Chapter 5

At the same time, Chloe rushed in, ignoring the butler.

She walked past me to the bathroom door and knocked.

"It's my birthday today. Please, can you spend this birthday with me?"

Her voice had a hint of a sob.

"This was my birthday wish last year. We promised, didn't we? Just indulge me one last time."

Exactly a year ago, I was rushed to the hospital after a car accident.

At the time, Ethan used a business trip abroad as an excuse for not being able to come back to be with me, but he was actually celebrating Chloe's birthday.

The bathroom door opened.

Out walked Ethan.

He saw the tears in Chloe's eyes, and his heart aching, he pulled her into a hug.

"Don't cry. I promise."

Chloe nestled into his embrace, her shoulders trembling slightly.

"I knew you couldn't bear to leave me."

Noah glanced at the two of them indifferently and walked toward me.

"Lily."

Ethan finally noticed that I had been sitting on the couch, quietly watching them.

A flicker of internal struggle crossed his eyes, then he spoke,

"Since it's Chloe's birthday today, why don't the four of us go celebrate together? Chloe is your classmate, isn't she? You shouldn't mind."

He looked at Noah, a warning in his eyes.

Noah ignored him and turned to me instead.

"Honey, what do you think?"

I stood up, took Noah's arm, and shook my head, refusing.

"No, we're going to get our marriage license this afternoon."

In my past life, Ethan, fearing Chloe would be unhappy, used the excuse that a marriage license was a burden on marriage and kept delaying getting ours.

But Noah was different; he wanted to get the marriage license to make our marriage official.

The next second, Ethan's eyes suddenly widened.

"You're getting your marriage license?!"

His face fell, but only for a moment, then he recovered, a smile playing on his lips.

"Since you two are going to get your license, then we won't keep you."

Before leaving, he slipped his ID card into Noah's pocket.

He leaned closer to Noah, avoiding my gaze, and whispered instructions.

"I know you're standing up for Lily, and you deliberately used that fake audio to make me angry this morning."

"But I never betrayed Lily. I just wanted to be a friend and help Chloe fulfill her dream of traveling the world."

"I promise you, after today, we'll switch back. I'll make it up to Lily, I swear."

"You get the marriage license for me, and I can overlook your actions."

After they left,

Noah took Ethan's ID card from his pocket and tossed it into the trash can.

Seeing this, I understood.

Ethan still thought Noah was just playing along.

So full of himself.

He didn't know that his former fiancée and the Robert Group would soon no longer belong to him.

At the registry office, Noah and I quickly processed our marriage license.

The names on the two columns read Lily Evans and Noah Robert.

Just then, Ethan's message popped up on my phone.

"Noah, did you get the marriage license with Lily yet?"

"Quick, send me a picture."

"You're really helping me out this time. When I inherit the Robert Group, I'll split everything with you."

Noah took two photos of the marriage license and sent them.

The next second, Ethan's call came through.