathryn." He began, her long eyelashes fluttering as she tilted her face toward him and kissed him, a kiss of eternal apologies and redemption through their joined mouths of perpetual craving for some sort of salvation that, in reality, was only found with each other. Sebastian slowly let go of her hand and she unbuttoned his shirt, loving and adoring every part of her and glad that God had taken pity on him long enough to let him be with her.

"Don't stop." She said in a soft voice, pulling back his unbuttoned shirt.

"You once said that we were two of a kind. That there was no one else in the world who would match up to us because we both considered ourselves to be above all the others. You're right, Kathryn. We were quite a pair to behold, an inexorable storm that causes fear and tremor to those we choose to devastate. There was nothing that could have stopped us, and for a few fleeting moments as I stared into your eyes each time we'd successfully ruined a life, I felt immortal. I felt like a God."

His voice was her aphrodisiac and her lullaby, the spell which could vanquish all the demons in her dreams. They were both out of breath, drunk and wonderfully intoxicated with the touch of the other... The moments of really living before dying a slow death.

"Youth is fleeting, but in those moments, those brief moments of affection and maybe even love between us, I felt so alive. We have spent our entire lives living for no one but ourselves in our sick and twisted world that we thought of ourselves as impervious against the normality of a human life. Rarely do I say this, but I will now admit to you that I am wrong."

A reunion of two bodies that belonged to no one else except each other, the door was unlocked (or had Sebastian locked it somehow?) and while anybody could just walk in on them, Kathryn didn't care. He was with her, his voice in her ears, silencing the screams of the conscience she'd developed only when it came to him

If only she could spit in the Merteuil name and just tell the world to fuck itself… But obligations were obligations. Sickeningly enough, even though she despised her mother, she still aimed to please her. That was one of the reasons why she was the Marcia fucking Brady of the Upper East Side, she was raised that way, and that was all she ever really knew. What an excellent irony, to be raised in wealth only to be later on bound by it.

"We're not immortal and we're not resistant to being human after all, because generally that's what we are. We are human, Kathryn… But we're one of those exceptional ones that exist every few thousand years or so. We've always scoffed at the idea of love, even using that emotion as our weapon. We made people love us so we can use them. The kind of love we recognized had been born from need, the kind of love we knew was not love, but a primeval nature of lust and deception. That had been our life before, an endless game of desire and dishonesty to which we always excelled in."

His mouth was aching deliciously after kissing her and tasting her for so many times, but he found it so difficult to stop. He loved her so fucking much, every part of her, even the secret she was so hesitant to tell him, Sebastian loved her so much the inexplicable silent fear in her actions hurt him more than any kind of punch, scratch, or stab anyone could ever have given him because he knew how much it pained her.

"But that world, that world that became our reality turned out to be a dream that something as infamous and mysterious as love pulled us out of. We did think of love as sex and drugs because for a while, that was really all we needed to live didn't we? I loved you more than the romantic sense because I was different. I was someone who was initially incapable of loving, I was dark and wrong, finding amusement in pain and suffering. I loved you with a passion in the darkest aspect and I believed you were the same to me because the way we loved was different."

Once again, her eyes held that mysterious glow into its very emerald depths and Sebastian saw her smiling forlornly, her gaze full of silent pain. "That's a very long letter, Monsieur Valmont."

He found himself smiling for the first time since she left him back in Paris, placing himself on top of her carefully as he kissed her smooth forehead. "We may not have been beyond love, but we were beyond the ordinary kind. God, you must be laughing right now. I can practically hear the condescending tone in your voice… Oddly enough, I don't care. It's been a year since you left, and I've been right here, wasting away after having such a large part of my past and the larger part of me leave like that. You were right, people like us never change. Though it kills me to admit to my wrongdoing, I do admit it. I pledged Annette Hargrove my love, and I actually was convinced of that for a while. Then I stopped, realizing that it was you my body screamed for, it was you my soul wanted to be united with. I wanted to wake up the next day with you beside me, I wanted to hear your laugh, your snide albeit bitchy remarks, and even the way your green eyes would twinkle smugly when you know you're right and I'm wrong. That used to annoy the fuck out of me, but now I miss it. I miss every single thing about you. New York is still the same place, only devoid of your cruelty. But I'm not the same; I find that oddly enough, the world is just a hollow life to live without the certain allure and mystery you've brought upon me."

His letter, his spoken letter that could have bridged the gap between them before any of this had ever happened. She wondered, though, would she feel this much if she had read the letter the day she'd gotten it? Was it even possible for a single person that had initially been unable to feel, let alone love, to actually want a person as much as she wanted Sebastian? Kathryn bit her lip, truly feeling like they were back in the Merteuil mansion, a place of haunting childhood dreams that had become a sacred place for hidden passion because he had turned it into such. Her fingers traced the wounds on his handsome face, their clothes once again leaving their bodies. She wished she could take away the wounds. She wished he could heal… She wished they both could. She wished she wouldn't have had to marry Mathieu, but the thing with Sebastian was that he was a big risk for her to take, and would it be worth it? They were both alike, too alike that she knew that one way or another; they'd screw each other over and just drive each other insane.

"With that being said, please come back, Kathryn." He buried his face into her neck, the warm air escaping from his lips tickling her gently. "Come back to me."

She didn't speak for the longest time, her green eyes staring blankly at the ceiling while her arms slowly wrapped around his broad back, pulling her tightly to him. Slowly, Kathryn Merteuil's beautiful green eyes closed and she surrendered to it. She knew it wouldn't last long, this peaceful time with Sebastian, but she was going to hold on to it for as long as she possibly could.

"Whatever happens, Sebastian." Her words, a warning, a loving, scared whisper of a lover about to face her nightmares. This could not last. "You have no fucking idea how much…"

"I know, Katie." He replied gently, "I love you, too."

She paused, glancing at his earnest face. Her final decision was weighing so heavily against her shoulders she wished there was another way. "Good. Because three days from now I'm going to marry Mathieu."

Sebastian froze as if he had been slapped, "What?"

Kathryn pushed him off her and he fell back against the bed with a stunned look in his blue eyes. "I meant what I said," she answered quietly. "It would have never worked out."

"So even after I dictated that fucking letter to you, you're still going to reject me?" he asked incredulously, backing away from her in anger and disgust at how hardheaded she was being.

The gentleness of her gaze changed so quickly he felt like he was staring at a stranger. Was this another act, or was this the real Kathryn this time? "Rejection's a bitch, isn't it?" she chuckled at his face, finally realizing what it felt like to laugh in the face of someone who cared for you. It hurt like a bitch, but it was pretty much like he did to her when she'd tried to get him back from Annette.

"No, Kathryn." He pulled on his shirt angrily, "You're the bitch."

---

Mai Lie had been in the service of the Valmonts, (though technically she was more of Kathryn's personal maid) for a year now, and since coming there, she had heard sounds that would echo throughout the halls, and sometimes even the entire house. She'd cleaned shattered pieces of antiques costing more than what she could possibly earn in one lifetime; she'd half dragged a passed out Kathryn and had witnessed two giggling young girls run around the dining room naked while a smirking Sebastian watched them appreciatively. She'd heard screams, moans, and groans, raging from pain to pleasure, and sometimes a mingling of both.

She, however, knew for a fact that Sebastian had been in Kathryn's room for an hour now, and the groaning and intimate whispers had somewhat stopped. It was now followed by Sebastian's deep voice rising.

"YOU FUCKING PLAYED ME AGAIN! HOW THE HELL CAN YOU BE SO FUCKING CRUEL?"

"LIKE YOU DIDN'T DESERVE WHAT YOU'RE GETTING! HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THE FACT THAT YOU GAVE YOUR JOURNAL TO MS. TEEN FUCKING QUEEN EVEN AFTER ALL WE'VE BEEN THROUGH? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT SHE COULD DO TO MY REPUTATION?"

Mai Lie almost dropped the laundry basket she was holding at his booming voice, her tiny eyes squinting at the door as if she could see what was happening inside Kathryn's room. Sebastian Valmont and Kathryn Merteuil in the same room yelling only lead to another incident that the Vietnamese maid truly hated.

Crash! The sound of glass, crystal and marble shattering against the door. Looks like Kathryn had beaten him to it. There was an angry long silence, the room full of tension.

"WELL I DON'T DESERVE BEING JERKED AROUND LIKE THIS! FUCK, KATHRYN! DON'T YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND? I LOVE YOU!"

Mai Lie gasped, covering her open mouth with her hand. Even though she'd never been one to join the other servants in gossiping about the stepsiblings' peculiar intimate relationship, this was certainly a strange development. Last she heard, Master Valmont had been involved with a nice girl named Annette. Unable to help herself with the oddity of the situation, she dropped the basket and carefully looked around before pressing her ear against the door.

There was silence for a while, then another crash… And another… And another… Each followed by phrase after phrase of profanities. Mai Lie heaved a sigh, wondering how many shards of glass and whatnot she was going to have to sweep from Kathryn's room again.

"Calm down, Sebastian." Kathryn said after what Mai Lie could only assume was the shattering of the mirror.

"NO, I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!"

"WELL, YOU'RE THRASHING MY ROOM!" A slap this time, that distinct sound of the quick collision of a palm to one's cheek with a stinging impact. "Now calm the fuck down or get the fuck out!"

That seemed to calm him, and the maid could only hear his heaving breaths. She wondered what was going on, but they were speaking in low voices that were filled with sarcasm. Occasionally, Sebastian would yell out a string of profanities, and Kathryn would yell at him back with equal anger, and then there was total silence. She pressed herself closer to the door and almost jumped when she heard someone from behind her clear his throat.

"Mr. De Comte!" she squeaked, flushing in embarrassment.

"Sebastian's inside?" he asked calmly.

She nodded and stepped aside as Mathieu knocked on the door. "Kathryn, it's me."

"Give me a minute!" she yelled crossly, speaking in a less loud voice to Sebastian but both Mai Lie and Mathieu knew it was 'Get out'.

"AFTER EVERYTHING I JUST SAID TO YOU, YOU DISMISS ME JUST LIKE THAT? YOU HEARTLESS, DEMEANING, CRUEL, AND VINDICTIVE SLUT!"

"WELL, YOU'RE TOO LATE, SEBASTIAN! MATHIEU'S HERE, AND I'M MARRYING HIM! FUCK OFF! YOU HAD YOUR CHANCE AND YOU BLEW IT!"

Mathieu didn't pay attention to her request and opened the door to find Sebastian half dressed, pieces of broken things everywhere, and the two glaring at each other.

"So what was that?" Sebastian sneered at Kathryn, "A final fuck before marriage? You just waited for me to pour my fucking heart out so you could make me feel like things were going to work out and then you invite your psycho fiancé to watch while you trample on my feelings, eat it and just spit it out like it never meant anything to you?" he faltered for a moment, "After what you just said? I thought you meant it."

She laughed cruelly, relishing his crestfallen face. "Consider it payback for sleeping with that slut back in Paris."

"You mean for sleeping with you?"

She raised her hand so slap him again, but Sebastian grabbed her wrist tightly, throwing it aside.

"You fucked him?" her fiancé growled incredulously, looking about ready to finish Reynolds' job on Sebastian's face.

"Well, consider it a wedding gift from your stepbrother in law, De Comte. I broke her in for you."

Mathieu punched him in the gut and watched in satisfaction as Sebastian doubled over in pain, he brutally kicked him until the handsome blond could only groan from the bruises. Kathryn just gazed down at him disinterestedly, even picking at her manicured nails like she was examining a particularly boring piece of art. "You may have fucked her, you asshole, but she's not marrying you, is she? Now get the fuck out before I kill you."

Sebastian glared at the two, "With fucking pleasure." He spat, staring at Kathryn's green eyes with pure resentment. "Just so you know, Annette's a much better fuck than you'll ever be."

She slapped him again, her face red with anger. "I could say that same for Mathieu and yourself." She shot back patronizingly, "Now get the hell out of my room. See you at the wedding! I've told Edward that you wanted to be the best man so you could get a closer look, loser!"

Fuck him. Fuck Sebastian. Fuck the letter. She was going to burn it. Fuck everything he'd said.

A/N: This is my favorite part in posting... Being able to talk to you guys. Aww. Anyhoo, I was planning to wait a couple of days to torture you guys but due to your overwhelming and lengthy reviews, I felt compelled to post this one. That's kind of a hint right there. Gimme my long review and you get the next part. A fair bargain, don't you think? Mwahahaha

WashedOut: Haha, di mo na ma-reach? You're sweet. Thank you so much. ;-)

Keri: Can I call you that? Cause that's what other people were calling you and I was too lazy to type. Haha. Thank you, I think I need an award: Shocking the Unshockable Kerimack. Lol, yes, I did make up for the loss of K/S moments with this one, although I had to cut it short and get those two arguing again. Aww I'm glad you're glad I updated, and don't worry, I will finish this story. (In fact... I'm so close already) I think it's only fair that I finish your favorite story of mine because you're working on my favorite story of yours, riiight? Say you are! There are a total of 27 chapters, including a very short epilogue.

Sam: I suppose this doesn't count for a redemption chapter either, at least it was until they started arguing and Kathryn suddenly became so gung ho about marrying Mathieu. I guess she really does wanna stick it to Valmont good, after all. Ah, there's the bitch we all know and love. Well, maybe not love at the moment since she's doing that to Sebastian, but you get the idea.

Katie: Hey, maybe I should get another award: For Making Katie Ramble In A Single Review (and a few emails. Haha), which I all abso-fucking-lutely love, by the way. That's the second time it was implied that Belinda's death was unexpected, well gee, y'all had figured things out so well that I figured I'd throw in a twist. Kay, about Belinda trying that one last attempt at a truce. It's like, you know how you're supposed to hate someone so badly that you want to rip their throat out, but then you're reminded of the things that you actually like about that person and it somehow overthrows that rage for a while. Call it temporary insanity. Like the starting paragraph in that scene implied: Love overthrows hatred, sometimes it's there, sometimes it isn't. The thing with Belinda is that she's not always in control, and she paid for it. I mean, haven't you ever felt like you wanted to kill a guy and then after a while, you just wanna jump him again? I did. But that's another story, and it's not CI material (because I don't have a hot stepbrother like Sebastian... Pity.) Hahaha. So okay I'm rambling in my reply here, but I just wanted to say thank you, because that's exactly what I wanted to imply. That these people are villains in their own right, and they're all driven by the same thing. Desire, love, power, and lust. I mean, sure, at one point you're going to have to hate Mathieu or Belinda, but what I want is that you also understand why they do the things they do. And you did! Gawd I'm so proud I might cry.