The Fish I Couldn’t Eat At Home, The Fish He Ate With Her Chapter 08
Sierra bit her lip. “I can’t tell you, Julian. If I do, you’ll leave me.”
*After everything you’ve done, you really think I could still accept
you?” Julian ground out, his voice thick with rage.
Sierra lowered her head and covered her face as she broke down sobbing.
“I didn’t have a choice. I swear I didn’t. I used to work at a
gentlemen’s club. I danced and entertained customers. I had a few
regulars who still have private videos of me. If I refuse to do what
they want, they’ll ruin me.”
The confession hit Julian like a freight train.
He sat frozen in the driver’s seat, staring at her in disbelief.
“You’re a prostitute?” he muttered. Then his voice suddenly rose.
“You’re fucking kidding me. You’re a prostitute?”
Sierra sobbed even harder.
“Julian, please don’t call me that. That was who I used to be! I’m still
your Sierra. The baby might not be yours now, but we can have
our own children someday. We can start over.”
She grabbed his arm desperately.
“Please, Julian. Can’t we go back to the way things were? Please?”
Julian’s anger finally exploded.
He kicked open the passenger–side door and shoved Sierra out of the car.
“Get the hell out!”
After throwing Sierra out, Julian drove home and tore away every trace of her from the house.
But the little signs of her life that remained, scattered here and
there, felt like scars carved into the walls.
They reminded him of the humiliating truth.
A respected college professor had cheated on his wife for a prostitute.
He had betrayed his marriage and abandoned his own family.
Every time the thought crossed his mind, his fury only grew.
He stormed back out of the house, got behind the wheel, and drove
straight to the fishing village by the pier where it had all started.
As he passed a small cottage, he heard laughter coming from inside.
The men were talking without a care in the world.
“Sierra really had that college professor wrapped around her finger.”
“Hell, everyone in this town knows who he is. And the guy still acted
like some hopeless romantic. He’d come down to the pier every day
just to help Sierra gut and clean fish.”
“Yeah. Sierra used to complain about him every night when she was
with me. Said she thought she was finally going to live the good life,
and instead she ended up selling fish at the pier every damn day.”
Julian’s face went pale.
The truth made his entire body tremble.
He stumbled back to his car and slammed his fist against the steering wheel.
His phone suddenly rang.
He almost ignored it, but then he saw the caller ID.
It wasn’t Sierra.
It was William Harrington, Vivian’s father.
Anything involving Vivian mattered.
Julian swallowed his anger, took a deep breath, and answered.
William’s furious voice exploded through the speaker.
“Julian Cabot! Where the hell did you drive my daughter to?”
Julian immediately knew things had gotten much worse.
Still, he forced himself to keep his voice low.
“Mr. Harrington, Vivian and I had an argument. She got angry a left.”
“You son of a bitch! Then why the hell didn’t you go after her?‘ didn’t you stop her? What happens if something happens to he Do you think you can take responsibility for that? I raised my daughter for over twenty years, and this is how you treated her
William’s anger only intensified.
He clearly knew the truth now.
Julian didn’t dare hide anything anymore.
“Mr. Harrington, this was my fault. I was seeing someone else, al hurt Vivian. But I know I made a terrible mistake. I’m going to f her right now. I promise I’ll bring Vivian home safely.”
William let out a cold laugh.
“Bring her home? Julian, don’t insult me. You don’t suddenly re what you did. You found out who that woman really was, didn’t you? You put on one hell of an act. You fooled my daughter for years and broke her heart in the process.”
William’s voice hardened.
“Let me make this clear. My daughter has gone to Europe. She signed a ten–year skilled–worker visa agreement and has already the country.”
“You want to find her? With what? You really think that woma going to let you walk away without taking everything she can ge from you? Just wait. Your consequences are coming.
The call ended.
Julian sat motionless in the car, his face deathly pale.
“How did it end up like this?”
His voice was barely a whisper.
“How did everything go this wrong?”
No one answered him.
The next day, Sierra went live on TikTok.
She publicly exposed her affair with Julian and demanded that take responsibility for her.
Even though the baby wasn’t his, she brought up every detail of
their affair, along with all the promises he’d made to her.
The scandal exploded online and quickly spread across the university campus.
Julian was furious.
But Sierra’s claims about their affair were undeniable. She even
threatened to accuse him of coercion.
Within days, the once–respected scholar and celebrated universi
professor became a public disgrace.
The university’s Ethics Committee and Board of Directors
determined that the scandal had caused severe reputational
damage to the institution.
His tenure was revoked.
Then he was fired.
Overnight, Julian lost everything.
His career was gone. His reputation was destroyed. And everywh
he went, he was met with insults and ridicule.
He sat alone in his empty house and finally broke down.
“Vivian, I was wrong.”
His voice cracked.
“Vivian, please come back.”
His sobs echoed through the empty rooms.
There was no answer.