Chapter 3

Amelia's POV

New York media has always been sharper than a vulture's eye.

Overnight, the headlines of all major entertainment and financial sections had shifted direction.

Hayes Heir Plays Hero! Mysterious Pure College Student Rises, Ex-Beauty Queen Amelia's Seven-Year High-Society Dream Shattered!

The accompanying photo was from the previous night at the precinct entrance: Ethan carefully shielding Lily as she got into the car.

The photo was beautifully composed. In the pouring rain, the man's tall frame created a shelter from the wind and rain for the girl.

I sat in the Vice President's office on the top floor of Hayes Enterprises, expressionlessly tossing the newspaper into the shredder.

Accompanied by the machine's dull grinding sound, the jarring headlines turned into a pile of meaningless waste paper.

The frosted glass door of my office opened, and Ethan walked in, carrying the lingering chill of the outside.

He glanced at the shredder, his brow slightly furrowed. "The media is writing nonsense. I'll have the PR department suppress the buzz. Don't go making trouble for Lily."

My hand, as I flipped through documents, froze.

I looked up, meeting the eyes of the man I had lived with for seven years, my gaze filled with absurd mockery.

"Ethan, you came to my office this early just to warn me not to touch your mistress?"

"Amelia, do we really have to speak to each other with such sarcastic tones?"

Ethan walked to my desk, leaning his hands on the surface, looking down at me with a hint of pressure in his voice. "Lily is very sensitive. She can't handle the dirty tactics of your circles. Last night's incident scared her badly, so I plan to have her move into the hillside mansion for a while. It has the most robust security system."

The hillside mansion.

It felt like someone had punched me hard in the chest.

That was the first home Ethan and I had chosen together, furnished ourselves, after he made his first fortune.

Every piece of furniture in it, even every white rose in the garden, I had personally tended to.

He once held me by the mansion's floor-to-ceiling windows, promising me that it was a safe haven meant only for the two of us, where no one else could intrude.

"You're moving her into the hillside mansion?"

"She's just staying temporarily." Ethan avoided my overly clear gaze, turning to look out the window. "You own many properties; you can move into the spacious apartment in Long Island for a while. Lily is timid. She'll feel uncomfortable if you're there."

To make another woman comfortable, he was kicking me, the actual mistress of the house, out?

I felt as though my body was submerged in ice water, so cold I almost trembled.

I stared at the man before me. His features were still deep and handsome, but his eyes, which once held only me, were now filled with a blatant favoritism and protectiveness for another woman.

"What if I don't move?"

Ethan's face instantly darkened, his voice taking on the coldness of a superior.

"Amelia, stop being childish. You weren't this unreasonable before. Lily isn't like you; you're strong enough. What storms haven't you weathered in the business world? But she can't. She's a blank slate; even a slight gust of wind could tear her apart. I have to protect her."

Because she was strong, I should concede; because I had weathered storms, I deserved to be stripped of my sanctuary.

My heart, at that moment, was crushed into dust, inch by agonizing inch.

I suddenly felt that these seven years of my youth were a colossal joke.

I molded myself into a strong woman to protect him, only for that strength to become his reason to discard me.

"Fine, I'll move."

I lowered my eyelids, concealing the desolate emptiness in my eyes. "Ethan, I'll leave the keys to the hillside mansion at the door tonight. I hope you both enjoy your stay."

That evening, I packed all my personal belongings in just an hour.

There wasn't much, actually. Over the years, I had poured all my energy into expanding Hayes Enterprises. The personal items belonging to me in the mansion were pathetically few.

As I dragged my suitcase to the door, the code lock chimed.

Ethan walked in with Lily.

Lily wore a new pair of pink bunny slippers. Seeing my suitcase, her eyes instantly reddened. "Are you really leaving? Or maybe I should leave instead. I don't want to ruin your relationship because of me..."

"If you didn't want to ruin it, you shouldn't have stepped through this door in the first place." I cut her off coldly, not bothering to spare her an extra glance.

"Amelia!" Ethan roared, pulling Lily into his embrace, glaring at me. "Why are you yelling at her? I'm the one who asked her to come!"

I didn't look at them again.

I placed the keys, which had absorbed my warmth for seven years, on the shoe cabinet by the door.

"Ethan, I don't want this house anymore."

I pushed open the door and walked into the dense New York night without a backward glance.

It was stormy, but I didn't carry an umbrella. Because no one would shelter me from the rain anymore.