Chapter 2

Chris knelt in the torrential rain for three whole hours.

Lightning tore across the night sky, illuminating her pale, yet still beautiful, face.

I rushed out, holding an umbrella, my chest tightening with each beat of my heart.

“Chris, are you crazy? You can’t be in the rain with your stomach condition!”

She gripped my hand tightly, her eyes bloodshot, her voice a strained whisper.

“Carter, I’m ruined.”

“The company’s investments failed; our cash flow has completely dried up. It’s a three-billion-dollar hole, and if I can’t fill it in three days, I’m going to jail.”

My mind buzzed. Three billion dollars?

“Carter, the lawyer said the safest way is to divorce immediately. I’ll bear the debt alone, I won’t drag you into this.”

“But Carter… I don’t want to go to jail. Could you temporarily mortgage the estate your parents left you to the bank?”

“Once this blows over, I promise I’ll buy it back.”

Her grip on my arm was terrifyingly strong.

I fell silent.

That historic estate was the only tangible memory my parents had left me before they died in a car crash.

Every blade of grass, every tree, held memories of them.

“Carter, are you really just going to watch me go to jail?” Her voice trembled.

My throat bobbed a few times.

Five years of marriage. I couldn’t just stand by and watch her go down.

“…Fine. We’ll take care of the paperwork tomorrow.”

Chris shuddered, gripping my hand tightly.

“Carter, I’ll repay you for this my entire life.”

In that moment, I truly believed we were facing a test of life and death, together.

Until late that night, Chris was feverish and fast asleep, her phone having slipped into the gap of the bed, its screen constantly lighting up.

Fearing it might be an urgent call from a company executive, I picked it up and glanced at it.

Just one glance, and the blood in my veins instantly froze.

On the screen was a message from “Leonardo”:

“Chris, have you signed the divorce papers? That estate is in such a perfect location. I want to tear it down and build a French castle with a rose garden as our wedding gift.”

Leonardo. Chris’s unforgettable ex-boyfriend.

My fingers turned icy as I tapped to scroll up through the chat history.

The further I scrolled, the more my heart felt like it was being sawed open by a dull knife.

“That fool Carter has totally fallen for it; we’ll handle the divorce and mortgage tomorrow.”

“The three-billion-dollar fake accounts are perfectly clean; Anhel won’t suspect a thing.”

“I’m sorry you had to wait all these years, Leonardo.”

“Once the estate is ours, Carter will have no more use.”

Each sentence was like a poisoned dagger stabbing into my heart.

It turned out, from start to finish, it was all a meticulously planned deception.

I sat in the darkness for a long time, unmoving.

At the moment of complete betrayal, a person can’t even cry.

I pulled out my phone and took pictures of the chat history, page by page.

Then I put her phone back where I found it and turned to look at Chris, sleeping peacefully on the bed.

A faint smile still lingered on her lips; she was probably dreaming of living in that French castle with Leonardo.

I looked into the darkness and let out a cold, sarcastic laugh.

Chris, you want to use my lifeblood to warm another man?

Fine. I’ll make you watch, with your own eyes, who truly ends up destroyed.