Chapter 1

On the third day of my business trip, I stumbled across a video online of my husband Jensen and my best friend Violet kissing at a concert.

Violet and I had known each other for twenty years. On the day I married Jensen, she blessed me through her tears.

But today, she and Jensen had both betrayed me.

After a few minutes of silence, I called Violet:

"Did you go to Taylor's concert this time? I heard the live performance was amazing."

On the other end, Violet's voice paused, then she laughed casually:

"It was great, but without you there, going alone wasn't fun. When are you coming back? We should go together."

I smiled and said okay. After hanging up, I booked an overnight flight straight to her place.

I had to ask her. Why lie to me?

The plane landed right at 9 PM.

I went directly to Violet's apartment and knocked on the door.

"What took you so long?"

Violet's coquettish voice came from inside. The moment she opened the door and saw me, her entire face went pale.

"Chr...Christina?"

"Why are you back?! Aren't you supposed to be on a business trip?"

She looked at me in shock. I didn't speak, my eyes fixating on her nightgown.

It was a black lace negligee with a deep V-neck that plunged almost to her navel, exposing most of her rounded breasts—an incredibly sexy nightgown.

A week ago when I went shopping with her, when she bought this nightgown, she told me:

"A woman still needs to be feminine. This nightgown is my secret weapon I'm preparing for myself."

Now this secret weapon I helped her buy—was she planning to use it on my husband?

I tugged at the corner of my mouth, wanting to laugh, but my eyes welled up with tears first.

Violet and I had been each other's best friends since childhood.

At seven, she got her pigtails pulled by a boy in class and cried loudly.

I was the one who chased the boy away with a little ruler, patting my chest and saying: I'll protect you from now on.

At fifteen, she became extremely self-conscious about her acne and was cornered in the bathroom by girls from class who bullied her.

I was the one who ran from the seventh floor to the third floor with a mop, saving her at the risk of expulsion.

At seventeen, sophomore year of high school.

Her parents were getting divorced. Neither wanted her, and they only gave her two hundred dollars a month for living expenses.

Because she had no money, she ate only one meal a day—two slices of toast.

She went from 120 pounds down to 75.

We weren't at the same school anymore by then.

One evening during self-study, she suddenly called me and said:

"Christina, I don't want to go to school anymore."

When I heard those words, I climbed over the wall that very night and ran home from my boarding school.

I knelt before my parents for two whole hours, begging them to sponsor my best friend's education.

From seven to twenty-seven years old, we had known each other for a full twenty years.

She said many times that I was the heroism of her girlhood.

But now, wearing the sexy nightgown we bought together, she had climbed into my husband's bed.

Thinking about this, I wanted to laugh but couldn't.

I could only try my best to appear calm as I asked her:

"Do you have a date tonight?"

"Who is it? Do I know them? What's their name?"

My tone was light, without interrogation or anger.

Just like a natural greeting between friends.

Her face went completely white. Even her lips lost all color. She was incredibly tense.

"Just... a coworker from the company. You don't know them."

She was still lying to me.

My hand gripping my purse was white-knuckled. My gaze slowly swept across her guilty, flustered face.

It landed on her wrist, and I smiled without really smiling:

"That bracelet is beautiful. Did your coworker give it to you too?"

Last month on Valentine's Day, I personally found Jensen's shopping records.

A pair of gold earrings and a Van Cleef & Arpels ruby bracelet.

The gold earrings cost five thousand dollars—they were on my ears.

The bracelet cost thirty-eight thousand—he gave it to Violet.

When Violet heard my words, her face went deathly pale.

She immediately hid her left hand behind her back, stammering:

"Yes, my coworker gave it to me."

Normally, at this moment, as her best friend, I should have naturally teased her a bit more.

Asked if good news was coming soon? When would she let me meet him?

But at that moment, watching her like this, I only felt absurd.

She couldn't even lie properly, yet I had been deceived by her for so long.

"Alright, I won't disturb your date."

"See you tomorrow."

I said with a smile, pretending not to see her instantly relieved expression, and turned to leave.

On my way home, I called my father. He was Jensen's direct supervisor and also the mastermind behind sponsoring Violet all these years and arranging her job.

"Dad, I need a favor."

While throwing the treats I'd specially brought for Violet—her favorites—into the trash, I spoke with an eerily calm voice.

"Jensen's job, the apartment Violet's living in, and all the money they've spent of mine these years—can you help me find a lawyer and get it all back?"

"Yes, they're having an affair. I don't want to lose out."