Falling For My Billionaire Savior - Chapter 122: Chapter 122

I secretly hoped Elena wouldn't show up. She betrayed our friendship. Why should I forgive her?
But when I walked into the café, there she was.
Elena looked terrible, and it took me by surprise. Her eyes were puffy as hell, ringed with dark circles. She was still wearing the same wrinkled clothes as yesterday.
She smelled awful, a mix of booze and stale cigarette smoke.
She used to hate women who smoked. "Smoking women are no good," she'd told me once. "They're all trashy."
But there was a cigarette pack on the table, and the ashtray was filled with seven or eight butts.
When she saw me standing there, Elena shot up from her seat. "Kate, I'm so sorry..."
"Call me Ms. Gordon or Mrs. Knight," I snapped. "We're not friends anymore."
I sat down and waved over the waiter, ordering a latte. I wasn't about to drink the same thing as her. This was my way of drawing a clear line.
Even though I was angry, I couldn't help feeling sorry for her.
I couldn't stand looking at her guilty face or hearing more apologies. I forced myself to stay tough and said with a cold face, "Leave Richard alone. He'll never marry you."
"No, you're lying!" Elena shouted, grabbing another cigarette. Her hands shook so much that it took her several tries to light it.
She took a long drag and blew the smoke straight at me. I coughed and waved my hand, trying to clear the air.
"You already know the truth," I said. "Otherwise, why would you let yourself fall apart like this?"
"Stop talking!" she yelled. "I've sacrificed everything for him. I don't care who tries to stop me. I'm going to marry him."
Elena stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray. The burning tobacco singed her fingers, turning them red, but she didn't seem to notice.
I knew Elena. Once she made up her mind, nothing could stop her, not even if it meant ruining herself.
Even though she had been used to get at me, I still couldn't be mean to her. Elena was different. We grew up together, after all. I couldn't watch her keep slipping until there was no way back.
My heart softened again. "Don't be stupid. Richard's just using you to get to me. Can't you see that? The Knight family will never let someone like you marry Richard. Wake up, please."
But she took my honesty wrong. Elena glared at me, full of hate. "Katherine, you do look down on me. All that talk about being best friends. You've always thought you're better than girls from regular families, haven't you?"
Oh, no. I kicked myself.
I'd been so focused on trying to snap her out of it that I forgot how sensitive Elena was about her pride. I was going to try a different way to talk to her when she said something that shocked me.
"You're right," she said. "You're a rich heiress, and you met Mr. Mason Knight first. So what if I fell for him the second I saw him? I had to keep those feelings buried. Do you know how much it hurt every time I saw you two together?
"I tried so hard to hold back, but the harder I tried, the stronger those feelings got. I was jealous enough to go crazy."
Then her look softened. "That was when Richie showed up. He said he liked me, and I melted. He's your husband's brother, so I started to love him too because of that. He's really good to me—better than your husband is to you."
My head spun. I'd hoped Elena would see sense, but Richard had weaseled his way in.
Silly Elena. Just as silly as Madeline.