Chapter 3

Three years.

Chloe Miller was still so fresh, her skin like a peeled egg.

Julian used to describe her that way.

He said he couldn't get enough of her.

He said that even while sleeping in my bed, his heart and dreams were filled with her.

My previous departure and acceptance.

What I got in return was her getting involved with my second man again.

And she'd gotten pregnant before me.

By the look of her pregnancy, they'd been entangled for a long time.

I bit my lip, my nails digging into my palm, and slowly walked over.

"Audrey!"

Chloe seemed to recognize me only then, grabbing my hand with feigned surprise and delight.

"After we parted ways in New York, I never expected you'd return to San Francisco. We truly are fated, with such similar taste in men…"

I didn't speak, just raised my hand and swung.

Slap!

But it wasn't Chloe who was hit. It was Caleb.

He blocked her, clutching his face, his expression completely darkening.

"Audrey, there's a limit to how much you can act out! Two slaps are enough!"

"She's delicate, and she's pregnant. Don't take your anger out on her! You don't want to relive that pathetic state from three years ago, do you?"

My body trembled violently.

It was like returning to that snowy night years ago.

After I'd walked in on Julian's affair.

He dropped the pretense entirely, self-righteously questioning me.

"Women have a three-month shelf life with me. You lasted a year—I already made an exception for you. What more do you want?"

"Even if I loved you, I wouldn't give up an entire forest for you."

To force me into submission, he used all his business tactics against me: freezing my bank accounts, seizing my cash, and then kicking me out like a stray dog.

It was deep winter, snowing heavily. I was covered in bruises, pinned down in the snow by a group of homeless men. Blood stained the ground beneath me, my face was ashen.

Caleb appeared out of nowhere, chasing them away. His eyes were bloodshot as he held me tightly in his arms.

"Audrey, don't be scared… I'll protect you with my life."

It was truly laughable.

Years ago, Chloe knelt at my feet, vowing to repay me with her life. Instead, she repaid me in bed.

And Caleb promised to protect me with his life, only to fall for the same ungrateful wretch three years later.

The snow wasn't heavy.

But it felt colder than that year.

I wiped away the dampness from my eyes, picked up my phone, and didn't spare a glance for the people behind me.

I planned to make do in the guest room for the night.

"Wait," Chloe suddenly spoke up, then, in front of me, she wrapped her arms around Caleb's neck.

"Didn't you say I could have the south-facing bedroom… and that it's more exciting by the window?"

Chloe looked at me, slowly completing the second half of her sentence.

Caleb chuckled softly, met my gaze, picked her up, and carried her inside.

That room was originally our honeymoon suite, with an open-lattice roof because Caleb said he wanted to watch the stars with me as we slept.

Later, it was converted into a nursery. He said he hoped our future baby would wake up to the sun every day.

But now.

Before the baby was even born, this place, once filled with our love, was about to become their sordid love nest.

The carpet, the sofa, the balcony outside.

Caleb would be on top of this woman, just like Julian was.

They would pant, they would scream…

I closed my eyes.

The thud of the door closing was like a knife,

piercing my heart.

I leaned against the wall, barely able to stand.

But the tears could no longer be held back.

In the dead silence, my phone buzzed.

A message from an unknown number: "Audrey, don't you want to know why Caleb cheated on you with Chloe?"

"Tomorrow at nine AM, The Grand Conservatory. I'll be waiting."

No need to guess.

The person meeting me was my ex-husband, Julian Maxwell.

The Grand Conservatory was where we first met.

My mother's last memento failed to sell at auction, leaving my eyes red with sadness.

The next day, he knocked on my door with that very memento.

For the next six months, a constant stream of gifts piled up like mountains in the Spencer's living room.

My father wanted to marry me off for a good price.

Seeing he was New York's wealthiest man, my father rejected the Johnson family's offer and accepted Julian's.

As a Spencer heiress, I was accustomed to fame and pretense.

I didn't have many expectations for an arranged marriage.

He was the one who shattered the ice with his clumsy love letters.

At a yacht party, I accidentally fell overboard. He jumped in without hesitation to save me. I was unharmed afterward, but his legs were gnawed to the bone by fish.

I'd be writhing in pain in bed during my period. He'd ignore billion-dollar deals, rush into the kitchen, scald his fingers till they looked like red radishes, all just to make me a soothing ginger tea.

I was overjoyed, thinking I had found a good man.

So I invited Chloe Miller, the underprivileged student I sponsored, to New York.

Instead, they turned me into an abandoned wife, kicking me out.

Thinking of these things.

It no longer hurt.

Just like seeing Julian again no longer made me sad.

He was still the same, deep-eyed and handsome, just a little thinner.

"There's something I should tell you."